By
Louis Dennig
Movie Columnist
In Peter Weir’s adaptation of two books - Master and Commander, and The
Far Side of the World – which he aptly titled Master and Commander: The
Far Side of the World, Russell Crowe leads his British warship the H.M.S. Surprise
on what proves to be a very artistic yet ultimately boring story.
Crowe plays Captain Jack Aubrey, a passionate leader, and, as usual, commands
the screen with his larger-than-life presence, making it easy to understand
why his crew holds the utmost respect for him. Crowe’s powerful performance
is reminiscent of his fantastic role in Gladiator. The problem with Master and
Commander, however, is not its acting. It lies, instead with the storytelling.
First of all, there is no enemy in the movie. There is no face to put on all
of the passion and anger the actors show towards the opposing ship, which keeps
outsmarting the Surprise. Without any clear enemy, there has to be something
that makes you want to root for the heroes, either an explicit definition of
why the enemy is bad, or a profound love for the people on the boat, and neither
of those is present in Master and Commander.
The ship that Crowe and his crew are fighting is a French ghost ship, which
he has been ordered to destroy. Being a ghost ship, the audience rarely ever
sees it, and never sees anything that the ships has done, which would have made
us understand why it must be destroyed. Not having any back-story, besides the
knowledge that it takes place during the Napoleonic wars, the audience doesn’t
really have any reason to hate the French.
The battle sequences between the two ships seem unrealistic for some reason.
Most of them consist of Crowe shouting to fire faster and the cannons roaring
up. Even though a movie without much violence is appreciated, but a film about
ship battle that is basically without gore is pretty unbelievable.
Besides the lack of an enemy, the story is pretty boring unless you’re
really into watching ships. If you are, the shots and dedication to detail are
incredibly impressive. But the story is really still pretty dull and slow moving.
Not very much actually happens throughout the movie, and the one and only time
the audience gets involved is in the last twenty minutes, when the ship’s
loveable and intelligent doctor, Paul Bettany, is accidentally wounded.
Looking past the slow story, the attention to detail, acting and art direction
are very impressive, and if there wasn’t a lack of enthusiasm towards
the entire crew of the ship and their purpose, the movie would be excellently
put together. Again, the ships look incredible, and the detail in the depictionst
of life on a battle ship is paid extremely close attention. For example, in
the opening shot each member of the ship’s crew is seen sleeping in what
amounts to a potato sac of a hammock, packed in like sardines at the bottom
of the ship.
For a moviegoer who loves ships, this is an excellent movie to see. However,
if you don’t, and you’re looking for more plot and adventure, it
might be something pretty hard to sit through.
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