movie's 411

>> MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD

Starring: Russel Crowe, Paul Bettany, and more...
Director: Peter Weir
Genre: Action & Adventure *although it feels more like a drama to me*




personally, i think this is an astonishing movie of grand magnitude, but definitely not what i expected. it is much like an americanized british period film. this brings forth it being long, and trite with a running time of two hours and twenty minutes. there isn't enough action especially after watching the trailer showing the full-on battleship at sea. meanwhile enough talk does not happen either. the director, peter weir, adequately depicts the slowness and boredom that can happen during the long months at sea. without a doubt, the cinematography is the most visually spectacular “at sea” footage. and i have no complains at all during the scenes at the galapagos island. breathtaking views!! semi-dramatic scenes played out between capt. jack aubrey (russell crowe) and dr. stephen maturin (paul bettany) leaves one with the impression of wanting more drama, but satisfied with what little they provide. despite the lack of predominance of either action or drama, this picture is surely one of the best movies this year has seen.

it's hard to explain what makes this movie good. master and commander is actually a great mixture of seafaring adventure and social drama, a bracing glimpse of the privileges and burdens of command and -- not insignificantly -- a superbly crafted war film. praise will be justifiably given to russell crowe for his performance and to paul bettany as the ship's surgeon and confidant.

director peter weir adapted patrick o'brien's novels for the big screen alongside john collee, and the storytelling is both immediately bracing and gradually more excellent. weir's opening plunges us into the thick of the napoleonic wars and then into the stink, crush, creak and bustle of life on one of Her Majesty's ships. aubrey's ship, the "H.M.S. Surprise", has been ordered to find and capture a french privateer, "the Archeron". the archeron is laden with stolen goods, which makes her a profitable and prestigious prize to take … but the archeron is better made, better armed and carries more men.

the supporting cast is also excellent. billy boyd (one of the hobbits from the lord of the rings) is a working-class sailor-soldier, while max pirkis plays young midshipman blakeney, a boy who has an ancestral lordship and is old enough to fight but not to shave. pirkis's work is subtle, affecting and lived-in, and would be to the credit of an actor twice his age. weir's film is episodic, but the pull and give of the story's pace matches the feel of the sail-driven action, long stretches of isolation and boredom are punctuated by cannonballs like hell's exclamation points.

master and commander is truly rewarding, entertaining filmmaking of a rare kind, one that has brains and brawn, meticulous craft and broad, pulse-pounding action. for all its immediate pleasures, it also touches on a broad spectrum of issues -- patriotism, exploration, empire, class, bravery and madness and the thin line between the two -- that are achingly pertinent 200 years after the film's action takes place. the technical skills put to work in the movie are astonishing -- from miniatures to computer-generated effects to atmospheric sound editing and amazingly detailed production design -- but it's weir's vision, skill and perception that make master and commander: the far side of the world the one of the best big-studio film so far in 2003.

i liked parts of it a lot, and thought it came together well at the end except that it feels as if it was left hanging. but extended chunks of it were pretty tedious, which was surprising considering how well they were done, and should have worked--the trip around cape horn, the battle scene at the end. just more action sequences, in which you knew how they would turn out, and there was so much smoke/spume, it was hard to follow anyone, not that it mattered. also, the trips to the islands lost their impact, since it was submerged as part of the contest of wills/squabble stuff, though the second trip was better, and as i said, the view of the island is just breathtaking. a number of the pull away shots of the ships were astonishing, and they did a very good job on the wit and respect angle, and the old boys club nature of the command structure. and one thing that's entertaining.. the music! the old classical yet playful music shown as captain aubrey and dr. maturin play along at the back of the ship, entertaining themselves playing violin and cello. i don't know if they really play the instruments, but the music is wonderful.


>> rated by :: sLesTa | [ ]

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