Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World DVD Review:

1805 and the war between England and France had spilled out into the seas. Captain Jack Aubrey (Crowe) and the crew of the HMS Surprise have orders to pursue the French ship Acheron then sink, burn or take her as a prize. The Acheron is twice as big with twice the guns, but Lucky Jack, as the crew knew him, has never lost. While in fog off the coast of Brazil, the Acheron launches a surprise attack and without the cover of the mist the Surprise would have been lost. As the ship is repaired, Captain Aubrey sets a pursuit coarse that would take them to the Pacific and far side of the world.

Let fly, as cannons ring out their deadly fire under the command of a new hero of the silver screen, Captain Jack Aubrey.

Based upon the books by Patrick O’Brian, the epic sea battles of the Napoleonic war are brilliantly brought to life as captains strategise how to gain the upper hand, whatever the cost. This boys-own adventure mixes action and historical drama to produce a rip-roaring film.

In Captain Jack Aubrey we have everything we need for a screen hero. Driven, stern, a master tactician and an officer of the highest regard and respect with a crew that would follow him into any battle, whatever odds, Aubrey is everything you would want a commanding officer to be. He would have been nothing without the superb performance by Russell Crowe. He is an actor on top of his game and no other thespian could convey that presence of command and respect needed to bring this type of character to the screen. While some may argue that the role is very similar to the one he played in Gladiator, Crowe does succeed in making the character and the situation different enough to make the comparisons fall away after a time.

The supporting cast are also good. Rising star Paul Bettany gives another superb performance as ship’s doctor Steven Maturin. He is Jack’s best friend and conscience as the rigours of battle put a strain on the ship and the crew. Young Max Pirkis is also good as midshipman Lord Blakeney, who at barely fourteen years of age, is forced to become a man far quicker than anyone should be.

Director Peter Weir injects a real sense of drama into the battle and storm scenes. He brings the camera right into the action as splintering wood and crashing waves engulf the crew in a crescendo of heart stopping moments. As with many movies that show the sheer impact of any type of combat, Master & Commander doesn’t hold back in showing what a fearful place war can be but also how both courage and bravery hold true for most people involved. The Cape Horn sequence and the climatic battle show this is spades, as you follow the Captain and crew through their epic encounter.

While the action sequences are first rate, the film does slow down in the middle for character building and excessive shots of the amazing Galapagos Islands (This is the first movie ever to get permission to film there). It does allow you to get the know the crew better and reinforce Jack’s motivations for revenge but it does spend too much time doing this distracting you from the mission at hand.

Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World might not be the swashbuckling adventure you might have been expecting but it is far better for it. More historical drama than no-brainer action flick, the movie relies more on putting you into the time and showing what it was like to be onboard a ship in Napoleonic times. In fact the main villain of the piece is a ship, with a Captain and crew that you never see until the final battle but you can’t help but have that sense of foreboding every time you see the silhouette on the horizon. So let fly and you will gain the prize of great entertainment by watching it.

Star Rating = * * * *

PICTURE & SOUND
Presented in 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen with a choice between Dolby Digital 5.1 and dts surround soundtracks, this is one of the best looking and sounding movies released on DVD. The picture quality is superb and one of the best non-direct digital transfers you will ever have the pleasure of watching. The sound is also astounding with the Dolby Digital 5.1 track setting new standards but the dts track is totally stupendous, coming into its own during the battle and storm scenes.

BONUS FEATURES

DISK ONE

Inside Look at I-Robot

A behind the scenes preview of the upcoming Will Smith sci-fi flick.

Trailers

Previews of The Day After Tomorrow, Stuck on You, Runaway Jury and Cheaper By The Dozen

DISK TWO

The Hundred Days (1hr 08.41 mins)

Introduced by director Peter Weir and his cast and crew this documentary covers all aspects of bringing Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World to the silver screen…
Pre-production
Peter Weir talks about adapting the 10th book in the twenty novel series by acclaimed writer Patrick O’Brian. They also talk about constructing the two ships with one a real frigate called the Rose that was renovated to look like the Surprise and another ship built on a gimble inside a huge water tank in Baja, Mexico.

Characters & Casting

Russell Crowe talks about how he nearly turned down the role but the fact that Peter Weir was involved influenced his decision. It is also revealed how Paul Bettany got the part and the casting of young, up and coming British actors in the crew parts.
Learning the Ropes

The cast go through a sailing, sword and cannons boot camp to familiarise them with all the duties they would have to perform on the ship.

Principal Photography
Multi-angle camera views from the extensive shoot at Baja studios in Mexico. All of the key scenes are covered including the battle and storm scenes.

Makeup & Costumes
With over 20 gallons of blood and over 2,000 authentic costumes, the production was huge in every department.
Shooting at Sea
Peter Weir and the cast talk about how difficult it is to shoot at sea but also how fun it is. Russell Crowe loved been at sea on the Rose.

The Galapagos

This was one of the first movies ever to be granted permission to film on the protected islands. Paul Bettany talks about how close he got to the unique animals of the islands.

Ram her Bow
Behind the scenes of the climatic battle sequence, which took over four weeks to film. We also see the amount of training Russell Crowe and the crew had to go through to get prepared for filming.
Music

Composers Christopher Gordon and Iva Davies talk about their influences for the film’s music. It is also revealed how Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany actually learnt to play the violin and the chello for the movie.

In the wake of O’Brian (19.20 mins)

Peter Weir talks about directing and adapting the movie. He reminisces about how he surrounded himself with items from the era and played music from the time to help both he and co-screenwriter John Collie get a feel for the period. He tells us how he visited the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich and Nelson’s ship HMS Victory and also was lucky enough to sail on the Endeavour to get his sea legs.

Cinematic Phasmids (30.01 mins)

Split into four parts, this featurette cover the special effects used in Master & Commander and talks to the people behind their creation.
Part I Tall Ships True or False

A look at the teams recreating the Surprise and Acheron both as miniatures and as computer generated models.
Part II Fighting Sail
Recreating cannon damage was one of the biggest tests for the FX crews. Then emercing the first battle in fog made this all the more difficult.
Part III Storm Tossed Seas

Creating the storm sequence was one of the biggest FX undertakings of the entire movie. Using footage of the actual seas around Cape Horn, taken onboard the Endeavour, water from the dump tanks on the Baja set and computer generated rain, the crew took four months to create the finished sequence that only took up eight ages of the script.

Part IV Galapagos
The FX used to make Mexico look like the Galapagos Island and making the islands themselves, look like they did at the time the film was set. CG techniques were also used to increase the amount wildlife on the islands and blend matte shots into certain scenes.

On Sound Featurette (17.45 mins)

Sound specialist Richard King and director Peter Weir talk about how important sound is in creating feel of the movie. We find out how different cannons have very different sounds and recording debris sound effects can be quite hazardous. The featurette also covers how the storm sounds were recorded and how difficult it was to record sound at sea.

Interactive Sound Recording Feature
Listen to the sounds of cannon fore from different angles, distances and types of cannon.

HBO First Look (25.01 mins)

Interviews with Paul Bettany, James D’Arcy, Chris Larkin, Max Pirkis, Edward Woodall, Billy Boyd, director Peter Weir and many of the crew. The featurette takes you behind the scenes of the movie but does tend to cover ground already covered in previous featurettes.

Deleted Scenes (22.04 mins)

Entitled “Weighing Anchor”, “Shipboard life”, “Superstition”, “Dentistry”, “Articles of War” and “Galapagos”, these six deleted scenes and plot montages give you more of an insight into ship life but add little to the overall story.

Multi-Camera Shooting

Entitled “Surprising the Surprise”, “The Final Battle” and “Split screen vignette”, this gives you the opportunity to watch key scenes from four different camera angles, the B-Roll footage and a composite of all the angles, which includes all the lens details. The vignette gives you an insight into the filming process with lots of details about shooting with many cameras.

Still Galleries

Your chance to view the conceptual art from George Jensen and Daren Dochterman, Naval Art and technical drawings that inspired and were used in making the movie.

OVERALL
Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World is one of the best 2 disk DVD sets released on the format. Apart from presentation of the film been absolutely first rate, the extras are stupendous. They give you a fascinating insight into every aspect of the making of the film and it shows you once and for all that Peter Weir is a great filmmaker and Russell Crowe is a tremendous actor. The only slight let down is the lack of a commentary track but the quality of the extras make up for this. This is a must buy for everyone’s collection.

Star Rating = * * * * *

Jamie Kelwick

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