Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (Blu-ray)

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"Master and Commander" may not fully equal that picture, but it gives me a very similar set of vibes after each watching of the film. It is a finely acted masterpiece that uses a slow and deliberate pace to tell a story and when the film does play its hand and provide action, it does so brilliantly. It does not resort to extreme action-packed circumstances at every reel change to entertain its audience and allows acting, character development and the harsh realities of reality to keep its audience entertained. I´ll take an intelligent film such as "Master and Commander" any day over a loud and noisy picture such as "Pearl Harbor." Raise your hand if you love "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" and Russell Crowe and I´ll come stand on your side of the fence any day.

Video:

Fox Home Video delivers "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" onto Blu-ray with a good looking transfer that is mastered in the AVC MPEG-4 format and shown with the film´s theatrical aspect ratio of 2.40:1. The disc is mastered at 1080p resolution, but I found the new Blu-ray transfer to be only a mild step up over the previous strong looking DVD release. Color banding and posterization was notably absent from the Blu-ray release and that was my only complaint with the DVD transfer. The new high definition version of the film does show a slightly improved level of detail, but "Master and Commander" has a very film-like presence that offers up a somewhat purposeful softness. Some of the film´s lengthy sequences take place in either fog or in the darkness of night and these typically do not translate to stunning high definition visuals. Colors are good, but de-saturated ever so slightly and bluish in nature to help convey the feeling of life on the high seas. The film also suffers from a couple instances of heavy film grain. The source materials are clean and all-in-all, this is a good looking title, but it cannot compete with anything above average on the Blu-ray format.

Audio:

"Master and Commander" comes fully equipped with a stunning sounding English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix that easily makes up for the slight shortcomings in image quality. In addition, French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtracks are provided as well as subtitles for English, Spanish, Cantonese and Korean speaking folk. There are essentially three scenes in the film that fully utilize the six channels and provide awe-inspiring sound, but the rest of the film creates a wonderfully ambient experience that gives some feeling as to what life on a ship such as the HMS Surprise must have sounded like. The sound of waters effect on a wooden ship is apparent through the film and when cannons fire and wood splinters, "Master and Commander" can compete with all but the very best Blu-ray releases in the audio department. Both the rear surrounds and .1 LFE channel are used masterfully and I thoroughly loved hearing all of the sound effects take place around me as scenes unfolded on the screen. Dialogue is clear and always intelligible.

Extras:

"Master and Commander" comes equipped with a limited number of bonus features, none of which existed on the DVD version that currently resides in my film collection. First up are a few Deleted Scenes (24:20). There are six scenes in total and you may check some boxes and play only the selected scenes or watch them all through the handy and well-loved "Play All" feature. "Master and Commander" is a relatively long-feeling 138 minute film and I´m not sure I would have wanted an additional 24 minutes, but these scenes are worth checking out if you enjoy the film. They are presented in widescreen, but not in high definition. Some of the scenes seem more like montage than coherent scenes, but they are nice none-the-less. The only other non-interactive bit of content on the disc is the Theatrical Trailer in High Definition.

Interactive Blu-ray content is where the film excels when compared to the previous 2-disc edition and easily bests the single-disc edition that I am more familiar with. A Historical and Geographical Trivia Track is the pop-up trivia feature that has been seen before and I found the information interesting, but lacking in number. There wasn´t too many of these parchment pages to be found. Other interactive features cannot be played congruently with the pop-up trivia, but are perhaps worth checking out. The Search Content allows you to find certain scenes based on some keywords. The Personal Scene Selections uses the ´check box´ technique of playing scenes in any order and is not like the more ´personal´ bookmarking made popular on HD-DVD. Finally, the Pop-Up Map allows you to click a button on your remote and see exactly where in the world the current scene takes place. While this feature was limited, I enjoyed it.

I should also mention that "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" is also Enhanced for D-Box Motion Control Systems. Unless the D-Box people become inclined to send me a D-Box powered lounge chair, I cannot provide any commentary on this feature. It´s there if you can use it and if you can use it, please enjoy it! Perhaps you can let me know how well this feature works so I can pass the word on. There is also the promotional Fox on Blu-ray with clips for "The Day After Tomorrow," "Eragon," and "Kingdom of Heaven." I´ve never seen "Eragon," nor experienced the rocking sensation of a D-Box lounge chair. I digress.

Closing:

There are many out there that may argue that "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" is not a very good film. They may call it slow. They may call it boring. I tend to feel this is the same audience that felt "Pearl Harbor" was a masterpiece. That film had a few very entertaining sequences, but it was all about being loud and noisy and lacked substance. This film is all about substance, but its two main battle sequences are quality enough to entertain the MTV Generation (of which I am honestly a part of). Many others do not particularly enjoy Russell Crowe, but I feel he is a highly talented actor and he and this film are both top notch. I liken many aspects of "Master and Commander" to a favorite of mine, "Das Boot." The slow pacing of "Master and Commander" paints a beautiful picture. The Blu-ray release is average in picture quality, but sounds incredible. The sound more than makes up for any shortcomings in picture quality. The supplements are not as plentiful as the 2-disc DVD release, but it is an improvement over the initial DVD offering. If you stand on the same side of the fence that I do, then "Master and Commander" is well worth your time.

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