I've seen this flick twice now, and I must say I liked it better on the second go around. "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" is definitely one of the most high quality pieces of filmmaking to come along in recent years, obviously this year. However, I'm not convinced it's as good as many claim.

What some may think would be an epic story ends up being a simple tale of obsession and history. Not even a deep obsession, but one of those "I'm a better soldier than you" obsessions, maybe...

Academy Award® winner Russell Crowe (A Beautiful Mind) stars as Capt. Jack Aubrey whose British frigate, the HMS Surprise is ambushed by a talented French captain during the Napoleonic War. Aubrey spends the rest of the picture trying to find the Frenchman who sneaks up on him twice in the picture.

However, the picture is really about people and their claims for glory, a signature characteristic of director Peter Weir (The Truman Show, Dead Poets Society), who also adapted the screenplay of "Master.." The script was adapted from the tenth novel of the Master and Commander series by Patrick O'Brian.

The movie is about two hours long, thankfully, cause any longer would have been too much. At no time does the picture appear to drag, and just when it starts to, Weir throws in another battle scene, someone commits suicide or someone else is shot. It's rather brilliant.

The best performance came from Paul Bettany (A Beautiful Mind) as Dr. Stephen Maturin, Aubrey's longtime friend and fellow seaman. Bettany may have nabbed himself an Academy Award® nomination with this one¹.

So, if you like war pictures, or you're a girl who like watching pictures about guys who keep a friendship so close you'd think they were sleeping together, yet somehow sex is never an issue on a British frigate at sea months at a time, than "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" is for you. Check it out, but it may take YOU a second viewing to really enjoy it too.

Benn - Where's the Humanity?

¹  Paul Bettany in fact DID NOT receive an Academy Award® nomination that year (2003).