Master and Commander: Better late than never
I finally watched Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World on DVD, and I must confess that I thoroughly enjoyed it.
When it was released in 2003, it was accompanied by the world's least compelling trailers and neither I nor MLB had any desire to see it. And while I'll never deny Russell Crowe's acting abilities, his off-screen personality is such that a movie has to be really attractive to convince me to give his another shot. (Sorry, Jen...I know he's one of your faves.)
The trailers for this movie simply didn't do it justice. It was almost perfect as a period piece (the lone slip-up was a reference to distance in miles, which I seriously doubt would have been the measurement of choice of a 18th century British sea captain; if I'm wrong, I'm sure I'll be corrected below). I have read some comments about the dialog being unintelligible, filled as it is with obscure naval terms thrown about in thick and salty accents. Fortunately, I anticipated this and watched with subtitles turned on, and, frankly, found them to be indispensible.
If you were dubious about this movie the first time around, I think you'll find it well worth the price of a rental. (Just remember the subtitles tip.)
I'm so glad you liked it. I think it was an underrated movie from last year.
And I think I'm an odd one since I knew most of the terms already - I am the daughter of a Naval officer, after all. ;-) Although, when we left the theater, my dad clued me in to a few things I didn't know about naval history (from the Brits of old to our own American Navy of today).
Posted by: jen at August 20, 2004 07:24 PMAbout the publisher
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Don't feel too bad about needing subtitles to understand the salty accents and obscure naval terms, Eric.
I've seen several different editions of "Treasure Island" published back in the 1930s which included extensive footnotes at the bottom of every page for precisely this reason.
Posted by: Mr. Freen at August 19, 2004 11:20 PM