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Movie: Master And Commander
Starring Russell Crowe, Paul Bettany; Directed by Peter Weir
Written by Peter Weir and John Collee (Miramax Films)
Reviewed by Rusty Pipes
Master And Commander is a fine seafaring flick, perhaps the most realistic depiction ever of life on the high seas at the height of sailing warships, 1805. Russell Crow is perfectly cast as Jack Aubrey, Captain of HMS Surprise, and even though he's an Aussie, his voice is much like Richard Burton's bourbon-soaked Welsh baritone and very, er, commanding. As the good Doctor Stephen Maturin, Paul Bettany provides a good counterpoint to Crowe's duty-driven macho. In fact, with his digressions into scientific discovery in the Galapagos, Bettany's Maturin becomes rather like a combination Spock and McCoy to Crowe's Kirk. Pity there are no women for this 19th Century Kirk to get involved with though; heck, these salty lads never even put into a proper port.
Unfortunately there is little wind in the sails of the story between engagements. The supporting cast has few players of note and the enemy is always off in the distance until the final battle. An attempt is made to involve us in the affair of an underachieving midshipman when the Surprise is becalmed in the South Pacific, but the scene only drags the entire plot into the doldrums. Maybe it's just an excuse to present another dose of real 1805 shipboard life, a flogging.
Reality is certainly the main attraction here and Director Peter Weir also goes out of his way to show us the terrible destruction wrought by cannonballs below decks. The ship's surgeon has lots of bloody work to do, but even without battle damage, life on these ships was actually much harder than that. Often 20% of the ships crew would fall to disease or literally fall from the yardarms. Yo ho ho, OSHA! Weir doesn't illustrate any of that; not cinematic enough, I guess.
Moreover, in spite of his zeal to be real Weir has left out details in this story that I find rather annoying. In the first encounter with their quarry, the privateer fires accurately at the Surprise. Through the fog, like they had radar! Sorry, that's pretty farfetched. In 1805, if you couldn't see the enemy, they couldn't see you either. Moreover, the ballistics of cannon fire was pure guesswork and the Frenchies were hitting them right from the first shot. Credulity is stretched even more is when the good Doctor is shot in the stomach at close range with a musket. With no competent physician other than himself on board, Maturin cuts himself, finds the bullet and sews himself up! Strangely I can almost accept the sewing himself up part, but this is still 1805, five decades before antiseptics were invented in the Civil War. Most doctors didn't even wash their tools before the next patient! Can you say infection? Getting gut-shot was always a slow, painful death.
Obviously I have studied the history of naval warfare too much. I actually do prefer this kind of period piece adventure to the life-in-the-big-city action fare that Hollywood usually produces, but if I must put to sea for escapist entertainment I find I like the fanciful Pirates of the Caribbean better than Master & Commander.
The Skinny:
Am I glad I saw the movie? Yes, it's well worth experiencing on the big screen.
Would I go to see it again? I wouldn't turn it off when it gets to cable.
© 2004 - Rusty Pipes