A fantastic piece of film-making. Authentic, exciting, well-acted, with incredible production values. Definitely one of the internationally top 300 films of all time.
I have seen the last 9 Peter Weir films and all of them have not been less than impressive achievements in cinema. He proves himself with every film and this once certainly ranks amongst his best. He has shown to be one of the best "well-rounded" directors ever - no particular style or genre recognition, but a mastery of the essentials: character, story, scene, sound, and picture. In essence, flawless film-making.
Master and Commander is an astoundingly well cast film. Russell Crowe as the stoic, heroic, staid, foxy Capt Lucky Jack. He fits the role like a glove and chews through the role like Brando in The Bounty or George C Scott in Patton. Chris Rock at the 2005 Oscar made a profound statement (in the form of chicanery of course) when he said that historic epics should not be cast without Crowe in the lead role. How absolutely true that is. Even though his tour-de-force performance was in Michael Mann's stylized chamber drama The Insider, Russell Crowe is on the straight path to be being forever typecast as the "gladiator-like hero". He fits that role perfectly - the role of a character that has been the favourite of movie viewers for generations - the historic hero. From Chuck Heston in Ben-Hur and El Cid to Brando in Julius Caesar to Richard Burton in Becket to Kirk Douglas in Spartacus to John Wayne in The Alamo to Ben Kingsley in Gandhi to Denzel Washington in Glory to Mel Gibson in Braveheart to Crowe in Gladiator; and so it will continue for as long as cinema exists. And at this phase, Russell Crowe seems destined to take that role to the peak, he was born to be this type of movie star. The rest of the cast is equally well-cast, with the exception of Paul Bettany as the ship's doctor, who sometimes cannot hold his own in scenes with Crowe and allows himself to be overshadowed. The smaller supporting roles of the ship's crew is also cast with actors who seemed to truly have come from a ship - weathered and grimy and full o' pee and vinegar. Of particular note is the characters of the midshipmen, the youngest of the crew. These children belong to aristocracy and are sent on the ship as part of an education experience. The young actors chosen are simply amazing. Child actors are very risky, with great potential of being the all too evil "precocious" or "cute". These kids managed to play kids, yet show amazing maturity, ability for insight, leadership and at the climax - heroism. I was quite impressed. Nothing cheezy or corny here..
As far as the production goes, rarely is this much attention to detail displayed in cinema. You can almost smell the hemp of the ropes as they squeak, or feel the ship sway in the ocean.
Peter Weir has given us a wonderful action filled historic aqua-epic.
I have seen the last 9 Peter Weir films and all of them have not been less than impressive achievements in cinema. He proves himself with every film and this once certainly ranks amongst his best. He has shown to be one of the best "well-rounded" directors ever - no particular style or genre recognition, but a mastery of the essentials: character, story, scene, sound, and picture. In essence, flawless film-making.
Master and Commander is an astoundingly well cast film. Russell Crowe as the stoic, heroic, staid, foxy Capt Lucky Jack. He fits the role like a glove and chews through the role like Brando in The Bounty or George C Scott in Patton. Chris Rock at the 2005 Oscar made a profound statement (in the form of chicanery of course) when he said that historic epics should not be cast without Crowe in the lead role. How absolutely true that is. Even though his tour-de-force performance was in Michael Mann's stylized chamber drama The Insider, Russell Crowe is on the straight path to be being forever typecast as the "gladiator-like hero". He fits that role perfectly - the role of a character that has been the favourite of movie viewers for generations - the historic hero. From Chuck Heston in Ben-Hur and El Cid to Brando in Julius Caesar to Richard Burton in Becket to Kirk Douglas in Spartacus to John Wayne in The Alamo to Ben Kingsley in Gandhi to Denzel Washington in Glory to Mel Gibson in Braveheart to Crowe in Gladiator; and so it will continue for as long as cinema exists. And at this phase, Russell Crowe seems destined to take that role to the peak, he was born to be this type of movie star. The rest of the cast is equally well-cast, with the exception of Paul Bettany as the ship's doctor, who sometimes cannot hold his own in scenes with Crowe and allows himself to be overshadowed. The smaller supporting roles of the ship's crew is also cast with actors who seemed to truly have come from a ship - weathered and grimy and full o' pee and vinegar. Of particular note is the characters of the midshipmen, the youngest of the crew. These children belong to aristocracy and are sent on the ship as part of an education experience. The young actors chosen are simply amazing. Child actors are very risky, with great potential of being the all too evil "precocious" or "cute". These kids managed to play kids, yet show amazing maturity, ability for insight, leadership and at the climax - heroism. I was quite impressed. Nothing cheezy or corny here..
As far as the production goes, rarely is this much attention to detail displayed in cinema. You can almost smell the hemp of the ropes as they squeak, or feel the ship sway in the ocean.
Peter Weir has given us a wonderful action filled historic aqua-epic.