Hey folks, Harry here with additional comments on MASTER & COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD - the Peter Weir / Russell Crowe flick being produced by ... like every studio in Hollywood. So far we've received 3 reviews... 2 positives 1 negative. I do have to wonder a bit about the choice of recruiting High School kids for a historical film about nautical battle in the days of galleons. Especially one that is supposed to be DRAMATIC and not the comical popcorn of PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN, which is their type of film. The idea of giving High School kids NRG forms with which to dissect a Peter Weir movie scares the living shit out of me. Here's the two reviews - judge for yourself...
Hey Harry,
Big fan of the site. I also saw the new Russell Crowe flick in Colorado and couldn't disagree more with the first reviewer. I went with a buddy and we both thought it was absolutely awful. Just about everyone around us also thought it was awful. The first reviewer had most of the story correct. The island that he was referring to was the Galapagos Islands. However, the movie was INCREDIBLY boring and long. I realize that they still have to edit it a bit. They can easily cut out a half-hour of the thing, probably more. It ran about 2:20 with no credits. The battle scenes weren't even that good. The first battle is just cannons firing at each other from a long distance. The final battle is cannons - then the English jump on the French ship and see them all dead. Straight out of Battle for the Planet of the Apes one Frenchman screams "Now get up and fight like apes" - I mean frenchmen - and all get up and have hand-to-hand combat. Then it just gets worse. All the audience hears is loud music while the two sides fight. I am no expert on the different types and eras of music, but it certainly sounded like AFRICAN MUSIC to me. Hopefully that will be completely re-edited. The ocean scene where the guy goes overboard was better done in The Perfect Storm. I will not see this movie again in its final form, and I certainly will tell everyone I meet not to see it. If it does have historical accuracies in it, then wait for the hour-long PBS documentary on it. That would be much more interesting.
I sat in the middle of the theater, two rows from the top. Some of the high-schoolers around us were making comments throughout the movie. Normally, I can't stand when that happens but this time it was much needed. When it was finally over one girl next to me screamed "It's Over" in joy. Two rows in front of us they taped off three seats in the middle. Right before the movie started some guy sat in the middle seat of the three that were taped off and about three people in the row in front of him seemed to be talking to him like he was the Big Honcho (from Miramax, Universal??). Needless to say, this guy looked very uncomfortable throughout the showing. I had more fun watching him than the movie.
Call me - The Long Metz
Then we have Showbiz with a completely different take on the film....
Hello Harry,
I was also at the Aurora 16 Mann Chinese Theater and witnessed the Master and Commander movie. I thought I would expand upon the other reviewers post about the movie. You can call me Showbiz.
So...
The movie is unfinished so far. You can see blue screens everywhere (especially during battle scenes). So the main story is about Captain "Lucky" Jack and his obsession with this French Battle ship which comes out of nowhere in the beginning and blows Jack's ship apart.
He escapes by heading into the fog. The crew is flabbergasted when Jack announces that they will rebuild at sea and pursue the French ship. They run into the ship at sea after days of pursuit and once again outwit the ship and escape without a scratch this time.
The movie is slow at times. There is a relationship between Crowe's character Jack and the ship doctor Bettany (played by Stephen Maturin). The good doctor tries to be a friend to Crowe and tell him that he feels the crew is restless and feel that this pursuit is a bout pride more than duty. This leads to a little quarrel among friends.
The battle sequences are awesome. Everything you want to see in a swashbuckling tale. Old scurvy sea dogs, Billy Boyd scrubbing the deck, all of that. The ending battle when they find the French ship is awesome. It looked unfinished, but had the makings of a great battle. The battle takes place with no sound (except for the music which is great) All that you see are snippets of fighting displayed over a tribal / Japanese (only way I can describe it) soundtrack for about 15 minutes. Ohhh so gory.
So throw in a few trips to the Galapagos islands where the doctor plays Darwin and a disturbed suicidal lieutenant (which I have no idea why they put this guy in the movie at all). And you got yourself a Russel Crowe blockbuster movie on the level of Gladiator.
