Master and Commander: The Far Sid eof the World
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)
Starring: Russell Crowe, Paul Bettany, James D'Arcy, Edward Woodall.
Directed by Peter Weir.
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World is based on the numerous novels by Patrick O'Brian. The two that immediately come to mind, are Master and Commander and The Far Side of the World. Master and Commander only seems to be in the title because it was the first book, and it is in The Far Side of the World where most of the guts of the movie is found.
I did see this movie when it first came out, and I was generally impressed, but it couldn't really say that I particularly liked the film. Now a few years later, having gotten into the books that the movie was based on, I gave Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World another try, and I find it much more interesting, and a movie that holds up to repeated viewings.
A problem I had the first time I saw the film, is that I found it a little hard to keep track of everything. The attention to detail is astonishing, and watching for the first time it is easy to miss things while you're watching something else on the screen. Keeping track of the characters was difficult as well. While they did toss out a few character names, aside from Paul Bettany and Russell Crowe none of them really stick, and it is a little hard to know why you should know who Barrett Bonden is(The Billy Boyd character). Having read the books, the characters stood out more, and they were faithful to the characters.
The tone and feel of the film too, was faithful to the book. The Jack Aubrey-Stephen Maturin series is above all a character study in a fully realized world, and the film stayed faithful to both Jack and Stephen, and the world they inhabited. While both Russell Crowe and Paul Bethany left something to be desired when it came to physically realizing their characters, they both brought to the fore the essence of Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin. Along this line, I can't think of who would be a good physical stand in for Jack Aubrey (Red-faced and Heavy), but I think that Steve Buscemi would have physically fit Maturin's odd bird appearance.
Having read the book and appreciating some of the plot changes in it(For example, the Jonah gets off easy in the movie), also how they got around the timeline problem that Patrick O'Brian ran into(O'Brian ended up doubling the length of the War of 1812 at the very least) by setting it in 1805 with the French, all the while staying true the the essence of the novels, which was Jack and Maturin's relationship.
I could also appreciate what the makers of the film were faced with in staying faithful to novels on which the movie is based, as well as the legacy of other authors, and the numerous movies in the genre. Compared to the movie, the book has a positively anti-climatic ending. So it seems that in putting together this movie, the writer was perhaps taking a page from C.S. Forester, or Captain Horatio Hornblower with Gregory Peck.
Namely the need for a do or die ship to ship action. With H.M.S. Surprise, versus the Acheron, a 28-gun frigate, versus a 44-gun frigate, with heavier guns, a simply devastating match up. Quite simply, no movie to date has done ship to ship fighting with the realism exhibited in Master and Commander. Never has anything on film ever tried to even attempt what it might have been like to be in a wooden warship being raked by another (a very well done scene). The movie thankfully takes pains to explain what is about to happen so we have an idea what is actually going on when it does happen. My only real complaint is that in the hand to hand fighting, it would have been nice to have something destinguish the bad guys, like an obnoxious red hat or something.
Quite simply Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, is the best film in its genre, ever made (or least that I've seen) that also stays true to it source material. However it can be a little heavy for the uninterested, and sometimes sags under the need to explain its source material, both fictional and historical.
Overall, 3 1/2 stars out of 4.