Master And Commander: The Far Side Of The World

UK Release Date. 28 November 2003
Certification. 12A
Running Time. 2 hours 18 mins
Director. Peter Weir
Cast. Paul Bettany, Billy Boyd, Russell Crowe, James D’Arcy, Max Pirkis, David Threlfall.
Rating. 61%

Review.

Peter Weir’s 2003 film, Master And Commander: The Far Side Of The World is based on elements of a number of novels from the popular series written by Patrick O’Brian. The series follows Captain Jack Aubrey and his friend, the physician Stephen Maturin, on their rise through the ranks of the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic wars. The general plot thrust of the film follows O’Brian’s The Far Side Of The World, but Weir - the veteran director of Picnic At Hanging Rock, The Year Of Living Dangerously, Witness, Dead Poets Society and The Truman Show - is not afraid to alter key elements of the original source material, and borrow details from other books in the series.

When the HMS Surprise, a British frigate stationed off the east coast of Brazil, is ambushed by a superior French vessel, the Acheron, Captain Jack Aubrey (Russell Crowe) decides to pursue the enemy down through the Atlantic Ocean, around Cape Horn, and through the Pacific to the Galápagos Islands and damn the consequences. 

Master And Commander: The Far Side Of The World opens and closes with impressive battle sequences, but the intervening 75 minutes concerns itself with more mundane matters - the establishment of characters and details of life above- and below-deck on a ship in Nelson’s navy. By restricting most of the action to the HMS Surprise (with the exception of a few brief scenes on the Galápagos Islands) Weir is able to explore the rivalries and tensions that inevitably develop between the men who are confined together in a small place in far from ideal circumstances. As an aside, the crew of the HMS Surprise and Stephen Maturin (Paul Bettany) would appear to visit the Galápagos Islands some 30 years before Charles Darwin visited the islands and 50 years ahead of publication of On The Origin Of Species.

Possibly thanks to the source material, the characters that live within Master And Commander: The Far Side Of The World feel complete, each with their own stories to tell, even if they are not played out on screen. The film's emotional core is the relationship between Captain Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin. Crowe and Bettany, who worked together previously on A Beautiful Mind, both deliver fine performances and successfully capture the turbulent yet harmonious friendship.

Since the entire film is presented from the HMS Surprise's perspective, the French are viewed as distant, impersonal and intimidating adversaries. Weir wisely refrains from any token point-of-view shots from the Acheron. For the entirety of the film, the French are simply the enemy.

Technically, the film is a triumph and the craftsmanship involved in the production is impressive. Unsurprisingly, for a film set near entirely on the sea, Weir and his cinematographer, Russell Boyd produce some spectacular shots of the ocean and the ships. Filmed in the same giant tank at Baja Studios used in Titanic, The Weight Of Water and Pearl Harbor, the ocean-bound sequences are utterly convincing with digital effects seamlessly incorporated.

While Master And Commander: The Far Side Of The World is easy to admire, it’s difficult to adore. The bloated screenplay (written by Weir and John Collee) would have benefitted from some judicious editing, particularly the protracted middle section. The film simply isn’t fun enough, nor is it rich enough, either; but its old fashioned sturdiness - solid like the oak used to construct the HMS Surprise - has given the film durability. And while Crowe's indelible Maximus was a "father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife,” who would “have my vengeance, in this life or the next" Captain Jack Aubrey's motivation remains more remote.