Review of Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003) by Hotelcentral — 22 Jun 2017

The film is two hours and 18 minutes long and most of that is spent on cinematography. We see the ship, the sails, the ocean, the spray. We see cannon fire and belching flames and the air full of smoke. In between battles with the sea, and the other ship our "heroes" are dueling, we are treated to lengthy scenes in the captain's quarters of the officers having dinner, singing bawdy sailor songs, and the like. One might ask what any of this has to do with the story and the answer is that this film does not have enough story to justify a running time of 90 minutes, much less two hours and 18 minutes.

One prime example is our ship's doctor. He's an amateur naturalist. He gets into a great big argument with our captain because he wants to take a stroll across a Galapagos island to take notes on the local flora and fauna. Never mind that our captain is in hot pursuit of an enemy vessel. I mean, no captain in any navy in history would entertain this discussion for longer than it might take to thrown the doctor into the ocean. It's absurd and a waste of screen time.

Ultimately, I would not recommend this film. I would recommend the "Hornblower" series of British films which were clearly produced by people who understand something about dramatic structure, not to mention characterization.