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Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - America - Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (21st May 2008). |
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The Film
 Based on a series of novels from Patrick O'Brian, "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" is a film that brings back maritime gallantry not seen since the old days of Hollywood swashbuckling epics. It's an epically scaled film that truly takes viewers deep within the workings of an English warship on the hunt for their French counterparts. The film's production spanned several locations, two ships and featured intricate production design that easily place you in the world of these characters and the time in which they live. The film's scale was so massive three studios participated in the financing, Fox, Miramax and Universal. The film's release came at a competitive time in the cinema market, in a year that marked the end of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy (2001-2003) the serious drama would have an uphill battle to fight for any scrapings at the box office. It never reached past the #2 position, and based on actual figures the film can be considered a bomb, not able to make back it's production budget from domestic box office. The film would earn it's money overseas and the garner enough critical acclaim and Oscar nominations to retain it's credibility. "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" tells the story of Captain Jack 'Lucky' Aubrey (Russell Crowe), the Captain of the British ship HMS Surprise. The Captains orders are to intercept and pursue the French ship Acheron. It is wartime between the French and English and the battles have spread to the seas. But Jack's mission is not a simple barrel shoot, the Acheron's Captain is clever, the ship is bigger and faster and more than a match for the Surprise. It's a shame that this film didn't scoop some decent awards at the Oscars, in a year dominated by the third installment of "The Lord of the Rings" sweeping in every category, as this film is indeed a superior feat of movie making. It's a wonderful spic populated by interesting characters and makes for perfect lazy Sunday viewing. I fell in love with this film on DVD, sadly I had not taken the time to see it theatrically. A mistake I will never make again. The film's basic structure is a chase film. The thrill of the hunt as the film's plot pits two feisty and enterprising Captains against each other, however we only really get to know one. Captain Aubrey, who commands his ship with gusto and has the respect of his men. It's interesting that director Peter Weir (who also co-wrote the script) chose never to draw too much attention to Jack's French counterpart and in many ways it gives the film an ominous feel about Jack's competition. The fact of knowing a few simple truths was enough to warrant the tension necessary to make for an effective chase - the French were wily (and managed to come up behind Jack twice) and as mentioned before, their ship was a force to be reckoned with. Further to the chase element the film is also an engaging character drama, as we delve into the lives of officers and ship crew, the most interesting relationship is between Jack and the ship's Doctor and Naturalist Stephen Maturin (Paul Bettany). Their interactions are the source of many great scenes in the film and some equally memorable dialogue. Having already starred together in one previous film (2001's "A Beautiful Mind") these two actor's are clearly fond of each other and work well together. Their chemistry makes up the heart of the film. Furthermore I was impressed with other smaller supporting characters peppered throughout the film including James D'Arcy and youngster Max Pirkis. One can't write about this film without mentioning the visuals, the film's look is similar to a 19th century painting. This aesthetic was deliberate and the result is stunning, especially the ship battles which are magnificent to behold. The film's photography provides a benchmark for these types of epic scale films and Russell Boyd deservedly won the Oscar in that category. The film's special effects also take on a great role of immersing the viewer in the world of these characters. Utilizing models for the ships, it provides a realistic final product. I'm glad that the producers didn't overbear the film with too much CGI. The final product is magnificent. At just over two hours the film doesn't overstay its welcome, it's enough time to unwrap the film's plot and introduce viewers to the many and varied characters that pollute Captain Jack's deck. "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" is an excellent film that I'll certainly be watching many times over and I hope that you will too.
Video
Presented in the film's original theatrical ratio of 2.40:1 this transfer is presented in 1080p 24/fps high-definition and has been created using AVC MPEG-4 compression. This disc was supposed to be released last year, but delays have pushed it's release back. Initial problems with the quality control of the transfer caused the delay and it has become a hotly anticipated HD release. The film features all the hallmarks of what would make a great HD release, it's epic scale, intricate production design, grand photography, action and effects. The results are very good, I was impressed with the film's muted yet accurate color palette. It's a much more solid looking film on Blu-ray than on DVD, the detail is also excellent especially in close-ups. The print is clean with no discernible defects, there's a fair amount of grain especially in the darker scenes and in scenes that take place in fog, but this is to be expected and adds texture to the overall image. The transfer just falls short of a perfect score mainly because some scenes look a bit flat and lack depth, these are noticable at times but thankfully they are few to count.
Audio
Three audio tracks are included here, an English DTS-HD 5.1 master audio lossless track as well as standard Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks in both French and Spanish. There's really only one word I can use to describe this track and that's "wow", this DTS-HD track truly is a phenomenally engineered mix. The dialogue is crisp and clear which is expected but it's the film's immersive ambient track as well as it's aggressive nature that comes out in spades. The film's surround channels are a veritable wonderland of maritime sounds and effects ranging from subtle wind and water spray to the more powerful cannon fire. It's an active sound mix that can easily be categorized as a reference quality track. Optional subtitles are included in English, Cantonese, Korean and Spanish.
Extras
The DVD release of this film included a wealth of extras in a 2-disc affair, this Blu-ray, like many other Fox catalog titles has been stripped of almost all the great extras. The only extras we have here are some deleted scenes, four interactive features, the film's theatrical trailer and a collection of bonus trailers as well as being D-Box enabled. Below is a closer look at these supplements. First up are a collection of 6 deleted scenes, these can be viewed individually or with a 'play all' option. They include: - "Weighing Anchor" runs for 4 minutes 17 seconds, the crew brings up the anchor and continues on their journey. - "Shipboard Life" runs for 9 minutes 49 seconds, a series of montaged scenes that show life on the ship through the various classes. - "Superstition" runs for 3 minutes 21 seconds, the crew spot a sea monster, later at night they all hear strange noises. - "Dentistry" runs for 1 minute 9 seconds, primitive dentistry as a crewman has a tooth pulled out by hand. - "Articles Of War" runs for 2 minutes 44 seconds, Captain Jack reads out an article of war pertaining to punishment. - "Galapagos" runs for 3 minutes, this is additional exploration footage as the Doctor searches for specimens. Next up is the Historical & Geographic trivia track, this feature includes pop-up facts relating to maritime history as well as the locations as the film plays. There's some interesting facts here, but nothing that can't be found with a good internet connection and access to google... Also included is "Search content" an interactive feature that includes an A-Z index of topics, by selecting a topic you taken to a portion of the film related to that topic. There's also Personal scene selection interactive feature which allows you to bookmark your favorite scenes for easy access. Following that is the Pop-up map interactive feature, here a map pops up on screen while you watch the film tracking the ship's location. The film's original theatrical trailer is also featured and runs for 2 minutes 43 seconds. A series of bonus trailers are next and can be viewed individually or with a 'play all' option, they are for: - "The Day After Tomorrow" which runs for 1 minute 48 seconds. - "Eragon" which runs for 2 minutes 27 seconds. - "Kingdom of Heaven" which runs for 2 minutes 36 seconds. Finally the disc is also D-Box enabled, if you have the equipment necessary then this is worth hooking up.
Overall
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