Patrick O’Brian’s series of novels, the Aubrey-Maturin series, serves as inspiration for this 2003 Oscar-nominated film about naval warfare during the Napoleonic Wars. While no one novel provided the film’s plot, the tone and many characters come from those books, providing the filmmakers with a rich tapestry of personalities, motivations, and other fodder. The final result is an on-screen drama that is both compelling and entertaining while at the same time able to explore far more than just two ships locked in a cat-and-mouse battle on the open sea.
There was a long, dry spell in which nautical swashbucklers were just not being made anymore. Gone were the days of Captain Blood, Mutiny on the Bounty, and Treasure Island. The general public just wasn’t going out to see these kinds of films anymore. There were attempts to bring it back over the years, but films like Cutthroat Island bombed at the box office, making it unprofitable to go after this kind of film. The Walt Disney Company changed all that with the release of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. That film, released in the summer of 2003, broke open the box office and showed that films like that could be profitable again. But where Pirates proved a swashbuckler could make money, it didn’t mean any film of the sort would be a huge success. Less than six months later, Master and Commander hit the screens, and while it wasn’t a bomb, it barely made back its budget. Still, it was a critical hit and was nominated for ten Academy Awards, winning two. It has since grown a following on home video and streaming, and there are talks about a prequel going on at present.
But talks don’t always guarantee a film will surface, and with 22 years since Master and Commander hit screens, it seems less likely people will remember this film enough to drum up any real money in tickets unless the filmmakers manage to bring it in cheaply. For a film like this, that seems highly unlikely. Still, having just rewatched this film, I would be willing to revisit this property. It is a worthy film to track down and watch again. There is a remastered version slated to come out in a few months, upgraded to full 4K-UHD that I will purchase upon release, and perhaps a rerelease like this will bring with it a renewed interest in this property. With a new film being still at least two years away, though, that doesn’t seem all that likely.
The book series follows the fictional Jack Aubrey as he rises through the ranks through years of naval service and ends with him at the rank of rear admiral. As noted above, this film doesn’t follow the events of the books but takes the characters and builds off of what those books built over the course of thirty years and twenty novels. The film introduces us to Captain Jack Aubrey (Russell Crowe) of the British frigate HMS Surprise. In the opening scene, the Surprise is attacked by French privateer Acheron off the coast of Brazil. The Acheron is better armed, more solidly built and easily overcomes the Surprise, forcing them to flee into a fog to escape. Jack refuses to return to land for repairs, though, and has the crew repair the ship at sea. Shortly afterwards, they are again besieged by the Acheron, escaping again thanks to the cunning plan of using a decoy at night to lead the Acheron off in the wrong direction.
The Surprise continues to stay near the Acheron to prevent her from attacking the British Whaling fleet, which takes them near the Galápagos Islands, where Aubrey has promised the ship’s surgeon and his friend, Stephen Maturin (Paul Bettany), an opportunity to do an exploration of the island’s unique flora and fauna. Unfortunately for Stephen, though, the Surprise comes across survivors from a British whaler destroyed by the Acheron, and Aubrey orders pursuit instead of the planned layover. This cat-and-mouse chase continues on for several more encounters until Jack finally comes up with a scheme that just may give the Surprise a chance to fight and overpower the Acheron for good.
Peter Weir is at the helm of this adventure story. He is an interesting choice for such a film as he isn’t exactly known for making action/adventure films. He makes films about ideas and emotions primarily, and quite often those films end up getting Academy Award nominations for him and his team. He was the director that brought Robin Williams into the Academy Awards spotlight with Dead Poets Society, and it was assumed at the time the same would happen when he directed Jim Carrey in The Truman Show. He also helmed Witness with Harrison Ford, which was more than just a film about protecting the witness to a crime. Master and Commander is an interesting choice for a director like Weir, at least until you start digging into the symbolism that he is delving into.
There is a recurring motif of the Biblical story of Jonah throughout. This follows the unpopular midshipman Hollom (Lee Ingleby), who is the whipping boy for all the unlucky things that have happened to the Surprise, including the Acheron repeatedly finding them and a long stretch without rain where drinking water becomes scarce. Hollum, like Jonah, eventually throws himself overboard, and, like in the Bible, the curse on the ship is lifted, and the rains comes flooding down. It is also shortly after this that the tides start to change between the Surprise and the Acheron.
The friendship between Aubrey and Maturin plays an important role in the film, too. We see them playing musical instruments in the Captain’s quarters and get a good sense of the history these men have. This friendship allows Maturin to call out the captain whenever he feels that Aubrey is not thinking rationally. The fight with the Acheron threatens to destroy the Surprise in large part because the two are so mismatched. Yet Aubrey refuses to give up the fight. Duty and obsession override practicality, and Maturin reminds Aubrey of that. And Aubrey reminds him back that they have a responsibility to protect British interests against Napoleon’s forces, even if it costs them all their lives.
Russell Crowe was still at the height of his fame at this time. He had just come off of L.A. Confidential, Gladiator, and A Beautiful Mind. Controversy was already starting to eat away at his popularity when the previous year he was involved in a highly publicized affair with his costar in Proof of Life, Meg Ryan. This affair was reportedly the cause of Ryan’s breakup with her husband, and both actors suffered some career backlash from it. That didn’t stop Crowe from gaining his Oscar for A Beautiful Mind, but it did tarnish his reputation, and while he would make several more popular films, his star hasn’t burned as bright as it did during this stretch of time. His character of Aubrey is a man of many layers. He has his duty to his country and his duty to his crew which are sometimes at odds. He feels strongly for his men but is not incapable of choosing to sacrifice someone to save the others. This makes him a good commander while avoiding showing him as distant or cold.
Maturin is an interesting character in his own right. He is the ship’s doctor but has an interest in plants and wildlife, seeing in their proximity to the Galápagos Islands a rare opportunity to study the ecosystem there. At first, that opportunity seems lost to fate, but a freak accident that nearly costs Maturin his life opens up an opportunity to spend time on the islands. This opportunity not only leads to them coming across the Acheron again but gives Aubrey an idea that may turn the tide on their enemy. Maturin doesn’t share in Aubrey’s determination to take down the Acheron at any cost, preferring to save lives rather than risk them, but he does accept his captain’s decision once it has been made.
As an early 2000s film, this one doesn’t suffer the poor visual effects many films from this era had. Part of that is shooting things practically onboard the Rose, a replica of the HMS Rose. Ten days were spent filming on board the Rose as well as many more days in the giant water tank at Baja Studios in Mexico, the same tank used for filming Titanic. By limiting visual effects and filming things as practically as possible, it allows the film to look spectacular and not dated by poorly rendered CGI. This is a beautiful-looking film all around but especially when we can see the ocean surrounding the actors.
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World doesn’t get talked about nearly enough anymore. It’s a film that deserves to be remembered, but yet it rarely comes up in conversation anymore when discussing some of the best films of the early 2000s. It is for this reason I don’t think the proposed prequel will actually go into production. I would hope I am wrong because, at the very least, a prequel will bring the original film back into the cultural consciousness. As is, all I can do is champion it and hope people will rediscover it again.
Academy Award Nominations:
Best Picture: Samuel Goldwyn, Jr., Peter Weir, and Duncan Henderson
Best Director: Peter Weir
Best Art Direction: William Sandell and Robert Gould
Best Cinematography: Russell Boyd (won)
Best Costume Design: Wendy Stites
Best Film Editing: Lee Smith
Best Makeup: Edouard Henriques III and Yolanda Toussieng
Best Sound Editing: Richard King (won)
Best Sound Mixing: Paul Massey, Doug Hemphill, and Art Rochester
Best Visual Effects: Dan Sudick, Stefen Fangmeier, Nathan McGuinness, and Robert Stromberg
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Release Date: November 14, 2003
Running Time: 138 Minutes
Rated PG-13
Starring: Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany
Directed By: Peter Weir
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