Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (Double Disc Edition) [DVD] [2003]

Almost all the action takes place in the enclosed atmosphere of the ship, HMS Surprise, there are no sub-plots running in different locations, there is absolutely no romantic element in the film at all, in fact the only female appearance lasts less than a couple minutes. In some respects it cannot even be called an action film, as there are only two phases of action in the whole performance and these are filmed in a realistic horror fashion rather than a swashbuckling stunt-like fashion. The plot is simple in the extreme, bad ship attacks good ship - good ship chases bad ship for revenge, and yet for all this the film never gets boring.

What the film does very well, which may well be the reason it works so brilliantly, is that it mixes the factual documentary view of life on board a warship in the 1800s with the almost fly-on-the-wall story telling of the sailors' various lives extremely effectively. The attention to detail is extraordinary and it's the sort of film you'll watch for the umpteenth time and still find elements of the sets, costumes and props that you missed before.

Crowe does well as the inspiring captain but in an almost star-less supporting cast there are some fantastic performances which maybe even overshadow him. Look out for Billy Boyd as the Coxwain, that great character actor Robert Pugh and also Ian Mercer (he of Gary Mallet Coronation Street fame) as the Boatswain.

When the film finished and I thought about it I realised the whole story had been set around just two ships, it's quite amazing that a film can include so much variety within a, from the outset, tight plot.

I think the realism of this film really makes it, you really can imagine two ships from great nations battling to take control of the ocean. Russell Crowe is the perfect casting for the part of Lucky Jack. He has that in command feel yet can be thoughtful when required.

If you are looking at this movie thinking it's a pirate-type movie, think again because it really isn't. O'Brian's books are based on real accounts and this is reflected in the film. There are no parrots or eye patches!

The special features offer a very nice insight into the creation of the film, I enjoyed watching them after I'd seen the film itself. I would strongly suggest you watch the Making Of featurettes after seeing the actual film otherwise the realism isn't quite so real...

This movie gets 5 stars from me, very hard to pull yourself away from watching even if nature calls!!

Having seen a couple of excerpts of Crowe as Aubrey, I was absolutely dreading this movie but was totally enthralled from the outset. In fact, it wasn't until near the end of the movie when Aubrey & Maturin were walking on deck next to each other that I noticed that Paul Bettany is almost a foot taller than Russell Crowe (stilts for Crowe were in order for that shot).

It's not a word-for-word rendering of the novel onto film by any stretch of the imagination (nor should it have been) but it absolutely captures the spirit of the books and conveys life aboard the Surprise brilliantly. The detail is breath-taking from the ship itself to the behaviour of the crew and on to the wonderful storm and battle action scenes.

To give you an idea of just how pedantic I was being, I was absolutley delighted to see Maturin - like the good Catholic that he is - stopping short of the line "For thine is the kingdom..." during the Lord's Prayer near the end of the film (yes, I know it's sad to actually expend mental energy on such minutiae but, clearly, someone else did too).

My only disappointment was that no allusions were made to Maturin's secret life as an intelligence agent but I guess there's a limit to how much character exposition one can expect in, what I hope, is the first in a series of films. However, other aspects of his character - as Aubrey's best friend, as a great physician and as a fanatical naturalist - are depicted to great effect and humour.

From the outset, I forgot that it was Russell Crowe (so all credit to him) and thoroughly enjoyed his depiction of Aubrey and, obviously, David Threlfall was born to play Preserved Killick (more of him in the next film, I hope). The casting was, in fact, faultless except for one thing: the actor playing Barrett Bonden - a role for a huge, burly, pigtailed pugilist - was given to a rather small hobbit.

Far Side of the World is destined to become a cinema classic as well as a much-cherished DVD in my collection.