Customer Reviews

Fantastic epic - By: PH Devine, 29 Sep 2008
I only just caught up with this film on TVin 2008, & I LOVED it. There are not many films that can keep you gripped for two & a half hours with not a second of boredom (think Zhivago, the Godfather films & Lawrence), but this has to be added to the list. How on earth did this not get best picture instead of the cliched & awful Mystic River? I will certainly be buying the most comprehensive DVD version I can find so that I can rewatch it many times. And by the way, I'm a 45-year-old woman & I watched it on my own, dog tired, at midnight - & it was over far too soon. Great central performance from Russell Crowe, who actually looks tough enough for the job, unlike most Hollywood wimps.

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Enjoyable Action Drama - By: D. Evans, 19 Aug 2008
Wacthing Master & Commander is like being transported backin time to the year 1805, as Britain & France fought for mastery of the Seas. It is one of the most realistic & atmospheric films I have seenin a long time, & part of the film's brilliance comes from Peter Weir's ability to create a detailed & believable world for the characters to occupy.

The film follows a cat & mouse chase between the Royal Navy Man-of-War, The HMS Surprise, & the French Privateer ship, The Acheron, as they stalk each off the coast of South America. At the Surprise's helm is Captain 'lucky' Jack Aubery, a veteran of the Battle of the Nile, & a brave & charismatic man who once served under Admiral Nelson. At his side is his best friend, the ship's doctor & physician, Dr. Stephen Maturin, a bookish & well learned man who enjoys playing the cello & likes to study natural history.
With their differing motives, interests & goals, Aubery & Maturin must band together & find a way to destroy or capture the Acheron. This will not be an easy task. The Acheron is larger, has a greater number of crewmen, & more firepower than the HMS Surprise.
Driven by an obsessive need to capture this elusive ship & preserve his honour, Aubrey leads his men on a difficult & dangerous journey, one that threatens to destroy his friendship with Maturin & cause a mutiny.

One of the film's great strengths is the relationship's between the characters. This is not so much a swashbuckling action adventure but a character driven drama that recreates life at sea 200 years ago.
The film is less concerned with the actual chase as it is with displaying the crew's moments at sea, from the terrifying storms, the camaraderie, the feuds, & the hardship. The film also goes on other diversions, such as Maturin's exploration of the Galapagos Islands, a good thirty years before Charles Darwin, & the drinking parties at the captain's table.

That said, when the film does get to the battles & the chases, it is nail bitingly suspensful & brilliantly filmed, from the short glimpses of the Acheron flitting between the fog, to the roar of thunderous cannon & flintlocks as the two crews engage. If you thought that musket & cannon warfare was rather quaint, this film will amaze you with its depcition of cannon balls crashing through ships, sending wood & shrapnel tearing through the crew. This film does to Napoleonic Warfare what Saving Private Ryan did to the Second World War, even if this film is a lot less bloody.

Overall, this an excellent film. The perfomances by the actors, especially Russell Crowe & Paul Bettany are brilliant & believable, & the film also has a wonderful soundtrack filled with contemporary folk songs & classical pieces. If you're expecting a swashbuckling adventure like Pirates of the Caribbean, then this film will disappoint, but if you want to see a brilliantly acted, suspensful, atmospheric & dramatic recreation of a world long ago, then Master & Commander is worth a watch.

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Beautifully acted, beautifully filmed - By: Dr. M. Gray, 09 Jun 2008
If you had told me beforehand that I could have enjoyed a film which basically consists of one ship chasing another, I would have said you were insane, but this film is a gem. It's wonderfully atmospheric, with a sense of complete authenticity - the dangers at sea, the superstitions of the sailors, & the makeshift (and pretty gruesome) surgery. Paul Bettany shines like a beacon, & Russell Crowe reveals he's no makeweightin the acting stakes, managing to convey perfectly a man who both has trouble showing his feelings, & yet can also become completely obsessed with tracking down 'the enemy'. Terrific stuff!

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Enjoyable, but how historically accurate? - By: John Jordan, 02 Jun 2008
Very enjoyable, but does this give us a true idea of life on a warship at the end of the 18c? I have only watched it once, & am no historian, but two things that were said didn't sound right. Firstly, they refer to the South American 'rain forest'. Surely this is a modern term; wouldn't they have called it the jungle? Secondly, when the Lord's Prayer is said it is an updated version, not that from the Book of Common Prayer ('who' instead of 'which' 'on' Earth instead of 'in'). Little things, but I would have got them right! If the script writers can't be trusted not to make obvious mistakes like these, what can we trust them with?

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A superb piece of character drama, in the second half. - By: O. Chandler, 01 May 2008
I had been putting off watching this film for some time, not for any other reason than I could not see when I would bein the mood for such a piece. However on watching it I was pleasantly surprised by what a great moment of cinema it is.
The story is simplein premise, however it flows consistently & the charactersin this tale are a delight to follow. Great performances by Paul Bettany & Russell Crowe lay a solid foundation, however it is the supporting cast that truly make the piece an engaging adventure. Each actor seems to fit well into the role, & whilst they can sometimes seem simplisticin their methods I feel it is a good reflection of life as a seaman of the time.
The only downside to the film is that the first half, to me, did not have anything to truly grab the viewer. There are waves aplenty & lots of seamanship but it is onlyin the second half that the story really takes off, & when it does it really is worthy of praise.
In conclusion, if you can sit through the first halfin knowledge that it indeed becomes a fantastic naval yarn then this film is very much worth a watch.