Master And Commander: The Far Side Of The World

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)

Runtime: 138 minutes

Directed by: Peter Weir

Starring: Russell Crowe, Paul Bettany, Billy Boyd, James D'Arcy, Edward Woodall

From: 20th Century Fox/Miramax/Universal/Samuel Goldwyn

 Always choose the lesser of two weevils.

I done goofed by not watching this immediately after Russell Crowe briefly trended on Twitter for defending this movie. Some fool (who might have been a troll anyway) claimed that this “puts him to sleep” and “he can't get past the first 10 minutes”, both points I passionately disagree with. Crowe replied:

“That’s the problem with kids these days. No focus. Peter Weirs film is brilliant. An exacting, detail oriented, epic tale of fidelity to Empire & service, regardless of the cost. Incredible cinematography by Russell Boyd & a majestic soundtrack. Definitely an adults movie.”

After finally watching this movie last night, I concur. As it was even better than expected, I feel like a flightless bird for not experiencing this theatrically back 18 years old, even if I rarely went to the cinema back then and 2003 wasn't a great year for me in general.

Crowe (w/ an amazing head of hair) is Jack Aubrey, a British Captain of the seas in the early 19th century. He is tasked to track down the French privateer ship Acheron. As the Acheron is a superior ship in design and build, it gets the jump on Aubrey's ship Surprise-yes, he was surprised-and the Captain has to use his guile and experience to escape. He wants revenge; as much as he admires his rival for almost besting him, it's the Napoleonic Wars so France is the enemy and it becomes an obsession to track down the Acheron. As the movie is more complex than it may sound, it is demonstrated why the large crew would walk through Hell w/ gasoline-soaked britches on for him despite him asking a lot from them at times.

Master and Commander (based on a series of novels) shows plenty of distinct characters that have their own sidestories that are all interesting and for me that made the movie rather vibrant rather than “boring” or “sleep-inducing”. Of course there's a Voice of Reason character (played by Paul Bettany) who was the ship doctor and despite being personal friends, questioned some of his decisions.As expected, Crowe was the acting highlight although the large cast of mainly unfamiliar faces were at least fine. Great was both the cinematography and the score, but best of all was that Richard King went above the call of duty to create all-new sound effects for the movie; none were created in the past and used in previous media. 

For me it was a thrilling adventure-it is rad that Peter Weir was able to direct something with a big blockbuster budget-and while it's understandable why some would be nonplussed by Master and Commander, it really worked for me and I felt like going out on the high seas with all those rogues and knaves.