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Directed By
Peter Weir
Cast:
Russell Crowe, Paul Bettany, Billy Boyd, Richard McCabe, Robert Pugh, David Threlfall, Chris Larkin, Lee Ingleby, George Innes, Richard Stroh, John DeSantis, Mark Lewis Jones, James DArcy, Mark Lewis Jones, Max Benitz, Ian Mercer, Max Pirkis, Jack Randall, Thierry Segall, Edward Woodall
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Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)
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Movie Review by Ash
October 24th, 2006
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A good film but entirely forgettable.
Review originally written 12/7/2003
If you're prepared for a long, involved drama of Napoleonic sea farers as opposed to the high adventure antics of Pirates of the Caribbean, you really should love this film.
Unfortunately, the studios marketed this film as a big action film ("Gladiator on water"), and most of the complaints I've heard about this film are people not getting what they expected and/or wanted. It's also possible that people who would really love this film won't see it because of this.
Master and Commander runs close to being a character study. Not of Capt. Jack Aubrey, but the entire crew as an entity. The entire film (for the most part) takes place on the H.M.S. Surprise (Aubrey's ship), and the story is about this crew trying to hunt down an enemy ship of the French which is bigger, faster, has more guns with longer range, and more heavily armored. The story focuses on the lives of the characters aboard this ship during this mission, and time can often go for weeks on end without ever seeing the enemy. Just like a real ship in these times, the adventure is slow paced.
However, those who appreciate strong dramas will find much to love about this picture. Both Crowe and Bettany give strong performances (as does everyone in this pic). Just like in Gladiator, Crowe gives a performance that really makes you believe these men would follow him. Bettany plays a civilian doctor and the only person Crowe doesn't have authority over allowing him to be the voice of reason as Jack Aubrey's desire to get this French ship verges on dangerous obsession.
The fact that they don't make movies like this hardly ever is reason alone to catch this film on the big screen. In the next few years we're gonna have our fill of ancient greek/roman films, but it may be a very long time before we see a film like this again which is quite possibly the best of this type ever filmed.
My one real complaint about the film was the ending. A twist is thrown in that caught me by surprise, but I really didn't like it because it not only invalidates most of the story up to that point but completely changes the tone of the film. Where up to that point the entire film is strong, realistic drama in the vein of Saving Private Ryan, the ending is something that would fit the light hearted antics of Pirates of the Caribbean. It didn't ruin the film but it did leave an unwanted after taste.
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