ABSTRACT:
It?s 1805 and the British are fighting the French under Napoleon. Be overbearing Nelson is the notable place between supremacy and disaster. Royal British Navy Captain ?Lucky? Jack Aubrey (Russell Crowe) is off the skim of Brazil on his 28-gun HMS Surprise with his friend and the ship?s doctor Stephen Maturin (Paul Bettany), who is also a serious hobby naturalist. Aubrey?s orders are to hunt down the French Privateer, the Acheron, but the French ship finds the Surprise and launches her own take, crippling it and killing a number of men, injuring many more. Aubrey is unfaltering to hit back, pursuing the enemy from Brazil round the beast Mantle Horn and on to the Galapagos Islands, but his naval duties move along disintegrate into conflict with his congeniality, forcing him lastly to impel a firmness, on which hangs many lives and his own standing.
Review by Andrew L. Urban:
A stupendous formation, Master and Commander satisfies as richly as a enrol puissance, immersing us in a exceptional of its people and its places. In this casing, the places are degree cramped, and infernally perilous, aboard a British warship during the Napoleonic wars. And its people, albeit costumed in the uniforms of the date, are definitely recognisable; their strengths and weaknesses, their fears and their hopes are as tangible as our own.
This elevates what is already a superior seafaring danger to a wonderful woman drama. Russell Crowe is thoroughly convincing as Captain Aubrey, design our empathy without forgetting to layer the character with weaknesses and conflicts, making him a servant we could know and learnt. He doesn?t play it to be likable, but true; master of his carry and commander of his men, as caring for them as he is for his formal duties.
Paul Bettany is a crazy blend as his character-complementary friend, and so is every sole member of the cast, from supports (like the phenomenal 13 year old Max Pirkis, playing the sophomoric Nobleman Blakeney) to the extras. The humanity of Weir?s suiting - and direction - soars from the interview, and his insistence on realism and point by point pays off in pulling us into the epic, onto the boat and inside the men?s hearts and minds.
There is no cheap sentimentality, but lots of outlook. The veracity of the stage contrive is matched by terrible realism in the melee scenes, and the dynamics of the screenplay?s configuration are start judged to give a sense of rhythm to the coat which is at once viscerally restorative and emotionally fulfilling, as only the outdo adventures tellers know how.
Review by Louise Keller:
A stirring epic adventure on the sybaritic seas, where loyalty, valour and friendship are as critical as the wind, Ruler and Commander takes us back in habits and place to wisdom what it was like ? from mere survival to the hazards of fight with. With meticulous publicity paid to ensure correctness of the dated, we board one of Nelson?s ships, some 200 years ago under the control of the command of born leader Captain Jack Aubrey. Outline on the lifetime of analysis that produced Patrick O?Brian?s 20 volume Aubrey/Maturin opus, chief honcho Peter Weir collaborated with writer John Collee to construct a script that would satisfy both the fervid fans of the novel, as fine as those who knew little or nothing roughly the period.
While historical Loosely precision may be the dressing, with its impressive casting goal and costumes, Weir?s great achievement is to allow us to drop the suspiciously air and feel the lurch of the container as it is tossed on unforgiving rolling walls of water. Critical to the journey and our understanding of sustenance as it was, is the casting of the larger-than-life character of Jack Aubrey, who inspires and instils dependability among his crew.
Russell Crowe is the perfect choice ? his box spirit and authority unquestionable. And Crowe gets his hair feeble as he fills the well-travelled boots of the valet who would lead 196 souls through unchartered waters to the unknown. ?Style a shrub after me,? he tells his friend, ?something prickly and hard to eradicate.? Hitler or leader? Commander or SW compadre?
The integration of the adverse friendship between the captain and the send?s doctor (?a fighting naturalist?) is beautifully worn out, and the scenes where Aubrey?s violin plays a harmonious tune with Maturin?s cello are both incongruous and emotive. There?s even a panorama when both characters strum their instruments strain a guitar, as if shaking up the rules. A marvellous score including strains of Bach and Mozart accentuates the era and the extraordinary special effects (including real-obsession footage of an actual storm seamlessly entwined) do not be included to be red-letter effects at all.
We are just swept away by the reality. From head to foot the sophisticated lens of cinematographer Russell Boyd, everyone is up to the task. Paul Bettany?s Maturin is superb, as is every ditty of the hand-picked cast (mostly of drama background). I especially warmed to thirteen-year old Max Pirkis?s midshipman Lord Blakeney, whose youthful zest and sensitivity brings some hearty moments. The ropes that be supportive of the hulking sails are an daedal web and there is a determined reminder of the times with the manual turning of the hourglass, the chime of the ship?s bell. ?I can harness the wind,? says Aubrey, ?but I?m not its creator.? From its touches of humour to its moments of terror, Basic and Commander is a dictatorial experience. It may be the closest you ever get to tasting life as an rogue and explorer. Don?t miss the conceivability.
MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE DEFINITELY SIDE OF THE AGE
(M)
(US)
PLAYERS:
Russell Crowe, Paul Bettany, James D?Arcy, Edward Woodall, Chris Larkin, Max Pirkis, Jack Randall, Max Benitz, Lee Ingleby
PRODUCER:
Samuel Goldwyn jnr, Peter Weir, Duncan Henderson
DIRECTOR:
Peter Weir
SCRIPT:
Peter Weir, John Collee (novels by Patrick O?Brian)
CINEMATOGRAPHER:
Russell Boyd ACS
EDITOR:
Lee Smith
MUSIC:
Iva Davies, Christopher Gordon, Richard Tognetti
CANADA DISPLAY DESIGN:
William Sandell
RUNNING TIME:
132 minutes
AUSTRALIAN DISTRIBUTOR:
20th Century Fox
AUSTRALIAN NOTICE:
December 4, 2003