11/25/2003
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World stars Russell Crowe as Capt. Jack Aubrey, Paul Bettany as Dr. Stephen Maturin, James D'Arcy as 1st Lt. Tom Pullings, Edward Woodall as 2nd Lt. William Mowett, Chris Larkin as Capt. Howard, Max Pirkis as Blakeney, Jack Randall as Boyle, Max Benitz as Calamy, Lee Ingleby as Hollom, Richard Pates as Williamson, Robert Pugh as Mr. Allen, Richard McCabe as Mr. Higgins, Ian Mercer as Mr. Hollar, Tony Dolan as Mr. Lamb, and David Threlfall as Preserved Killick.
Master and Commander... is a period film during the Napoleonic wars. The high seas is the setting for this Swashbuckling adventure. Capt. Jack, commanding the HMS Surprise, is chasing/being chased by a French ship, Acheron (Greek mythology for river of woe). The French ship is faster and out numbers the British ship in all categories. Master and Commander... shows us ship life and a cast of characters that are very stereotypical of this genre.
While I am not a fan of Russell Crowe, he is good in this part. There are no romantic interests in this film to detract from the story. However, there is a Darwin wanna be that detracts from a good search and destroy story. The tension is high and some of the battle scenes are very bloody. There are also a few duty versus friendship lessons, but the rest is action. Just the way we like it.
I give it 4 out of 5 walking sticks: 