Review of Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003) by Liam C — 14 Mar 2015

'Master and Commander' really does earn its epic status and features a huge and excellent cast. The first thing that I noticed is just how unique this film is, even if, funnily enough, it came out the same year as the first 'Pirates' movie. Even so, just to watch something this creative was great and it just had a great sense of adventure. Russell Crowe really does liven things up in this film and once again gives an excellent performance, showing us once again his versatility and ability at perfecting accents, as well as showcasing method acting once more with learning the violin and he played beautifully. Whilst I was watching I was seeing how well he was doing and it just had to be him playing, and it was. His character was also really funny as well and overall, very well rounded; I think he was snubbed an Oscar nomination because of 'Pirates of the Caribbean', actually. It's still crazy to think Johnny Depp got his first nomination for that film. Paul Bettany once again starring against Crowe does an excellent job also and these two really work well with one another. However, the really well written development these two have isn't really shared by anyone else.

The cast was excellently chosen and there are actually quite a lot of characters but we probably spend too much time with too many people because we really don't know a lot about most of them. We're given enough to at least care for them and we do know a little bit about most of them, but for something this grand I expected a little more. I mean, James D'Arcy's character... Who the hell was that? He is one of the most important supporting characters and is supposed to be very important in the ship's ranks but he never really does anything or never really has the screen centred on him for any period of time for us to learn about him. I know he's a good actor but why didn't they use him more? Also, for as fun as this film is trying to be, it seemed like not much happened for significant amounts of time, I was never bored but the pacing of this film is a little off. Within 20 minutes I already started to check the time and that's when I knew something was wrong. After all is said and done the film only ends up being slightly over 2 hours by about 10 minutes but it feels a lot longer than that and that really shouldn't be. I never felt like a lot really happened, I don't need it to be all action to find it engaging but the events that happen in the film seem spaced apart. That wouldn't be a problem if all the characters had development but like I said, there are too many of them to give development to them all. Crowe and Bettany did have a very good relationship and watching them interact was excellent viewing but everyone else didn't really matter that much, but maybe that's how it should be, as Crowe and Bettany are the main characters here.

It appeared after a little while that there was going to be a subplot about corruption but that never really went anywhere, like a few of its other themes. That being said, that plotline is overplayed and thankfully this film did have a distinct lack of clichés, scenes where it looked like clichés were being set up thankfully did not happen. Even if there was one scene where two characters say goodbye before battle, and I thought one of them was going to die and they did but it didn't manipulative. The film does have an epic feel and it is quite memorable, it has smart action scenes that are visually dazzling, feature smart tactical planning by the characters that is interesting to watch and felt authentic, it makes sense why it won the Oscars it did. The filmmakers manage to get a lot of mileage out of a film centred in one location, if you'll pardon the pun. I do like the film but I think it could have been a little bit shorter and there is just something about it that doesn't come full circle with me but I can't quite put my finger on it but it certainly isn't a bad film. Peter Weir has excellent direction and puts the pieces together very well and it's a great entry into his very varied filmography; a sequel would be nice to see this great world and these well written, likeable characters again, even if, sadly, they all think it is unlikely. With great performances and perfect attention to detail, 'Master and Commander' is a very unique and enjoyable film, despite what I have said.