Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (DVD)

John,

As usual, you are much too kind on a movie. My friends and I hated this one because it was so "pointless". At the end of the film, Aubry is still chasing the French ship. Nothing has changed from the beginning to the end (with the exception of the ship's dwindling numbers of shipmates). We've seen plenty of "slice of sea life" movies ("Das Boot") that achieved much more than this one, and this is the one that gets nominated for Best Picture and Best Director? .!.. to the Academy and to the Aussies who thought that they were making something special.

Eddie

A 7/10 for an Academy Award nominee is kind? Well, OK. But it is a great adventure film, pure and simple, and that alone is worth the praise others have bestowed upon it. The soundtrack alone is worth the rating for anyone wanting something to show off his audio system.

John

john,

dude, there have been some pretty bad movies nominated for best picture. after all, the oscars are a popularity contest, not a respectable gauge of art.

eddie

Not every picture must have a "point." Sometimes "entertainment" is enough. You know, like "The Two Towers."

John

okay, i was looking for the word "aimless" (or even "meandering") and didn't mean that the movie didn't have some big statement about life.

"the two towers"? what's that, some porno?

Eddie,

Maybe we should have done a joint review on this one. Or maybe we just did.

John

" Nothing has changed from the beginning to the end (with the exception of the ship's dwindling numbers of shipmates)."

Well, sometimes people don't change, for whatever reason...

If every movie had to fit the mold of having a "point" and have profound character arcs and subtle messages, the variety would be limited somewhat.

Yea, Eddie, not every film needs to make a point. . .so there!

:p

huh? if there are changes, then how could everything be the same? LOL.

Sometimes entertainment is more than enough. On many occassions we have films trying to make a point but have failed miserably. Coming to oscars, personally I think Return of the King should have never won the best picture award. Academy tries hard sometimes to award achievements that they should have done in the past. Personally, Fellowship of the Rings should have won best picture award in 2002. ROTR does not make a point , it is pure entertainment at its best. Same goes with Master and commander.. Take the ship Aubry !!!

"huh? if there are changes, then how could everything be the same? LOL. "

...and yet you say in your first post, "Nothing has changed from the beginning to the end". Were you watching a still frame? ;) I'd demand a refund if I were you.

Anyways,

When there are changes in the world around them, some people change, and some people don't. Sure, SOMEthing will change if there is change, but not necessarily people.

Life's like that sometimes. We supposedly mature and learn from our past, yet in the next 10 years we might and probably will make the same mistakes we did as a kid. Changes and people are a funny thing.

Edster, it seems to me that you need meaningful/subtle/profound character changes in a movie before you will consider it "art" or "important". I usually find to classify which movies are "art" and which are not a futile effort. But that's me.

like i wrote in one of my posts here, i didn't mean that all movies should have some sort of grand statement about life. rather, when i described this movie as "pointless", i meant that the end of the movie left us only a few paces away from where it began (i.e. aubry's still chasing the french vessel). there's zero character development, and the pacing is really, really off. the only moment that i liked was when aubry told the joke about the lesser of two weevils.

i can watch movies for fun, too. just the other day, i was watching john woo's "once a thief", a little lark of a movie that was intended to put smiles on people's faces. heck, i'm even writing a paper on "once a thief", and the paper will be about how chow yun-fat is the new cary grant--not at all serious!!!

When the director was offered the film, based on a series of books, it was assumed he was going to start at the beginnng. The director chose not to. He liked one of the middle books in the series, the tenth, best, because it told the best story. He agreed to do the film only if he could start there. Thus, we miss the beginnings of Capt. Aubrey's adventures, and the developement of his friendship with the doctor, for instance; plus, we have no real resolution to the tale because in the literary series it goes on into the next novel.

Still, a movie must be judged on its own merits, not on a series of books it may be based on, and Eddie has a point in not appreciating the movie's seemingly meandering style. So be it.

But the movie's style didn't bother me nor a flock of other moviegoers nor the Academy. Had the movie been more self-contained and better paced, I might have even given it an 8.

John

I liked this movie in the cinema, and found it interesting to watch from a historical perspective and tactical point of view. And beside that, it's incredibly well-made.

Picking up the DVD, I've got to say, first off, my new speakers were driven to the limit. The dts track on this disc is REFERENCE for me now, that opening scene is wonderful.