MASTER & COMMANDER: The Far Side of the World (2003)

RATING:	80%
FORMAT:	DVD

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Clever action/adventure movie that never insults the audience’s intelligence because of its literate screenplay.

A retread of Melville’s Moby Dick with a dash of Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Darwin’s Beagle voyages to the Galápagos Islands. In addition, a well-researched history lesson; encompassing the use of camouflage and the general military technology and tactics of the period.

Rather than “rum, sodomy & the lash”, there is an emphasis on humor and of men working together to attain a common purpose despite their obvious class differences. Moreover, here we have an analysis of the fact that to be a true officer, one must first earn the respect of those led.

A swashbuckler to stir the blood of anyone with brains enough to partly overcome its only failing: Too much plot outweighing too little characterization. This is not so much the problem of the script, but of the lack of chemistry in the central male relationship between that fine actor Paul BETTANY and the inconsistently-good Russell CROWE.

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