Master & Commander (DVD)

The last time theediscerning was watching Russell Crowe in a big~screen, historical cinema epic, he was mostly muttering "Well, this is all well and good, but it was bleddy obvious from the first frame he will be dying at the end". With a series of twenty Patrick O'Brian novels to be adapted for this series, we are at least guaranteed the ending will be more satisfactory. Or are we? The beginning of the clumsily-named Master and Commander ~ The Far Side of the World (it is a dash, not a colon, according to the BBFC certificate) is equally awkward, as it seems to be the lull before the storm that goes on for far too long. The storm that ...

(film only review) What’s it about? ---------------------- English sea captain Jack Aubrey is charged with hunting down a fierce French fighting ship, the Acheron, during the Napoleonic Wars. Who’s in it? --------------- The bulk of the film concentrates on the relationship between two main characters: Captain Jack Aubrey, played by Russell Crowe and his friend Dr Stephen Maturin, the ship’s surgeon (played by Paul Bettany). By far the biggest disappointment is Russell Crowe. This is the man who chewed up the scenery in Gladiator and proved he could “act” in The Insider. Here, he seems hopelessly mis-cast. For a start ...

It took me far longer than I wanted to get round to seeing Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World, but it was more than worth the wait. In fact, I have no hesitation in saying it’s the best film of 2003. The initial plot is pretty simple – an English naval ship is attacked out of the blue by a French frigate. The French protagonist can out-man, out-gun, and out-sail the English vessel, but they manage to escape. The Captain, however, refuses to simply sail home and refit – the enemy must be caught and destroyed… somehow… and not all the crew think that going after such an enemy is a brilliant The lead roles (the English ship’s Captain – ...