Master and Commander: two thumbs up!
Nov. 22nd, 2003 05:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annathepiperPicoreview: That was fun! Lots of pretty scenery, lots of big booming cannons, lots of fine character interaction, lots of fine little musical interlude bits, and lots of, most importantly, Russell's flowing blond locks. ;)
Probably the most interesting question for fans of the Patrick O'Brian novels would be, is this movie true to the novels? Now granted, I've only read three of them, Master and Commander, Post Captain, and H.M.S. Surprise, so I can't give as informed an opinion as some, but I know enough to know that there were some differences. What differences I know about, though, I must admit that I know about primarily because of seeing them mentioned in reviews and articles.
#1: Russell Crowe is actually not as heavy as the character of Jack Aubrey is described as being, and Paul Bettany physically doesn't quite match Maturin either.
#2: The year in which the movie version of the story takes place is earlier than the year in which the actual book The Far Side of the World is set.
For me, though, these things didn't make much difference. From what I've seen of the characters Aubrey and Maturin in the three books I've read thus far, Crowe and Bettany did a perfectly splendid job of portraying them! It may be less pronounced a portrayal than some would like, I'll grant, but then again we're talking about a movie version of the story as well, in which you can't spend great swaths of camera time talking about the deep loving friendship between two characters even if they're the best characters in the world.
And the whole fact that this is a movie adaptation of a series of novels is pretty much it, for me. I'm less worried about the nitpicky details of whether they got every little single thing in the books right and more concerned about whether they captured the spirit of the books. It's the same opinion I have of the changes made to The Lord of the Rings. And as with that fine set of movies, Master and Commander sold me on capturing the spirit of the books.
The list of things I didn't like is pretty short! Let's get that out of the way:
1) The beginning was a little slow to get started. I'm all "la la la la artsy long-distance shots of the boat. Right. Boat. We got that. Couple shots of crewmen's stuff. Back to boat. Yeah yeah, we got that already. OH! Okay, NOW something interesting is happening..."
2) The bit in the middle with the crew getting superstitiously cranky about the one young officer and calling him a Jonah, and the poor slob hurling himself overboard. And of course the ship gets the wind to come back pretty much as soon as he does himself in.
And now the stuff I liked:
1) DAMN, Russell is pretty with long blond hair tied back in a ponytail and all done up in a fine blue captain's uniform.
2) The young kid, Lord Blakeney. That child can ACT. I was cringing in my seat on his behalf when he got his arm cut off. I loved pretty much every single scene he was in, from his initial wounding, to Captain Aubrey coming to give him the book about Lord Nelson's military career, to the scenes with Maturin both on the island and on the boat, to WAIT A MINUTE? THEY HAVE A CHILD COMMANDING THE SHIP AND LEADING AN UNAUTHORIZED BOARDING PARTY? How old was that kid? TWELVE? And then I thought, "Well, this is the early 1800's we're talking about and they were sending kids out to sea, so!" I giggled muchly at![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
solarbird's summation of him: "Impetuous youth!"
3) Jack getting mildly wounded in the first battle was nicely done! He just looked confused as he fell down for a few seconds, and I didn't even really realize what had happened until the Captain comes to check on the wounded and Maturin says to him, "Let me look at that." And clearly the Captain hadn't realized what had happened either. Russell's look of blank uncomprehension ("what? I'm wounded? When the devil did that happen?" his face was broadcasting) was well done indeed.
4) Stephen's scene operating on the old crewman with the skull fracture, out in the light with all the crew leaning curiously over the edge of the hatch to try to see what he's doing. And then the crew all being shooed back to their duties by the bosun (I think it was) who then leaned over the edge himself to try to see what the doctor was doing.
5) DAMN, Russell is pretty in a flowing linen shirt and buff-colored vest.
6) The aforementioned scene with Captain Aubrey and the young kid and Lord Nelson's book, not only for what was said but what wasn't said. Mr. Crowe did a delightful job of being all British and stiff-upper-lippy, while his face was broadcasting, "Oh CRAP, I've gotten this poor kid wounded! His mother is GOING TO KILL ME. I SUCK."
6a) The illustration of Lord Nelson with one empty sleeve pinned up--the same way we see the kid's sleeve pinned later.
7) Billy Boyd being one of the more important crewmen. Giggle. Even if I kept thinking, "There are hobbits on this crew?" ;) "Able seaman Pippin reporting for duty, SIR!"
8) DAMN DAMN DAMN, I enjoyed seeing Russell with a violin in his hands. We get treated to that three times in the film, though only two close-up scenes involving it; the third is an outside-through-the-window shot.mamishka says that the first time we see Russell with the violin he's not actually playing what we're hearing, you can tell by looking at his hands, but I didn't catch that. The second time, though, she says he was actually playing, and that scene was particularly fun for me since he turned the violin around like a mandolin and started plucking it with his fingers. ^_^ And then Stephen did the same with the cello! Very nice fun touch.
8a) The steward bitching about the noise every time Jack and Stephen started tuning their instruments. Hee!
9) The touches of music all over the ship, not just with Jack and Stephen. The crew broke into singing "Spanish Ladies"! I was very disappointed that they didn't go into the Brit version of "Rant and Roar" though. ;D And I was also delighted by the scene where all the men singing get interrupted by the arrival of the Captain--and that the poor young officer who doesn't see him coming (the same poor slob who dies later) keeps going. And has a rather nice voice to boot.
10) The first dinner scene in Aubrey's cabin is quite giggleworthy. Russell's delivery with the first Nelson anecdote is beautiful, with the exaggeratedly intense look he gets as he relays the first words his hero ever said to him: "Aubrey, may I trouble you for the salt?"
His prank on Stephen is also just beautiful. "Lesser of two weevils". Snicker!
11) Partway into the movie I noticed that they'd done Russell's left ear up to look scarred and mangled along the bottom of it. Good touch! It reminded me that Captain Aubrey is described as having his ear chopped off in the first book, and Maturin has to sew it back on.
12) The scene where they're taking on supplies just after their first encounter with the Acheron, and the women are all making eyes at the crew. And that one particularly beautiful one is making eyes at the Captain, and he looks down at her two or three times before seeming to force himself to go about his business. No South American nookie for you, Captain! ;)
12a) The brief shot of him writing a letter to his beloved Sophie back home. You can't exactly work a wife for Captain Aubrey into a storyline that's set clear over on the other side of the planet, but that one subtle touch was nice.
13) Stephen's sort of "fish out of water" place amongst the officers of the crew. The scene where the ship is coming around Cape Horn and starting to head north again, and the men all cheer in the cabin, and the doctor blinks and says, "Something... nautical just happened?"
14) Nice shots of all the crew playing tourist looking at all the weird animals when they get to the Galapagos Islands.
15) DAMN, Russell is pretty squinting through a spyglass.
16) POOR STEPHEN! All excited about hunting all over the islands for weird critters, and then Jack goes and cancels his field trip. Well-done argument between them--and again, Jack being all British and stiff-upper-lippy, and getting quite gruff as he has to stick to duty but also is clearly not really happy that he's pissing off his friend, either.
16a) And then Stephen has to go and get SHOT by the nimrod soldier running around the deck trying to bag the albatross.
16b) Higgins babbling to the Captain about having to study a few pictures in the doctor's books and how it'd be easier on land to operate on Maturin. The whole "ohhh this can't be good" of it all. ;)
16c) The bemused look on poor Stephen's face as he realizes he's being carried onto shore. And the great exchange of lines between him and the Captain: "I hope this isn't on account of me." "Nonsense. I just wanted to stretch my legs."
16d) The scene where Maturin pulls the bullet OUT OF HIS OWN BODY. Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow. And Jack trying to get out of it but staying when Stephen asks him to, and looking like he's about to bolt any second as the operation commences, and Stephen having to ask HIM if HE is all right. ;)
16e) Stephen trying to thank him for bringing him on land to get him operated on, and Jack's answering line: "Posh. Name a shrub after me--something prickly, and hard to eradicate."
17) The scene where Jack catches the crewman being insubordinate to the young officer who's been targeted as a scapegoat by the crew... and when Jack calls the guy down to his cabin to ask him what the hell just happened up on deck. The whole 'I am the badassed captain of this vessel' air he was exuding all throughout that scene even when wearing a flowy, frilly shirt was pretty damned impressive. ;)
18) I saw the significance of the bug that disguises itself like a stick the first time we see it on camera, but when we see it a second time and Blakeney's telling Jack about it--and we see Jack's face shift from amused, patient tolerance to "HEY! This gives me a really COOL idea..."
19) DAMN, Russell is pretty with long loose blond hair and wearing a brown whaler captain's coat.
20) The scene in Aubrey's cabin when he's giving the officers their orders about "no salutes, no colors" and other such obvious trappings of their military status out in plain view and they all chorus by reflex, "AYE SIR!" Hee hee.
21) The whole speech to inspire the men to go kick ass. "Because, after all, we have surprise on our side!" Surprise. Get it? Wink wink nudge nudge.
22) GOOD climactic battle scene! Lots of nifty booming cannons! Lots of chaotic action! The only problem with this part was that we were sitting too close to the screen at the Cinerama to really appreciate this, so a lot of the action kind of blurred together. I'll have to see the movie again just to sit farther back this time and get a better sense of what happened in that whole sequence.
23) DAMN, Russell is pretty charging through a French ship with a sword out.
24) The "Oh goody! I'm gonna be a CAPTAIN! OH BOY OH BOY OH BOY!" look on the second in command's face when Aubrey hands him his orders to escort the captured Acheron off to port.
25) The "HEY WAIT A MINUTE" moment when Jack realizes that he has been duped by the French captain. ;D
26) And the extremely eloquent "Ah" that is all Stephen has to say about the matter as the Surprise turns hard around and goes to catch up with the other ship, pull the cameras back, music swells, credits begin to roll.
I have the soundtrack now, and shall enjoy listening to this immensely. This movie will definitely warrant a second viewing, and maybe even a third as well!
Probably the most interesting question for fans of the Patrick O'Brian novels would be, is this movie true to the novels? Now granted, I've only read three of them, Master and Commander, Post Captain, and H.M.S. Surprise, so I can't give as informed an opinion as some, but I know enough to know that there were some differences. What differences I know about, though, I must admit that I know about primarily because of seeing them mentioned in reviews and articles.
#1: Russell Crowe is actually not as heavy as the character of Jack Aubrey is described as being, and Paul Bettany physically doesn't quite match Maturin either.
#2: The year in which the movie version of the story takes place is earlier than the year in which the actual book The Far Side of the World is set.
For me, though, these things didn't make much difference. From what I've seen of the characters Aubrey and Maturin in the three books I've read thus far, Crowe and Bettany did a perfectly splendid job of portraying them! It may be less pronounced a portrayal than some would like, I'll grant, but then again we're talking about a movie version of the story as well, in which you can't spend great swaths of camera time talking about the deep loving friendship between two characters even if they're the best characters in the world.
And the whole fact that this is a movie adaptation of a series of novels is pretty much it, for me. I'm less worried about the nitpicky details of whether they got every little single thing in the books right and more concerned about whether they captured the spirit of the books. It's the same opinion I have of the changes made to The Lord of the Rings. And as with that fine set of movies, Master and Commander sold me on capturing the spirit of the books.
The list of things I didn't like is pretty short! Let's get that out of the way:
1) The beginning was a little slow to get started. I'm all "la la la la artsy long-distance shots of the boat. Right. Boat. We got that. Couple shots of crewmen's stuff. Back to boat. Yeah yeah, we got that already. OH! Okay, NOW something interesting is happening..."
2) The bit in the middle with the crew getting superstitiously cranky about the one young officer and calling him a Jonah, and the poor slob hurling himself overboard. And of course the ship gets the wind to come back pretty much as soon as he does himself in.
And now the stuff I liked:
1) DAMN, Russell is pretty with long blond hair tied back in a ponytail and all done up in a fine blue captain's uniform.
2) The young kid, Lord Blakeney. That child can ACT. I was cringing in my seat on his behalf when he got his arm cut off. I loved pretty much every single scene he was in, from his initial wounding, to Captain Aubrey coming to give him the book about Lord Nelson's military career, to the scenes with Maturin both on the island and on the boat, to WAIT A MINUTE? THEY HAVE A CHILD COMMANDING THE SHIP AND LEADING AN UNAUTHORIZED BOARDING PARTY? How old was that kid? TWELVE? And then I thought, "Well, this is the early 1800's we're talking about and they were sending kids out to sea, so!" I giggled muchly at
solarbird's summation of him: "Impetuous youth!"3) Jack getting mildly wounded in the first battle was nicely done! He just looked confused as he fell down for a few seconds, and I didn't even really realize what had happened until the Captain comes to check on the wounded and Maturin says to him, "Let me look at that." And clearly the Captain hadn't realized what had happened either. Russell's look of blank uncomprehension ("what? I'm wounded? When the devil did that happen?" his face was broadcasting) was well done indeed.
4) Stephen's scene operating on the old crewman with the skull fracture, out in the light with all the crew leaning curiously over the edge of the hatch to try to see what he's doing. And then the crew all being shooed back to their duties by the bosun (I think it was) who then leaned over the edge himself to try to see what the doctor was doing.
5) DAMN, Russell is pretty in a flowing linen shirt and buff-colored vest.
6) The aforementioned scene with Captain Aubrey and the young kid and Lord Nelson's book, not only for what was said but what wasn't said. Mr. Crowe did a delightful job of being all British and stiff-upper-lippy, while his face was broadcasting, "Oh CRAP, I've gotten this poor kid wounded! His mother is GOING TO KILL ME. I SUCK."
6a) The illustration of Lord Nelson with one empty sleeve pinned up--the same way we see the kid's sleeve pinned later.
7) Billy Boyd being one of the more important crewmen. Giggle. Even if I kept thinking, "There are hobbits on this crew?" ;) "Able seaman Pippin reporting for duty, SIR!"
8) DAMN DAMN DAMN, I enjoyed seeing Russell with a violin in his hands. We get treated to that three times in the film, though only two close-up scenes involving it; the third is an outside-through-the-window shot.
mamishka says that the first time we see Russell with the violin he's not actually playing what we're hearing, you can tell by looking at his hands, but I didn't catch that. The second time, though, she says he was actually playing, and that scene was particularly fun for me since he turned the violin around like a mandolin and started plucking it with his fingers. ^_^ And then Stephen did the same with the cello! Very nice fun touch.8a) The steward bitching about the noise every time Jack and Stephen started tuning their instruments. Hee!
9) The touches of music all over the ship, not just with Jack and Stephen. The crew broke into singing "Spanish Ladies"! I was very disappointed that they didn't go into the Brit version of "Rant and Roar" though. ;D And I was also delighted by the scene where all the men singing get interrupted by the arrival of the Captain--and that the poor young officer who doesn't see him coming (the same poor slob who dies later) keeps going. And has a rather nice voice to boot.
10) The first dinner scene in Aubrey's cabin is quite giggleworthy. Russell's delivery with the first Nelson anecdote is beautiful, with the exaggeratedly intense look he gets as he relays the first words his hero ever said to him: "Aubrey, may I trouble you for the salt?"
His prank on Stephen is also just beautiful. "Lesser of two weevils". Snicker!
11) Partway into the movie I noticed that they'd done Russell's left ear up to look scarred and mangled along the bottom of it. Good touch! It reminded me that Captain Aubrey is described as having his ear chopped off in the first book, and Maturin has to sew it back on.
12) The scene where they're taking on supplies just after their first encounter with the Acheron, and the women are all making eyes at the crew. And that one particularly beautiful one is making eyes at the Captain, and he looks down at her two or three times before seeming to force himself to go about his business. No South American nookie for you, Captain! ;)
12a) The brief shot of him writing a letter to his beloved Sophie back home. You can't exactly work a wife for Captain Aubrey into a storyline that's set clear over on the other side of the planet, but that one subtle touch was nice.
13) Stephen's sort of "fish out of water" place amongst the officers of the crew. The scene where the ship is coming around Cape Horn and starting to head north again, and the men all cheer in the cabin, and the doctor blinks and says, "Something... nautical just happened?"
14) Nice shots of all the crew playing tourist looking at all the weird animals when they get to the Galapagos Islands.
15) DAMN, Russell is pretty squinting through a spyglass.
16) POOR STEPHEN! All excited about hunting all over the islands for weird critters, and then Jack goes and cancels his field trip. Well-done argument between them--and again, Jack being all British and stiff-upper-lippy, and getting quite gruff as he has to stick to duty but also is clearly not really happy that he's pissing off his friend, either.
16a) And then Stephen has to go and get SHOT by the nimrod soldier running around the deck trying to bag the albatross.
16b) Higgins babbling to the Captain about having to study a few pictures in the doctor's books and how it'd be easier on land to operate on Maturin. The whole "ohhh this can't be good" of it all. ;)
16c) The bemused look on poor Stephen's face as he realizes he's being carried onto shore. And the great exchange of lines between him and the Captain: "I hope this isn't on account of me." "Nonsense. I just wanted to stretch my legs."
16d) The scene where Maturin pulls the bullet OUT OF HIS OWN BODY. Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow. And Jack trying to get out of it but staying when Stephen asks him to, and looking like he's about to bolt any second as the operation commences, and Stephen having to ask HIM if HE is all right. ;)
16e) Stephen trying to thank him for bringing him on land to get him operated on, and Jack's answering line: "Posh. Name a shrub after me--something prickly, and hard to eradicate."
17) The scene where Jack catches the crewman being insubordinate to the young officer who's been targeted as a scapegoat by the crew... and when Jack calls the guy down to his cabin to ask him what the hell just happened up on deck. The whole 'I am the badassed captain of this vessel' air he was exuding all throughout that scene even when wearing a flowy, frilly shirt was pretty damned impressive. ;)
18) I saw the significance of the bug that disguises itself like a stick the first time we see it on camera, but when we see it a second time and Blakeney's telling Jack about it--and we see Jack's face shift from amused, patient tolerance to "HEY! This gives me a really COOL idea..."
19) DAMN, Russell is pretty with long loose blond hair and wearing a brown whaler captain's coat.
20) The scene in Aubrey's cabin when he's giving the officers their orders about "no salutes, no colors" and other such obvious trappings of their military status out in plain view and they all chorus by reflex, "AYE SIR!" Hee hee.
21) The whole speech to inspire the men to go kick ass. "Because, after all, we have surprise on our side!" Surprise. Get it? Wink wink nudge nudge.
22) GOOD climactic battle scene! Lots of nifty booming cannons! Lots of chaotic action! The only problem with this part was that we were sitting too close to the screen at the Cinerama to really appreciate this, so a lot of the action kind of blurred together. I'll have to see the movie again just to sit farther back this time and get a better sense of what happened in that whole sequence.
23) DAMN, Russell is pretty charging through a French ship with a sword out.
24) The "Oh goody! I'm gonna be a CAPTAIN! OH BOY OH BOY OH BOY!" look on the second in command's face when Aubrey hands him his orders to escort the captured Acheron off to port.
25) The "HEY WAIT A MINUTE" moment when Jack realizes that he has been duped by the French captain. ;D
26) And the extremely eloquent "Ah" that is all Stephen has to say about the matter as the Surprise turns hard around and goes to catch up with the other ship, pull the cameras back, music swells, credits begin to roll.
I have the soundtrack now, and shall enjoy listening to this immensely. This movie will definitely warrant a second viewing, and maybe even a third as well!
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no subject
Date: 2003-11-22 06:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-11-22 07:00 pm (UTC)And did I mention Russell was pretty? :D
no subject
Date: 2003-11-22 07:15 pm (UTC)Plus, they moved events around in the books' timeline by at least seven years. So it doesn't seem as if they were necessarily intending to proceed smoothly through the timeline. :)
I've only seen Mr. Rickman do Snape in the Harry Potter flicks, so I am insufficiently versed with his skills to say whether he'd do Maturin well, but I have no problems whatsoever with Paul Bettany's portrayal. :D
What?
Date: 2003-11-23 02:10 pm (UTC)Sherrif of Nottingham - Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves.
The Metatron - Dogma.
Hans Gruber - Die Hard.
Note that in all the above, he's the decent actor cast in the non-lead role... :-)
Re: What?
Date: 2003-11-23 02:11 pm (UTC)Re: What?
Date: 2003-11-23 02:24 pm (UTC)I mean it... go see. Especially DOGMA... that film sbould be compulsory viewing (even if not classic Rickman, the casting of "God" was PERFECT!).
In fact, they should all be compulsory viewing... well, except "prince of thieves", of course, which should be burned on sight, and replaced with "men in tights", which (as is pointed out in the film!) at least stars an actor playing Robin who can do an English Accent :-). There are, in fact, only two reasons to see "prince of thieves": Alan Rickman, and "Oor Sean".
Ahem. Sorry, I'll get off this soapbox now. Don't know how I got up here.
Nothing to see here, move along...
Re: What?
Date: 2003-11-24 10:52 pm (UTC)I'll see what I can do when I finish the novel, and get a couple more viewings of Master and Commander out of the way. ;)
Waitaminnit...
Date: 2003-11-29 03:19 pm (UTC)... re-reading the above, you haven't seen Die Hard? (The first one - the others are less worthwhile, IMNSHO)
I thought everyone had seen Die Hard. I'm impressed!
Re: Waitaminnit...
Date: 2003-11-29 03:21 pm (UTC)Re: Waitaminnit...
Date: 2003-11-29 03:24 pm (UTC)On another topic - I see you're making sound progress on the novel! Go you!
On yet another topic - how's the arm these days?
Think that's enough for now... :-)
Re: Waitaminnit...
Date: 2003-11-29 04:03 pm (UTC)Re: the novel, thank you thank you... 50K is very, VERY close now!
Re: the arm, it is almost normal at this point, save for occasional weakness. The nerve damage is almost healed as well; my thumb still doesn't lift up all the way and my inner fingers don't lift up all the way either, making my hand just a trifle bit crooked still if I try to lie it flat. But that's healing as well, slowly but surely!
Re: Waitaminnit...
Date: 2003-11-29 04:12 pm (UTC)I saw another post where you're on about 46.5K words for the novel - hope you get to 50K without too much effort.
Die Hard is a not bad film, but not one I'd go out of my way to see myself. Dogma, on the other hand, I would put effort into seeing, and not just for Mr Rickman.
(On which topic, finally saw Galaxy Quest earlier tonight - Good Film!!! Gotta love the engineer...)
Anyways, it's now Sunday here - time for me to crash, methinks. Take care!
Re: Waitaminnit...
Date: 2003-11-29 05:36 pm (UTC)Going to see if I can top at least 48K and some change tonight, but if
And yeah, Galaxy Quest is very giggleworthy. :)