MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD Review
Based on a surprisingly vast amount of novels by Patrick O’Brian, MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD is just as vast and epic as its title. In the depiction of a game of nautical cat and mouse between an underdog British ship and a massive French vessel, a movie glazed in classic Hollywood sensibilities and style becomes something like a breath of fresh air in 2003 and 2020 alike.
As the enjoyably era-appropriate title cards state, the year is 1805 and war between England and France is underway as the British initiate their assault against Napoleon’s impressive army. One of the major battlefields being found in the vast waves of the sea, specifically the Atlantic ocean as Captain Jack Aubrey (Russell Crowe) pilots his ship, the H.M.S. Surprise, and its crew toward their target: a French ship by the name of the Acheron making its way past the coast of South America toward the Pacific. From the opening frame, MASTER AND COMMANDER displays a simple story of two ships trying to best one another as the line between hunter and hunted shifts as seamlessly as the ocean wind. As the skirmishes increase in intensity, Captain Aubrey and his crew, outgunned and outclassed by a bigger and faster French ship will test their determination and grit on a quest for nautical domination.
Always straightforward, but nevertheless exhilarating at every turn, Weir and and his crew craft a film that feels organically classical and timeless despite a rather simple tale of two ships duking it out on the sea. Even in a tale filled with your patented who’s who of courageous leaders, loyal companions, and elusive villains, the sense of organic self-seriousness found in the film’s story and dialogue is also apparent in its impeccable production design. Set almost entirely on the H.M.S. Surprise (outside of a truly pleasant soiree on the Galapagos Islands), MASTER AND COMMANDER transports viewers to the creaky depths of its heroic vast ship and the complex interrelationships brewing above and below decks. Thanks to Russell Boyd’s stellar cinematography, life on deck and in the whirlwind throes of naval conflict is brought to exciting clarity in ways that feel gritty while still retaining a sheen of Hollywood glamour. Indeed, everything from a production standpoint, from the accurate costumes and sets to the classically bombastic score further embellishes MASTER AND COMMANDER with a type of timeless feel that stands out in this modern age of ours.
While Weir (along with co-writer John Collee) organize a simple story, they, along with their well cast group of characters, imbue simplicity with surprising personality. Anchoring the story (as well as the ship) is Crowe, an actor always capable of displaying hard earned vigor and leadership, who displays the right amount of classic heroic qualities while still allowing for those brief bouts of complicated humanity to slip through the Captain’s steady outer appearance. As always with most other early Crowe performances, audiences will find an easy hero to latch onto but it’s in Paul Bettany’s performance as the Captain’s one true friend and confidant, Dr. Stephen Maturin that MASTER AND COMMANDER finds its heart. In a character that is humorously self-serious and heartrendingly conflicted about his place in war and life, Bettany keeps the film’s bombast centered firm in the humanity bellowing in each and every crew member even if the story hits some typical sea-faring bits of a potential crew resentment and squabbling. That being said, outside of the film’s stellar naval conflicts and feats of trickery from the crew of the H.M.S. Surprise, the best moments to be found in this vintage work is in those quieter moments of men simply trying to live between fights for their life, as showcased in the previously mentioned standout scene set on the Galapagos as Dr. Maturin embarks on a fleeting moment of truly lovely naturalism exploration. Truly, it would be hard to leave that scene without some kind of smile on your face. As a result, with Weir’s direction and his performers’ execution, a film about sea battles between the British and French armies feels just a little more personable.
Even as said battles are almost always enthralling, from the film’s quietly tense opening assault to a chase/skirmish amidst a massive storm (which allegedly was filmed in an ACTUAL storm), one must note that the final battle, despite its overall quality, suffers a bit when combat becomes more personal as the editing devolves into choppy frenetic quick cuts that betray the film’s overall solid sense of combat staging. Despite this admittedly small quibble, MASTER AND COMMANDER is a feat of straightforward adventure filmmaking as Weir and his crew successfully bring back those epic pictures of yesteryear with the style and grace still intact. While it’s a shame that the film never got the opportunity to start a franchise as it intended, this single entry alone provides enough quality to outlast many other franchises’ numerous entries.
4.5/5
