realfandangoforever
Epic budget, no doubt, but not epic impact. Great time period, plenty of action and characters to care about but I came out just feeling a little flat. The word anti-climatic comes to mind. If ship battles in the early 1800s were like this, it must have been a harsh time. Black powder and big calibres make for a lot of destruction, if not accuracy. Fun, and worth seeing, for this reason alone.
Richie-67-485852
You get Russell Crowe so we are off to a good start in this movie that depicts life at sea most excellently. Real absorbing drama with a good story to tell awaits the viewer so look forward to this movie treat. In the movie Mutiny on the Bounty, it points out that while England and her Navy is run on laws its the Captain that gives it heart and justice. Captain Bly did not Master and command this but Captain Aubrey (Crowe) in this movie does a masterful job of encouraging, edifying and leading his crew making their hearts one and that is why the story works on the screen and in real life. It is better to get love and devotion willingly and with a gladness than to take it. There is a difference. The crew even sing songs about the Captain and nick-name him Lucky jack. That's stuff you have to earn. Ahoy then, starboard bow and ....
nszponar
I am working my way through the Jack Aubrey/Patrick O'Brian series of historical novels and thought it would b a good idea to see the film of Master and Commander. I was a bit apprehensive about the castings and in some cases they definitely did not work. However, thinking that Russell Crowe was not right for Jack Aubrey, having seen the movie, all I can say is I can't see anyone else doing a better job. In the books, this is a man with a zest for life, courageous and maybe a bit reckless - Russell Crowe captures this very well. Still not sure about the Maturin casting because he is definitely a man who is not what he seems and that does not come across. Boden - also not quite right. However, this is a proper rendition of the period and the spirit of the books. I can only say I wish they had made more - the books do have quite a few love interests in them so this would have been good to see. Of course, it must have been expensive to film but this is what film is made for - beautiful cinematography, great set pieces, a good story and really sound acting - much better than all the action hero stuff that is out there.
Leofwine_draca
Despite the unwieldy title, this film is an unexpected pleasure – an actor's film, which is a rare thing nowadays in Hollywood. It's certainly not an action film – there are only two major sequences and they bookend the movie – but instead it focuses on characters as they develop through action and reaction. As such it's a surprisingly mature piece of work, featuring some excellent performances from the likes in particular of Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany, playing the ship's captain and doctor respectively. There's no showiness here, just strong, subtle work, and it's hard to choose who gives the best performance between the two of them because they're both great.This is an adaptation of a novel by Patrick O'Brian, which I haven't read as yet, although I believe it's a loose version of the story. Whatever the origins, it looks great, with often breathtaking shots of scenery – the Galapagos Islands, for instance. The ships are models for the most part, yet it's impossible to tell this, as the effects are very good indeed. I really liked the strong undercurrent of humour running through the film – such as the "lesser of two weevils" joke – and the surprisingly touching moments of humanity, like the boy who loses an arm and yet goes on to become a hero.What happens on screen might be familiar – there's the usual catalogue of ship-bound perils like droughts, deserted islands, wrecks, storms, cannon battles and a particularly well-handled "Jonah" – but this is about a hundred times better than PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN which came out around the same time. It's no surprise that the latter production, a bloated Disney cartoon, was the more successful of the two and the one that went on to spawn sequels...
AD
