MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD

It's April, 1805, we're aboard the British warship HMS Surprise off the coast of Brazil, and Captain Jack Aubrey (Russell Crowe) has just received orders to intercept the French privateer ship Acheron, with instructions to "sink, burn or take her as a prize." This is the set-up for MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD, based on Patrick O'Brian's novels, which are widely acclaimed for their detail and historical accuracy. Someone who has not read the books or studied the period is in no position to comment on either, but certainly the movie made by director Peter Weir and his co-scenarist John Collee is full of fascinating lore and looks like everybody involved spent a whole lot of time doing massive research.

Fortunately, MASTER is not one of those historical epics that wanders around, endlessly pointing the camera at spectacle for its own sake. The script is rich with character detail and the subtle politics of class and command structure, while the acting is first-rate from Crowe and co-lead Paul Bettany, who plays ship's doctor Stephen Maturin, the captain's best friend and sometimes philosophical nemesis, to the bit players. There are some magnificent, breathtaking and frankly scary nautical combat sequences, which show off the budget (which, in turn, may or may not explain why three different studios are listed in the above-the-title credits).

It is, in fact, the

Russell Crowe stars as Captain Jack Aubrey in MASTER AND COMMANDER

© 20th Century Fox

MASTER AND COMMANDER is mightily physically impressive, largely courtesy of the cinematography of Russell Boyd and the production design of William Sandell. Weir draws us into the world of the ship, making it a living, breathing entity that fascinates us in the manner of a good documentary. We believe it's a real environment for the duration and we remain interested throughout it's just that MASTER AND COMMANDER never quite achieves the emotional momentum we might expect from something of its physical size. Actually, this deviation from expectations gives it a feeling of subversive originality it's good, atypical action filmmaking.