Master & Commander (no spoilers)

old.user4556

Has a sexy sister. I am also a Bodhi wannabee.
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What did everyone think of this? I got this out on DVD recommended to me by so many people and I didn't think it was very good. The first ten minutes were brilliant, with the shattering wood of the ship coming from all around you (for those with DD) but the middle was incredibly boring. Of course, the battle at the end rocked.

Mediocre, dull in the middle, Russell Crowe with hammy acting. Wasn't too impressed :(.

G
 

Vae

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I enjoyed it and thought it was a very well done film although the scope of it does slightly limit what you can do.

The depiction of life on a Royal Navy frigate in napoleonic times was excellent. Normally I'd be sitting there picking holes in it but their version was so accurate I couldn't.

As much as I dislike Russel Crowe playing the captain with his slightly dodgy accent, he is one of the few people with the stage prescence/charisma to hold that role just as he did in Gladiator.

Given that it is an all male cast and takes place almost exclusively on 1 ship (with a small detour to the Galapagos islands) there's only so much you can expect in terms of excitement. I personally thought the two excellent battle scenes were tied together well with the playout of the relationship between Crowe and Paul Bettany as ships surgeon.

There were a few bits of humour in it, often subtle, but imo the worst moment was the just terrible weevil joke :(

Oh and btw I can highly recommend Patrick O'Briens books. They're not initially easy to get into as he writes authentically with the patterns of speech, words and turns of phrase of the time but after a while you get used to it and start thinking in the same pattern. They are very detailed, accurate, well written, exciting and enjoyable so overall rather good :)
At the back of one of the later books there's a rather good extract from someone elses book or essay explaining about O'Brien and how he is hailed as one of the greatest novelists of recent history which makes rather interesting reading.
 

throdgrain

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The weevil joke is one of the parts of the book translated into the film, the thing is in the books they behave like that, they get pissed all the time and tell bog aweful jokes. Not least the Dog Watch joke.
Ive read all 20 books at least three times each Im afraid, so consider myself a fan, and I thought the film had a good go at it. The tenth book that is, "The Far Side Of The World", it was nothing at all like the first book, "Master And Commander".
 

SawTooTH

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I bought the DVD too and think it doesnt really cross well from the big screen to the TV. Its a reasonable chase story and fairly accurate.
 

shanks

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Great visually, not much of a movie though sadly. And I have never been a fan of Crowe.
 

Tom

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I thought the film was superb. Note the lack of music, and the incredible sound effects. It really felt like you were out at sea.

I also enjoyed the way that the film didn't judge any of the superstitions prevalent at the time.

I thought Russell Crowe was exactly the right man for the job. Did you know that prior to filming, he was bloating himself up, to more closely match the character in the books? The producers had a change of heart, and made him lose the weight again. Hes a great actor. Just look at the change from The Insider, to Gladiator.
 

old.user4556

Has a sexy sister. I am also a Bodhi wannabee.
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I thought the production was brilliant, good use of discrete rear audio channels to bring the creaking ship to life. It was well filmed and felt pretty claustrophobic with the fog and the impression of being unable to escape.

It was the general lull in the middle of the film that let it down for me.

G
 

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