Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by Harmonia (A) on December 06, 2005 at 14:10:08

In Reply to: "Master and Commander:" posted by tinear on December 5, 2005 at 16:33:45:

I suppose I've been a fan of O'Brien's novels since circa 1994. BTW, I do think these books are "literature" and highly recommend them to any fan of Jane Austen and/or sea tales, of which I suspect there are few on this forum :-)

I thought Weir did a fine job on M&C, which wasn't so much an adaptation of any specific book as much as it was a fantasia on the Aubrey & Maturin using themes and a rough outline from several. It really is the best movie of its type IMO, and true to the spirit of the novels, if not the precise letter. M&C isn't Alexander Nevsky but it is a well crafted adventure yarn - I call it an action pic for smart people. It is another universe from sand & sandal epics or MTV historicals like Gladiator.

I'm not a fan of Crowe personally (how????) but he gave a fine performance in this film, as did Paul Bettany.

The film itself, while a "rousing adventure" type of entertainment, was not particualarly dumbed down or Hollywood-ized IMO. In fact, it is anything but a typical adventuire flick and I'm sure the themes and pacing of the film were quite trying for those with short attention spans. M&C boasts a literate script, gorgeous cinematography, excellent supporting performances, amazing (and fairly accurate) production design and the best soundscape design I have ever heard in any film (and not just the battle scenes).

Speaking of battles - Victor - M&C isn't really about large, pitched sea battles a la Trafalgar et al. Those were actually quite rare. The "Surprise", the frigate commanded by Aubrey, was muich too small to take part in a fight of that sort. The plot of M&C is centers around the cat & mouse game played with a single ship, which is more the type of engagement Surprise would have encountered.