Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

This has shades of "Horatio Hornblower" to it, but is much grittier. Russell Crowe delivers a strong, convincing, portrayal of the doughty captain "Aubrey", in command of HMS "Surprise" and charged with tracking down a French privateer that is raiding the vital British whaling fleet during the Napoleonic wars. Coming up against an equally courageous and skilful French captain and engaging in a lethal game of cat and mouse, he must outmanoeuvre this cunning foe before he and his crew end up in Davy Jones' Locker. The film nods to the social issues and superstitions of living on a 19th Century frigate and to bravery (and cowardice) in a subtle yet plausible way. Above all, it's an adventure film and there is plenty of action as we go. A strong ensemble cast in support (though Paul Bettany as the doctor and "Aubrey's" best friend on this voyage didn't quite wash with me) complement some great maritime cinematography; a good score and Peter Weir's able and exciting direction.

What you have here is Crowe still thinking that he's the greatest actor that ever lived. That all takes away the fun of a movie that had the potential to be a high seas epic like, say, Captain Blood. Peter Weir lets Crowe go crazy and you can almost taste the ego dripping out of the pours of every seen, so much so that he doesn't allow Paul Bettany to shine and he's a good actor in his own right, as is James D'Arcy and again, Crowe seems to want to hog all the acting glory there too. Honestly, its hard to sit down and watch a man try to upstage everyone in every scene, especially when they are actors that could hold their own against Crowe...if Crowe allowed that to happen. So, you get to sit back and watch ego and that gets boring. It's a shame, the script and directing were there, it could have been a great film if we didn't just see ego shine.

I enjoyed 'Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World'. The early scenes are surprisingly (given the relatively close release dates) similar to fellow 2003 release 'Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl', with a hidden enemy ship spotted amid foggy conditions and then one person spots unexpected cannon fire and tells others to duck... there are even main characters named Jack (lead!) and Will! With those amusing (to me, given that POTC is my favourite film) connections noted, the film goes on, of course, to do it's own thing and I'd say it comes out very nicely. The constant (supremely shot) action is a major plus, as are the performances of Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany. I coulda done with more characterization for those behind Crowe and Bettany as I didn't overly care for them, though the support cast are all solid to be fair.