Master and Commander

I do not have a living memory of Mark where he hasn't hounded me over not seeing this one film: 'Mater and Commander.' So I poured myself a coffee and a grapefruit juice, put the film on and got around to seeing it. Now, Peter Weir has been one of my favourite directors since he made 'The Truman Show' which is one of my all time favourites, with Master I assumed he was just going to expand on the boating scene in the final parts of Truman. The mere thought of that got me very excited and sure enough, I was treated to some pretty good boat action with some very good music with some good acting and some good moment. But at the end of the day, just being 'good' doesn't make a film terribly remarkable.

The action sequences as I mentioned were solid, wood splinters everywhich-way and waves look destructive and powerful. Whoever did the sound mixing also deserves a pat on the back, I feared for the life of my speakers during cannon-fire. But in between all the set pieces and pretty window dressing, there needs to be some actual plot and characters and this is where things get a little leaky. (Pun intended)

From the get-go the film sets itself up to almost be a character study of an overly prideful captain, but it scarcely touches on any internal conflict he may be having that make him who he is. What does work is that we really do get a sense that he is an excellent leader, especially by the end of the film, however, we kinda already knew that since the beginning. There isn't really an arch to his character, he begins a stellar captain and he finishes as a stellar captain, albeit with a lot less crew. Instances between the captain and the surgeon were easily the best moments as there was a palpable sense of history and friendship between the two. It's just a bit of a shame we don't see more of this - these scenes were ripe to add some much needed character development but it never truly materializes.

The fairest way I could describe Master and Commander would be as an action film with an eye for authenticity for its time period and some above average human drama. If you like boat movies however and are in the mood for some nautical action then you can't really go wrong with this, just don't expect anything that will emotionally resonate with you.