Cheap Master and Commander - The Far Side of the World (Video) (Russell Crowe, Paul Bettany, James D'Arcy, Billy Boyd) (Peter Weir) Price

Related Products

Customer Reviews of Master and Commander - The Far Side of the World

Blimey! There's a cannonball stuck up me arse!!
Sorry, I couldn't resist. "Master and Commander" is a wonderful film. To me the appeal lies in its superbly-drawn, multi-dimensional characters. Being in the company of these men is enough to make you endure the freezing cold, vertigo, smoldering sun, and paltry meals on a month-long ocean voyage. The interactions between Jack, the young Midshipman Blakeney, and the ship's doctor were a pleasure to watch. The characters acted with decency and intelligence, making them excellent companions despite the bloody battles, amputations, and whip-lashings. Peter Weir's direction is first-rate, perfectly depicting life on a sea vessel centuries ago. Who needs action when you have conversations like these? Russell Crowe creates yet another memorable character, easily matched by the doctor and the boy who plays the courageous and affable apprentice. When thinking about this movie, I won't remember the spectacle of ships firing on each other at close range, or the colossal waves crashing down on sodden decks, or the splintering of the mast beam by shrapnel. I'll remember the physician and Captain Jack participating in lively debates, gradually coming to understand one another, and doing their best to be tolerant. I'll also remember the doctor and the boy exploring the strange islands, discovering new species that haven't yet become extinct.

---

Great BIG SCREEN Movie
.
4+ stars - Great Big Screen Movie
4- stars - when it hits DVD

Summary:
A screen adaptation of Patrick O'Brian's fictional chronicles of the early 19th century British-French naval wars. This film focuses on the friendship between Captain Jack Aubrey and surgeon Stephen Maturin and the evolution of their relationship as they face a superior foe.

Review:

A good naval yarn, and excellent big screen film. Maybe not a movie you will see 3-4 times, but, certainly a movie you will see twice..... once at the theatre (highly recommended) and once (1 time) again when the DVD comes out (for the Directors' Commentary - my plan anyhow).

Good script writing, great cinematography, great acting, great sets, great props and costumes, wonderful music.

The realism of the sets including the ships, the ocean cinematography, and the cat & mouse naval conflict makes this a big screen must see. The ship is a real replica 1800s-era British tall ship (Rose - from Rhode Island). The big screen viewer is truly transported to another time.

Unfortunately, the action and dialog doesn't make you crave watching and dissecting the film a half dozen times like other big screen action films. It is accurate fictional history. But, it lacks the expected excitement, quick and brilliant dialogue or deeper spiritual essence that initiates deep thought and repeated viewing.

Regardless, "Master & Commander: Far Side of the World" is a must see for the big screen!

---

EVERYTHING --& more!!
1. this is THE cute guy movie. from 8 to 80, small, tall, thin or round, this movie will have someone for you. i can only imagine my sister, who once had a list of 254 men she Truly Cared About that included people like the guy 3d from the left in the second scene of Star Trek 2, drooling like a pet of pavlov w/in the first 3 minutes.

2. & speaking of star trek-----

russell crow _IS_ Captain James T. Kirk.

this is the most postmodern movie i have ever seen!!

here is an actor playing a captain playing an actor playing a captain!!

i think captainhood has been forever embedded in the mind of anyone young or old & privileged enough to see the _real_ & _only_ Star Trek as meaning one thing: William Shatner. watch the timing!! watch the _gestures_!! watch the way he looks at the camera. the likeness is uncanny!!

my partner watched this movie a couple of days before i did & when i said to him, "you know who that is--" he said he had thought the same thing.

amazing!!

dont worry, i LOVE Captain James T. Kirk. when i was a very little kid, even younger than any of the little kids in this movie, my parents & i saw him (the actor, not the captain) screaming at his girlfriend at a folk dance festival. that image is embedded in my brain as well!!

anyway.

Captain Kirk, in order to be Captain Kirk, MUST have his Spock. & here, of course, he does. but oddly his Spock is only the entrée into........

3. the Monty Python element. think John Cleese, younger (much much younger), w/ a lot of freckles & a slightly skinnier jawline. think his uppercrust gestures & the way he often looks up at you (thru the camera) w/ those eyes..... right here. Mr. Spock as a naturalist-warrior-sailor-doctor who also, on the side, runs the Ministry of Silly Walks.

but thats not all!!

you also get, in this movie that was modeled on "Star Trek transports itself into Monty Python & the Holy Grail on the High Seas" --the old guy. you remember the Old Guy. he is embedded in yr brain too. i know he is. & it will be very very hard for you to watch a scene wherein he appears w/o thinking of eric idle, hanging on a dungeon wall & singing. every single time.

but nobody is singing "la marseillaise" b/c when you finally do meet those french types, they are too busy yelling things like:

"oh you english pig-dogs!!" --you get that too!! i almost expected a bunch of fruit & a cow to come flying over the side of the boat.

& theres more-- so much more-- it makes ones brain itch trying to remember it all.....

4. &, speaking of an itchy brain, in addition to heroic self-surgery, one also gets: trepanning. woohoo!! personally, i recommend amanda fielding's video (worth looking up) as she is doing real-life, real-time self-trepanning, but this one works as a little preview. & besides, she doesnt stick a quarter into her skull.

5. &, wait, there is so much more!! poop on the poopdeck (rewind or you will miss it. my partner, who worked on lots of boats made us rewind so i wouldnt miss it)-- & LOTS & LOTS of animals. i LOVE this movie!!

but probably not in the way that peter weir intended. which is why i gave it 4 stars. it is the most postmodern movie i have ever seen. the whole thing seems plotted, directed & acted as if it were a bunch of archetypal television programs strung together or laid on top of one another (lets not forget marlon brando (rip) in "mutiny on the bounty," although that might just have been inspiration for the costumes) (& do remember "the poseiden adventure" & undoubtedly "titanic" (i havent seen it)) w/ unbelievably fabulous images of oceans, islands, ground & ships-- just gorgeous stuff from the director of "the last wave."

& yes, it is a roiling barrel of entertainment.