Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

Released 2003
Stars Russell Crowe, Paul Bettany, Billy Boyd, James D'Arcy, Lee Ingleby, David Threlfall, Max Pirkis
Directed by Peter Weir

Peter Weir's "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" is an exuberant sea adventure told with uncommon intelligence; we're reminded of well-crafted classics before the soulless age of computerized action. Based on the beloved novels of Patrick O'Brian, it re-creates the world of the British navy circa 1805 with such detail and intensity that the sea battles become stages for personality and character. They're not simply swashbuckling -- although they're that, too, with brutal and intimate violence.

The story takes place almost entirely onboard the Surprise, a smaller vessel outgunned by its quarry, the French warship Acheron. Using an actual ship at sea and sets in the vast tank in Baja California where scenes from "Titanic" were shot, Weir creates a place so palpable we think we could find our own way around. It is a very small ship for such a large ocean, living conditions are grim, some of the men have been shanghaied on board, and one of the junior officers is 13 years old. For risking their lives, the men are rewarded with an extra tot of grog, and feel well-paid. There are scenes at sea, including the rounding of Cape Horn, which are as good or better as any sea journey ever filmed, and the battle scenes are harrowing in their closeness and ferocity; the object is to get close enough in the face of withering cannon fire to board the enemy vessel and hack its crew to death.

Summary by Roger Ebert

This movie looks fantastic, and I never doubted for a second I was watching a real ship sailing the far side of the world. The film is unusual in that everything is shown from the perspective of the "Surprise" crew. We never flipped to the French crew, and it made the movie a little claustrophobic. I liked this choice, though, because it made me feel even more like a part of the crew. In the 1800's there were no communications with ships while they were sailing, so showing only one perspective helped build that feeling of isolation. They had to scrounge for information when they found the chance, like when they stopped in port or rescued some whalers. All in all, the film does an excellent job of conveying what it was like to be in this little wooden world. Despite all of the good things it does, however, there was something missing. I think the biggest problem for me was the lack of character development. The two main characters, Captain Aubrey and surgeon Stephen Maturin, were interesting, but I can't even remember another character's name. Of course, it would have been a different story if I had read any of the books, and I would expect fans of the books would love this film. For the rest of us, it's a good film that features a couple of the most intense battle scenes I've ever watched. --Bill Alward, May 29, 2004