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MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD Send This Review to a Friend
If you're in the mood for a good, old-fashioned, big budget saga of the seas, "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" will do, thanks to Peter Weir's masterly direction and the today's technical know-how that facilitates making the action and ambience look so real that you may feel you are aboard with Russell Crowe and the rest of his mates. This isn't great drama, but it is a good military seafaring yarn that has the power to keep an audience involved.
Based on the novels by Patrick O'Brian and written by Weir and John Collee, the story is set in 1805, with Crowe as Jack Aubrey, commander of the Surprise, a British vessel with the assignment of attacking a superior French ship as part of Britain's battle against France. Aubrey whips up the spirit of his men, making them feel that the fate of England depends on their dedication and heroism no matter how far from home they are, in this case off the coast of South America.
Weir creates a convincing shipboard atmosphere, making us privy to the tough life and the risks, with Crowe doing the rest in depicting a commander who will not swerve from his mission no matter the peril, even when challenged by his long-time friend, the ship's doctor Maturin, played earnestly by Paul Bettany, who accuses Aubrey of being more concerned with his ego than the welfare of his men. In the course of events Maturin gets a chance to perform surgery on himself in one of the film's grim scenes. There is added interest in Maturin's role as a naturalist, excited about the species he finds in a stop along the way.
The story is not free of cliches and eventually gets to the inevitable, bloody battle between the English and the French, enhanced by duplicitous ploys by each side. But what's essential is the ability of the film to gain its sea legs early on and hold audience interest. A 20th Century Fox release.
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