Master and Commander
Nov. 14th, 2003 11:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thehefnerHoly God. Everyone here, go see Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. Seriously. Go now.
Yes, I can understand if you're reluctant. I'm sure it looks like yet another one of those Oscar-season defying-the-odds by-the-numbers triumph-fest, right? The previews certainly are misleading that way. I cannot stress enough how excellent this film is. It's like "Pirates"' older, more mature brother. That film was popcorn and good fun, but this... there is true substance here, and it's gonna stay with me for a while. "Radio" and "The Last Samurai" this is NOT.
I can also understand if there's some prejeduice against Russel Crowe. He won my heart back before he was a blockbuster star, first with "Virtuosity" (a wonderfully stupid movie with a great villain), "Proof" (Australian film with Hugo Weaving, absolutely astounding, seek it out!), and, one of the greatest movies I've ever seen, "LA Confidential." This was a role he could easily have hammed up, but instead he played him with just the perfect amount of restraint and confidence to make you truly believe that these men would follow him into hell.
I tell you, someone obviously did their research on the British navy during the Napoleonic wars. And the cinematography is fantastic, the actors (including former Hobbit Billy Boyd!) are all solid, and the film is one of the most suspenseful and nerve-wracking films I've seen this side of Das Boot. I like trying to guess what twists a film might throw at me, since most films these days are pretty formulaic, but nearly every single time I expecting something "Hollywood" to happen, the story went into a whole different direction and the result is a truly fascinating and different film.
This movie will undoubtedly bomb, and that's a damn shame. So I urge you all, see this film while you still can, and see it on the biggest screen you can find.
Disc_Sophist, that goes for you especially. "Sharpe" kept going through my mind as I watched this film, and of all people I think few would get as much of a kick from this movie as you. And I suspect it's also the sort of movie you would actively avoid seeing. Please trust me here. Please. I may even give Harry Potter another chance.
Yes, I can understand if you're reluctant. I'm sure it looks like yet another one of those Oscar-season defying-the-odds by-the-numbers triumph-fest, right? The previews certainly are misleading that way. I cannot stress enough how excellent this film is. It's like "Pirates"' older, more mature brother. That film was popcorn and good fun, but this... there is true substance here, and it's gonna stay with me for a while. "Radio" and "The Last Samurai" this is NOT.
I can also understand if there's some prejeduice against Russel Crowe. He won my heart back before he was a blockbuster star, first with "Virtuosity" (a wonderfully stupid movie with a great villain), "Proof" (Australian film with Hugo Weaving, absolutely astounding, seek it out!), and, one of the greatest movies I've ever seen, "LA Confidential." This was a role he could easily have hammed up, but instead he played him with just the perfect amount of restraint and confidence to make you truly believe that these men would follow him into hell.
I tell you, someone obviously did their research on the British navy during the Napoleonic wars. And the cinematography is fantastic, the actors (including former Hobbit Billy Boyd!) are all solid, and the film is one of the most suspenseful and nerve-wracking films I've seen this side of Das Boot. I like trying to guess what twists a film might throw at me, since most films these days are pretty formulaic, but nearly every single time I expecting something "Hollywood" to happen, the story went into a whole different direction and the result is a truly fascinating and different film.
This movie will undoubtedly bomb, and that's a damn shame. So I urge you all, see this film while you still can, and see it on the biggest screen you can find.
Disc_Sophist, that goes for you especially. "Sharpe" kept going through my mind as I watched this film, and of all people I think few would get as much of a kick from this movie as you. And I suspect it's also the sort of movie you would actively avoid seeing. Please trust me here. Please. I may even give Harry Potter another chance.
