Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

The Oscars in 2004 were filled with accolades that went to Peter Jackson's third and final The Lord of the Rings film which had patiently waited to win Best Picture following two equally worthy films in the series. With eleven to Jackson, this left little to go around for the other films that year but two awards, not that I find them the best way of determining a film's quality, rightfully found their to Peter Weir's seafaring epic adaptation, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. Unfortunately released in the wake of the first Pirates of the Caribbean and marketed as Gladiator on the high seas, the drama failed to succeed at the box office but was praised by critics and fans still to this day.

Adapted from a series of novels by Patrick O'Brian, who passed away three years before the film's release, this would be Weir's next film after the excellent The Truman Show and also his penultimate before 2010's The Way Back, which is more or less totally forgotten today now Weir has more or less confirmed his retirement. Master and Commander would be his first and only real big-budget film which apparently had a long and arduous time in post-production but I think it was Weir's dedication that has made this film feel so authentic and cinematic achievement it is today.

Set in in the Napoleonic Wars, the story follows the fictional HMS Surprise after it is attacked by a French vessel which had been ordered to intercept. Captain Aubrey has the ship repaired and takes his crew from the Caribbean into treacherous waters in order to complete his mission but the journey comes at a cost which his loyal friend and ship's doctor begins to question.

It is hard not to watch this today, a mature and engaging character drama, with a sense of nostalgia for a time when Hollywood had less to do with overbearing CGI and safe franchises. Suffice to say, this film has lost none of its charm with a top-notch cast and a compelling story that explores leadership, social class, friendship, pride and comradery all under Weir's superb direction. Ironically I find myself wishing there was a sequel and it would have been possible too given the wealth of source material but the box office sealed the fate of that notion, and maybe it would have been for the best. Weir would have surely been happy to hand over the helm, if you forgive the pun, to someone else and maybe it would be a case of diminishing returns.

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World will surely see a new lease of life when it is finally released in 4K and this film deserves to be seen again and again. Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany, along with the rest of the cast are perfect and the story is perfectly paced throughout that I can't fault it. I was too young to appreciate this the first time I saw it, hoping for another fix of Pirates of the Caribbean but now the pendulum has well and truly swung across to this for me. It was released at the wrong time but I hope more people come to discover this. It won't bring Weir out of retirement sadly but it's also good to acknowledge a job well done.