Film Roar

Master and Commander (2004)

When I first heard of director Peter Weir's (Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), Witness (1985), Dead Poets Society (1989), The Truman Show (1998)) adaptation of the popular novel by writer Patrick O'Brian I was quite uninterested. After hearing praise for the movie from friends and relatives though I decided to give the movie a try and was quite glad I did. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003) is not only a fun movie to watch but also an example of high quality Hollywood filmmaking.

I guess my biggest trepidation for shelling out ticket price for this movie came from what for most people is probably the main attractor: star Russell Crowe. Constant stories of his bad behavior (remember when a camera caught him threatening producer Malcolm Gerrie for cutting his long winded recitation of a poem during the British Film Awards?) as well as a dislike for his big hit Gladiator (2000) kept me from getting too excited about spending two hour seeing Crowe stand around in a big sleeved shirt while women in the audience drooled into their popcorn. To my surprise though, his superb performance as Capt. Jack Aubrey was one of the reasons I so liked the movie. In retrospect I guess I was miss-judging the man, he did an excellent job in both L.A. Confidential (1997) and A Beautiful Mind (2001) (neither of which I count as excellent movies though not for a lack of talent in the cast). Throughout Master and Commander Crowe showed strength, leadership, internal turmoil and well. mastery and command. I was not as impressed with co star Paul Bettany (Dr. Stephen Maturin) but figure he did justice to the character he was cast to portray. I wish they had given more screen time to Billy Boyd (Barrett Bonden the Coxswain) but that is just because I have only known Boyd as Pippin in the Lord of the Rings series and am curious to see his range.

While you only get glimpses and impressions of the tactics and strategies that go into ship-to-ship combat, the way the movie is dynamic and well written enough to be engaging. I was at the edge of my seat a couple of times as the two sail ships circled around each other for an exchange of cannon fire. What really worked incredibly well was the effect of the battles, especially when seen in a top of the line cinema like the Seattle Cinerama. Once I heard the first cannon report in the movie's opening battle I knew that I was in the right place. The top of the line sound system at the Cinerama together with some good camera and post production work made each battle exciting and shots of the ship at sea or in the Galapagos Islands breathtaking.

I have heard from many people that the filmmakers went to great lengths to achieve a degree of realism in the movie through attention to detail. NPR's all things considered on November 13 included a piece on the sound construction for the movie where they describe finding antique cannons and firing different rounds over microphones to get everything just right. I have also read that pretty much any element that appeared on screen were constructed for accuracy, going so far as to knit hats using techniques accurate to 1805 and purchasing buttons from clothing makers that have existed since the time of the movie. The detail work is hard to catch on screen, but that is the point. The world they constructed is so realistic that it is very effective in making the audience feel like they are truly witnessing a moment in history.