Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World [Blu-ray] [2003]

Mate. Not a wasted moment. Just great value for £3.50. Shout out to young Octavian, the absolute boy.

'Master and Commander: The Far Side Of The World' is an amazing and wonderful film! It recreates the experience and atmosphere in great historical detail in the year 1805 on board a British Navy sailing ship. It must have been meticulously researched. I loved the attention to the historical detail - costumes, weapons, rigging, etc. The storm at sea on board the ship and the battle scenes at sea with the French are spectacular. I could easily watch this film again. I wholeheartedly recommend this brilliant film!

I read the entire Master and Commander series of books when I was in my teens. This is simply the best adaptation of Edwardian era Royal Navy life aboard a ship...without exception. I seriously wanted more film adaptations of Patrick O'Brien's books...sadly, it never happened.

Engaging classic with good atmosphere and soundtrack

Probably the best Naval film of all time. If you like old ships, cannons and Russell Crowe then give it a go.

Who else with natural blond hair could have played Aubrey? Who else would have put on weight to play him (apart from de Niro in his pomp) bearing in mind Aubrey was always wrestling with his embonpoint? Who else would have stood in the crow's nest (think Nelson's column for height but waving around with the sea swell) just for a single shot? Who else could have that truculent, loveable, naive style about him? And as for his accent, the court's Hanoverian accent had not begun filtering down to give us those hard German consonants and roooouuund vowels we think of as the 'correct' upper-class English accent; his native Oz accent would probably be closer to the real thing! (Alarming...) It's a film I find myself returning to time and time again for its sense of a ship at sea, the community, the authenticity. Bettany is superb as ever though as Maturin is supposed to look like O'Brian, small, rather ugly, dark, spylike, quite miscast but who cares? Superb. The final scene, Maturin's Galapagos trip interrupted by the requirements of the service, Crowe's playful 'These birds are flightless?' and them playing that delightful music with the last shot of the Acheron in the distance is as moving to me as the last balloon shot at the end of 'Oh what a lovely war'... Please providence send some kind billionaire (there are enough of them these days) to finance a sequel from his/her ill-gotten sub-prime gains before Weir and Crowe sail out of our lives and into film history.Thank heavens for Weir, I say.

Such a Great film

They asked for a review of "the item" - do they expect a review of the film, or of the efficacy of Amazon Prime Video's release of it? Well, Barry Norman, I ain't... and there is little to say about Amazon Prime's product. If you have seen the film, you will already know what you think of it, and all I can say is if you want it in digital format, stored in the ether of your Amazon Prime film library, then you will buy it. If you prefer a "hard copy" then you will buy the DVD or Blue Ray instead. If, like me, you think it is one of your favourite films of all time, you will purchase both hard and streamed versions. I don't think think you needed me to tell you that - but I can't think of anything else to say...

Napoléon et l'Angleterre: rivalité commerciale, politique, économique. Un film magnifique qui nous plonge dans l'univers d'un navire de guerre anglais au début du XIX° siècle. L'Acheron, navire français, surprend nos héros et leur inflige de sévères dégâts. Une course poursuite s'engage entre les deux navires. Qui réussira à pièger l'autre? Un grand film d'aventure comme on aimerait en voir plus souvent. Une distribution formidable, bref du très bon cinéma!

大作洋画なので安価で良かったです。

"Though we be on the far side of the world, this ship is our home." - J Aubrey. Master and Commander is one of my absolute favourite movies of all times. It was a no-brainer getting this on bluray. The movie is atleast 10 years old and it looks wonderful on bluray. On the review of the bluray. The video quality is great with vivid details and deep blacks. Don't expect HD quality clarity like you might see in a Pixar movie. This is pure conversion of film to 1080p and its great. You might notice graininess but that's how to film was shot. I haven't compared with the DVD version but I can bet that its miles above the DVD quality. The audio quality is great as well with noisy ship battles and stillness during the lull moments. In terms of special features, it only include the trailer and some deleted scenes. This is definitely a downer but blame the Studio for that, not Excel. I have the DVD version as well, which has alot more special features. So, no worries for me. Overall, I love this movie and if you do too, its a keeper on bluray. And for the price of 599, that's a steal.

The defining characteristic that sets "Master and Commander" apart as one of the best films of its kind is authenticity. Viewers are transported completely into a world aboard a British frigate, HMS Surprise, during the Napoleonic wars in the age of sail. Enthusiasts of historical naval fiction will warm to the detail in everything from weevil-ridden biscuits to wardroom banter about the weather gage. The story, adapted from the novels of Patrick O'Brian, is essentially a cat-and-mouse adventure on the high seas involving HMS Surprise and her illusive French adversary, Acheron. It's the sort of film in which, thankfully, the action supports the story and not the other way round. Plentiful battle scenes, with "broadsides" and boarding parties, are balanced against a sensitive humanity in the friendship between the audacious and resourceful Captain "Lucky" Jack Aubrey (Russell Crowe) and the ship's doctor, Stephen Maturin (Paul Bettany), a compassionate scientist. Peter Weir's experienced directing brings out interesting questions on the nature of duty, the importance of scientific inquiry and value of human life while never allowing the film to wallow in sentimentality or moral philosophy. It is a balanced approach which allows for believable character development from a fine screenplay. Weir's singular ability to create atmosphere is also exhibited to good effect here, whether it be an eerie creaking of timbers as the "Jonah" walks the deck at night or the emergence of a ghostly enemy vessel from a fog bank. Other highlights are the classical music which includes the beautifully poignant Tallis Fantasia by Ralph Vaughan Williams and spectacular footage of the Galapagos Islands, the first time the Ecuadorian authorities had allowed them to be photographed for a feature film. While it will be of particular interest to those familiar with the works of O'Brian, Alexander Kent and C.S. Forrester there is something for most tastes in this production except perhaps fans of the romantic love affair. It should not disappoint.

Bottom Line: In the final analysis, as the credit rolled I felt cheated; I wanted more or this suburb movie about naval action in the 19th century. Master and Commander opens with the following caption: April 1805 Napoleon is master of Europe. Only the British Fleet stands before him. Oceans are now battlefields. Directed by Peter Weir with screenplay by Weir and John Collee, Master and Commander is based on two novels by Patrick O'Brian, part of a twenty-book series of Royal Navy Captain "Lucky" Jack Aubrey's adventures spanning the later 18th - early 19th centuries. This particular installment followed Captain Aubrey, superbly portrayed by Russell Crowe as he captains the 24 gun 6th Rate frigate HMS Surprise. Aubrey's orders are to intercept French 4th Rate 44-gun Frigate Acheron currently en-route to the Pacific Ocean with the intention of making war in those waters off the coast of Brazil. Aubrey is to either sink, burn, or take the French warship as a prize. In the first five minutes of the movie however the larger, faster, more heavily armed Acheron draws first blood, when materializing out of a fog bank she delivers a devastating broadside to the HMS Surprise, damaging the ships bowstrip, mainmast, and rudder, severely crippling the ship. If it weren't for the same prevailing fog, the quick thinking of Aubrey and able rowers, the HMS Surprise would have surely been lost and well, the movie ended. Against all opposition Aubrey decides not to sail home for a refit of his shattered vessel, but to effect repairs at sea in a quite little inlet off the Brazilian coast. Repairs completed the game of cat-and-mouse is taken up again as the HMS Surprise chases the Acheron around Cape Horn into the Great South Sea (Pacific), where she looses her mizzen topmast and a well liked seaman. The chase final ends at the Galapagos Islands (of all places) where British whalers are currently plying their trade, creating the perfect backdrop for the Acheron to do her worst, and for the climatic battle scene to take place. My Thoughts As it unwinds, mostly onboard the HMS Surprise, the plot evolves into an extended game of cat-and-mouse: encounters with the aptly named Acheron as the "phantom ship" are in juxtaposition with prolonged glimpses into life onboard a 19th century Royal Navy Frigate. We are treated to little interaction with the French crew, save through spyglass. Most of the human interplay is reserved for Aubrey and his mixed crew of seasoned naval veterans, conscripts involuntarily impressed into service, young midshipmen, and powderboy's who are far too young to see battle. Weir's concentration on the HMS Surprise and her crew brings home a realism seldom seen in Hollywood productions; indeed the battle scenes between the HMS Surprise and the Acheron seem cursory to the telling of the lives of men too harshly lived. And Weir's passion for detail is evident in every frame as he brings to life O'Brian's rich historical details -- the sailors' routine, the pettiness and superstitions, the grim realities of 19th-century navies, the realistic battle scenes, the blood, and horror, and heroism, the honor and devotion to duty and country, are all portrayed in a stark often macabre reality. The cast is rich, varied, and too numerous to list in narrative, but the relationship between Aubrey and his old friend, and ships doctor, Stephen Maturin, portrayed by Paul Bettany is well worth exploring and receives the most attention throughout the movie. Maturim is Aubrey's alter ego, his rational voice, and his musical partner. It is through their music that we are treated to the two men's attempt to bring civility to an otherwise uncivilized pursuit. But Maturin is Aubrey's intellectual equal (Aubrey's military mind and almost mindless devotion to duty is offset by Maturin's humanity, conscience and scientific curiosity). They are both endowed with a similar sense of honor, and know each other well enough--although we are not told from where their relationship sprang--to playfully, and oft-times earnestly challenge their respective positions, though Aubrey has to obvious upper hand; as captain the final word is his. Their friendship was made warm and believable by their obvious onscreen chemistry; the closeness they shared while locked in a battle of wills made me wish for the same kind of uncompromising male friendship in my life. Watching their verbal spars in the officer's mess and their infrequent musical duets together (Aubrey play the violin and Maturin plays the Cello) was for me clearly one of Master and Commander's greatest pleasures. Though through necessity there is "nautical" speech peppered throughout Master and Commander, it is only used to lend realism to the story, and contemporary speech is used otherwise. The use of contemporary chatter is designed to keep the less nautical engaged in the movie drawing them deeper into the action, allowing them to care, and enveloping the story in a cloak of humanity as the HMS Surprise pursues the Acheron across two oceans. In the final analysis, as the credit rolled I felt cheated; I wanted more; the movie ended just as the Aubrey and Maturin were once again engaged in play, and the ship was clearing the decks for action, once more in pursuit of the Acheron after Aubrey learns a prickly bit of information. This is testimony to the movies draw, it has everything one would expect from a high-seas adventure movie set in the 19th century--exhilarating battles, menacing weather conditions, honor, bravery, devotion to duty, treachery, superstition, God, and a wonderfully cast of characters that brings life onboard the HMS Surprise to a point where you can virtually taste and smell the salt laden sea spray on your lips and feel the fresh sea air on your skin.