Did You Miss Me? 1.0

Sometimes, excellent movies fall by the wayside, overshadowed by the big-buzz stuff that is released in the same year. 2004's Oscar nominees for Best Picture were winner The Return of the King, Mystic River, Lost in Translation, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, and, for reasons only those who truly enjoy poorly-made, mawkishly sentimental pictures can understand, Seabiscuit. Other films released that year, big-buzz in terms of scope and stars or indie breakout-ness, included Finding Nemo, In America, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, The Last Samurai, and Gangs of New York. Easy enough for something to slip off your radar, no? Dang, that was a good year.

Anyways, the subject of today's lecture is a small-but-large film too few people have heard of or seen: Peter Weir's fantastic Napoleonic War epic Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.

Adapted from Patrick O'Brian's books of the same names (Master and Commander is book one, The Far Side of the World, book ten of the series), Master and Commander is not only one of the best literary adaptations you're likely to encounter, it's also a tremendous movie in every sense of the word. The plot, taken from book ten, covers Captain "Lucky" Jack Aubrey's pursuit of the French man o' war Acheron across the south Pacific, and in skilled hands taking their cue from equally skilled hands (O'Brian), it's a game of cat and mouse that is smart and classy without being smug. As well, the crew of Aubrey's H.M.S. Surprise is as important to the film as the two main players, adding depth and richness along with a healthy dose of tragedy and comedy alike. Russell Crowe was a perfect casting choice to play Lucky Jack; he is a fine actor, and captures all the right notes of Aubrey's joviality, obsessiveness, and passion. Some complained that Paul Bettany was a bit too tall and good-looking for the role of Jack's ship surgeon and confidante Stephen Maturin, but I'm quite happy to overlook the physical mismatch, as I can't imagine a better casting here either. Crowe and Bettany are a pair of self-assured actors who know what they're doing, and together, they do it so very well.

The cinematography is stunning, and was cause for an Oscar. The film also took home that particular award for sound editing, and rightly so - it's a rare action movie in which I can make out every line of dialogue, and don't have to do frantic sound adjustments between dialogue and action, which is another mark towards what makes this film such a great watch. The score, drawing heavily on violin and cello for reasons obvious to fans of the books, and using both new, classical, and traditional tunes, is gorgeous and a great listen as a CD in its own right. For visuals, director Weir brought in several different F/X houses in order to make use of the specialties of each - Industrial Light and Magic handled things like battles and atmospherics (i.e. storms); New Zealand's famed Weta Workshops took care of the ship models. Speaking of the ship, Weir also demonstrated a healthy appreciation for his literary source by using the Surprise as a character in her own right, just as she should be. Speaking of the literary source, Weir and writer John Collee seamlessly combined the two books seamlessly by using character interactions from the first, and the plot and action from the tenth. It works so very well.

A pleasure to watch in every way, Master and Commander is also great for those of you who couldn't quite get a handle on the books. Patrick O'Brian was the Napoleonic War equivalent of a fanboy, and I personally love the books, but they are quite dense on period accuracy in terms of language use, as well as packed to the gills with technical naval information - think of how some people dislike Tolkien because of his level of descriptiveness, and multiply that by 1.5, and you have Patrick O'Brian. In my mind, that just makes the film better - it not only complimented its source material but, in a way, elevated it.

I've seen the special edition DVD for $6-$10 at Wal-Marts, Blockbusters, and Best Buys. For that price, why bother spending money on a rental? You'll probably want to keep it, anyway.