I've watched this film probably close to ten times now since I first saw it in the cinema for a double header that included Tom Cruise's dreadful 'The Last Samourai'. I remember the impression it made on me. I also remember feeling embarrassed as a teenager buying a ticket for a movie with such a florid title as 'Master and Commander: Far Side of the World' and Russell Crowe on the poster looking like a butch sailor with an unbuttoned uniform staring wistfully off into the future. I cringed.

How wrong I was. Here is a film told with great precision and mastery by one of the great chameleon filmmakers Peter Weir; I say chameleon because he is a director who always puts his story and characters ahead of himself - his craft is efficient, with the goal being to remove all traces of there being a hand behind the wheel. Everything you need is there, in service to the film.

I've never had the adventure/buccaneer/sailor fantasy growing up, but this film certainly instilled it in me. It's a tremendous adventure, with sweeping battle sequences but is also unusually smart and literate for such a large scale picture. Despite its swashbuckling pretenses, the film allows all of the characters to breathe and come to life over the course of a strangely moving and evocative narrative. Each viewing of the film brings out more details under the surface.

It's a shame it didn't have a chance at a sequel, it deserved one so badly. Meanwhile Pirates of the Caribbean 9: coming to a theater near you…. Seek this one out instead.

"Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" is a very unusual film because the filmmakers obviously were not attempting to make yet another Hollywood style blockbuster. Instead, they seemed to be doing the impossible--make a film that tries very hard to replicate what life was like at sea back during the Napoleonic Wars. As a retired history teacher, this is the sort of stuff I love--even if in the original, the 'bad guys' were actually the Americans and it was set during the War of 1812! I assume they changed the enemy to the French to make the film more marketable. After all, it would be a hard sell in the large American market to get the audiences to root for the British Navy in this altercation! The story occurs around the beginning of the 19th century. The Brits and French have been fighting off and on for almost a decade (and would continue to do so until 1815). The action is set aboard a British Naval ship commanded by Captain Jack Aubrey (Russell Crowe). His ship has encountered a larger and faster French vessel and managed to escape. However, instead of running, Crowe plays a very determined man--and spends much of the film hunting down this ship. Along the way, there are lots of adventures--mostly of the variety you might actually have seen during the era. I could talk about them, but frankly this would spoil the suspense.

Overall, while this film is very slowly and deliberately paced (which will obviously turn off some viewers),the film is so expertly crafted that for a reasonably patient viewer, it should be a very engaging film. The film looks great--with a lot of attention to details and accuracy. It also has the best looking sea footage you can find in a period film--especially when the ship is rounding the Cape (it must have been amazing on the big screen). The acting is lovely as well--understated but quite realistic. Well done in every way and the director really deserves kudos for this one. While I love films from the same period as "Damn the Defiant", "Captain Horatio Hornblower", "Mutiny on the Bounty" and the like, clearly "Master and Commander" is superior when it comes to accurately portraying the life of a seaman.

For those who like action and adventure from a more romantic age you can't beat Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World for your needs. As a film it rates right up there with Captain Horatio Hornblower which starred Gregory Peck and Damn the Defiant with Alec Guinness, a couple of films I liked very much.

Russell Crowe completely fits my conception of Patrick O'Brian's Napoleonic naval hero 'Lucky Jack Aubrey'. He's a worthy successor to C.S. Forrester's Horatio Hornblower. The books have been best sellers for years and this is Jack Aubrey's first screen appearance.

The film opens with Crowe in command of a ship that's just seen a lot of action and it's not in the best of shape. Orders from the Admiralty come to him. There's a French frigate who's quite a bit bigger than Crowe's ship, nevertheless she's the only one near her in those southern latitudes so it's a search and destroy mission. One that can't be accomplished until necessary repairs are made.

There's surprisingly little combat action in this film until the very end. It concentrates on character and goes into the most minute of detail the life on board a British ship of the line during the Napoleonic Wars. The action takes place in 1805 right after the Battle of Trafalgar and the United Kingdom is still keeping a lot of ships close to home.

Crowe is nothing short of outstanding as Aubrey the charismatic captain of this vessel. He gets good support from the rest of the cast, my favorites being ship's surgeon Paul Bettany and Max Pirkis as the young midshipman who Crowe takes a fatherly interest in.

In a sense the character's nickname of 'Lucky' is a misnomer. What you get Crowe's Jack Aubrey is a man of skill and daring and experience who knows how to take advantage of breaks and make his own luck. Never more so when he has that final encounter with the French ship.

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World gives you a real feeling for the Napoleonic era. I do hope that Russell Crowe gets another chance to bring 'Lucky Jack Aubrey' back to the screen again.