Master and commander : the far side of the world

voxpop

lads and lassies what do ye make of this film.

I gotta say, this is the second time ive seen it (first in cimema, second on dvd) and I think its a GREAT film, superb in fact. wel l except for the film name and russel crowes accent (supposed to be english i guess )

I heard its part of a trilogy and ,I for one, would love to see the second and third parts of this trilogy( unless it turned out like the matrix) :eek:

c0y0te

I enjoyed it. Picked it up on DVD, missed it in the cinema but had it recommended so I went ahead and ordered it anyway.

Sound - Excellent
Story - Bit light on intrigue, but ok
Effects - very nice (squishy amputation scene for one!)
Acting - ok, nothing amazing, but ok
Extras - Haven't gotten around to em yet (still working through Babylon 5 season 4 box set:)

All in all, tis worth it. I will probably watch it again in a few weeks and see if it holds up.

c0y0te

UnrealQueen

Absolutely brilliant film and Russell Crowe is as ridelicious as alwayz:p

Karl Hungus

Got there on DVD myself, and I must say, sterling film chaps.

Haven't had a chance to look at any of the extras yet though, but I'll get around to it.

ixoy

Was somewhat disappointed by this one. Russell Crowe puts in a decent performance, but there's always the sense that he's just being Crowe, a little bit removed. I'm still of the mind that "The Insider" was his best role to date. Paul Bettany was decent too, although the young crewman all put in great performances, even if I found it hard to separate some from their Hobbit roles.

There was nothing in the movie that I could actively pinpoint as bad, but nor could I see anything that was particularly good. It was all made well, but the storyline failed to engage me fully - I always felt a degree uninvolved in the actions going on. Given its box office performance, I can't see any of the other books in the series being made into movies. It'll probably end up only as a curious footnote, based on the fact its one of the few movies where no woman has any spoken line.

Fuhrio

I have to say i thoguht this was a terribly boring film, I went there expecting to see something i would really enjoy but there was nothing special about anything in the film, a real disappointment imo.

Karl Hungus

I think I loved it because it was so deliberatly paced. Very refreshing change from the usual mile a minute action movies, even though I'd be very hard pressed to call this an action film at all. Period drama seems more appropriate a title.

It spends a lot of time on character development, pouring over a lot of detail, even the inner workings of the ship's hierarchy, and you really get to know the crew by the end of the film. I loved the scene where Paul Bettany was walking the island looking for various animals.

I can see why people wouldn't really enjoy the film though, or might think that it's boring, because it is definetly paced more like a film from many a year ago, where an 'action' film would really have only one big action sequence, and spend most of the film building character, as opposed to the near continuous action sequences we get from more modern action films.

ixoy

The slow pace isn't what got to me, Karl. I've seen plenty of those old classics. I just felt that the story being told had nothing of interest to me. Sure we saw the hierarchy in ships, but I've had a surfeit of military structures, in more detailed forms, in various books that I've read. The characters that were built didn't seem all that interesting, too caught up in maintaining dignified military facades that just didn't seem to quite work as well as other masks that we've seen in the cinema.
It's by no means a bad movie, and I certainly think the label of "period drama" works more than "action movie". It's just that a more deliberate pace doesn't, to me, a good film make.

Fuhrio

I would agree with that, and i do understand developing characters, but it still has to be done in a mildly interesting way, however, this film made it incredibly boring. The development should be spread more over the whole film, not in massive sections of it, its almost as if it the story didnt matter.

Bigshot

Seen it twice in the last week ( I work in a video shop) Have to say its a really well made film.The swooping camera angles are brilliant.

That said though i found it pretty damn boring in the storyline department to be honest. I think that the first battle seen is probably the most boring battle scene committed to film. The 2 boats just pull up and start firing Boring or what. Just found it lacking any excitement.

blobert

I have to agree with lots of the opinions here, I found it pretty boring for a lot of the time. I was surprised that it got so much praise and an Oscar Nomination. I mean it was by no means a bad film it just wasn't as great as people made it out to be.

Three and a half thumbs up.