I have seen this movie so many times it is ridiculous, and am a huge fan with the exception of one line (when Aubrey admits to having exceeded his orders ages ago, like a modern captain Ahab, which he never would have done for fear of being yellowed), and I think all the deleted scenes should be put back in as they ad much more detail from the book. And I am tickled pink that Russell Crowe recently mentioned that their is still the possibility of a sequel, though the first one pretty much bombed. I saw this film 4 times in the theaters while reading the books, and have since completed all 20 books in the series, and would love to see at least one more film, and hopefully more than that. This film just rocks. Amazing effects, and such perfect accuracy to that time and world, with great characters, and such adventure, such a shame that Pirates of the Caribbean did so much better as this is such a superior film.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…

This is the tale of Post Captain “Lucky” Jack Aubrey (Russell Crowe who matches the character absolutely perfectly) of Her Majesties Ship Surprise (strangely the ship used in most of the books, but not in either Master and Commander or Far Side of the World, but a perfect replica of the actual Surprise, which is actually down in San Diego at the Maritime Museum). He and his ships surgeon Dr. Stephen Maturin (Paul Bettany who does a great job, though is a bit too handsome for the role), who is Jack’s best friend, and not much of a mariner, but a fine surgeon. In fact they really only share their love of music, and their hatred of Bonapart, but does not make them any less best friends. In this adventure, they are out to stop a French Privateer (In Far Side of the World it was an American) from harrasing their whaling fleet in the pacific, but they are caught off guard, not once but twice by the much larger french ship, and when they get the upper hand they lose a mast and a crew member. Then they have a Jonah Lieutenant who kills himself and gets them out of the doldrums, then they must skip the Galapagos where Aubrey has promised Maturin time to chase the phantom, but when Maturin is shot a marine by accident, they return to the Galapagos where he must perform surgery on himself. And on an expidition he finds the phantom and they board and take it, sending 1st Lietenant Tom Pullings away with it, but when Aubrey talks to Maturin he realizes that the doctor who gave him the Captains sword was in fact the captain and they give chase, ending the film.

The whole movie is very much the story of this ship and this crew, and never leaves it except a few shots of them from the perspective of the French, which really brings you on the adventure with this crew.

I love this film, and have watched it so many times. In fact I saw it 4 times in the theater and have watched it countless times on DVD. I love this film. My only complaint is the line when Aubrey says that he has exceeded his orders weeks ago, making him more of a captain Ahab figure, which Aubrey would never have done, he was too worried about being yellowed (made an Admiral with no ships to command, a desk job and a dunsel). That line bothers me more and more, sure it makes tension with the crew, but it just isn’t in Aubrey’s character, though the rest of the film sure is. And the deleted scenes are amazing, they are all little scenes from the books, that really should have been in the film, and would have made it better, and since the film bombed anyway they should have left it in for the fans. It really does depress me that this film didn’t do well because I would love to have seen a sequel or two with the further adventures of Audrey and Maturin. They have so many great stories, and this would have made an amazing series.

And I have some photos of the
Rose. What an amazing vessel.