Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)
Directed by Peter Weir
After an abrupt and violent encounter with a French warship inflicts severe damage upon his ship, a captain of the British Royal Navy begins a chase over two oceans to capture or destroy the enemy, though he must weigh his commitment to duty and ferocious pursuit of glory against the safety of his devoted crew, including the ship's thoughtful surgeon, his best friend.
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What critics say influenced Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Their interaction takes on a preening quality, reminiscent of the interaction of the "Star Trek" characters four or five movies down the line.
Audiences still warmed-up from the summer's pulpier swashbuckler, "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," will respond most warmly, as will fans of the Horatio Hornblower books and their many film and television descendents, including "Star Trek."
The sea and the ships are beautifully depicted by cinematographer Russell Boyd, an Australian who shot many of Weir's best movies, including "The Year of Living Dangerously," "Picnic at Hanging Rock," "The Last Wave" and "Gallipoli."
He also manages to very subtly capture the texture of daily life on a British Navy ship in the year 1805, and he gives his characters some eerie shore leave in the Galapagos Islands that recalls the environmental mysticism of Weir's two great '70s films, "Picnic at Hanging Rock" and "The Last Wave."
Think "Picnic at Hanging Rock on the High Seas" as a reference to Weir's 1975 film.
Weir attained international stature by directing the subliminally spooky The Last Wave and Picnic at Hanging Rock in the '70s.
Such a carelessness we'd never expect from Weir, who's famous for selecting subjects that deal with significant and often intimate issues— Picnic at Hanging Rock , The Last Wave, Witness, Dead Poets Society, etc.
Consider "Picnic at Hanging Rock," Gallipoli," "The Year of Living Dangerously," "Witness," "Dead Poet's Society," and "The Truman Show."
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World desperately wants to be the kind of swashbuckling adventure that Errol Flynn and Burt Lancaster (in Robert Siodmak's vastly undervalued The Crimson Pirate) used to make.
Master and Commander doesn't rank among the year's most profound and artistic endeavors, but Peter Weir crafts his film like Hitchcock's Lifeboat on steroids, proving that he can successfully handle an epic adventure without losing the small touches and human characters along the way.
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The sea and the ships are beautifully depicted by cinematographer Russell Boyd, an Australian who shot many of Weir's best movies, including "The Year of Living Dangerously," "Picnic at Hanging Rock," "The Last Wave" and "Gallipoli."
He also manages to very subtly capture the texture of daily life on a British Navy ship in the year 1805, and he gives his characters some eerie shore leave in the Galapagos Islands that recalls the environmental mysticism of Weir's two great '70s films, "Picnic at Hanging Rock" and "The Last Wave."
Weir attained international stature by directing the subliminally spooky The Last Wave and Picnic at Hanging Rock in the '70s.
Such a carelessness we'd never expect from Weir, who's famous for selecting subjects that deal with significant and often intimate issues— Picnic at Hanging Rock , The Last Wave, Witness, Dead Poets Society, etc.
By turns brutal and majestic, Peter Weir's Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (hereafter Master and Commander) reunites the antipodean director with Russell Boyd, the cinematographer with whom he shot The Last Wave, Gallipoli, and The Year of Living Dangerously, and the two have produced a picture on par with those films: historically aware, but more notable for its epic beauty and scope.
Then again, Paul Bettany as Dr. Stephen Maturin Aubrey's sidekick, best friend and occasional conscience sports a haircut (and a detached scientific manner) that kept reminding me of Henry Hull in Werewolf of London.
The storm which takes the Surprise's mast and one of its most popular seaman is frightening, one of the best portrayed on film since Ridley Scott's "White Squall."
Peter Weir's war epic "Master and Commander" is the most realistic experience you'll have on the sea since Ridley Scott's "White Squall."
The O'Brian novels started in the early 70s, after the "Star Trek" original series was off the air, but before "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" which owes much to the fog-based sea battle which opens the film.
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If you've seen any of the great swashbucklers of the Errol Flynn era, such as "Captain Blood" or "The Sea Hawk," it will feel as good as, but no better than, any of them.
The biggest drawback I found in the film was its inability to satisfy fully the demands of being an outright swashbuckler like "The Adventures of Robin Hood" or "The Sea Hawk" or a straightforward epic in the tradition of "Spartacus" or "Lawrence of Arabia."
The economy, clarity, and muscular force of Curtiz’s imagery shines when compared to Peter Weir’s oft-confusing spatial relationships between men and ships in Master and Commander .
This is a big budget, well-crafted swashbuckling adventure that reps a bow to the great sea faring films like “Captain Blood,” The Sea Hawk” and “Against All Flags.”
If you've seen any of the great swashbucklers of the Errol Flynn era, such as "Captain Blood" or "The Sea Hawk," it will feel as good as, but no better than, any of them.