Product Description

When a sudden attack by a French warship inflicts casualities and severe damage upon his vessel, Captain "Lucky" Jack Aubrey (Crowe) of the British Royal Navy is torn between duty and friendship as he embarks on a thrilling, high-stakes chase across two oceans to intercept and capture the enemy at any cost. Nominated for 10 Academy Awards including Best Picture!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #57188 in DVD
• Brand: Master
• Published on: 2004-04-01
• Released on: 2004-04-20
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: Color, Collector's Edition, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Special Edition, NTSC
• Original language: English, French, Spanish
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Dubbed in: French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: .62 pounds
• Running time: 138 minutes

Amazon.com
In the capable hands of director Peter Weir, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World is a seafaring adventure like no other, impeccably authentic, dynamically cast, and thrilling enough to give any classic swashbuckler a run for its money. In adapting two of Patrick O'Brian's enormously popular novels about British naval hero Capt. Jack Aubrey, Weir and cowriter John Collee have changed the timeframe from the British/American war of 1812 to the British/French opposition of 1805, where the HMS Surprise, under Aubrey's confident command, is patrolling the South Atlantic in pursuit of the Acheron, a French warship with the strategic advantage of greater size, speed, and artillery. Russell Crowe is outstanding as Aubrey, firm and fiercely loyal, focused on his prey even if it means locking horns with his friend and ship's surgeon, played by Crowe's A Beautiful Mind costar Paul Bettany. Employing a seamless combination of carefully matched ocean footage, detailed models, full-scale ships, and CGI enhancements, Weir pays exacting attention to every nautical detail, while maintaining a very human story of honor, warfare, and survival under wretched conditions. Raging storms and hull-shattering battles provide pulse-pounding action, and a visit to the Galapagos Islands lends a note of otherworldly wonder, adding yet another layer of historical perspective to this splendidly epic adventure. --Jeff Shannon

DVD features
If you have any interest in how this impressive-looking film was put together, you must grab the Collector's Edition. The disc of extras is universally intriguing, smoothly presented, and in depth. As good as the 70-minute documentary is--and it is an excellent survey of how the film was made--a 30-minute segment on how the various effects were combined (ocean shoot, tank shoot, CGI and models) is stunning. There's an equally impressive piece on the Oscar-winning sound and an interactive cannon firing demonstration. The director of the DVD features, David Prior, uses split screens and on-screen notes to efficiently give an abundant amount of information. There is no commentary track, but the film's director, Peter Weir, has 20 minutes to talk about his approach to the film with "In the Wake of O'Brian." Add a dandy multi-camera segment, 20 minutes of deleted scenes (mostly dealing with shipboard life), dense galleries, a good dose of classical music, and a 28-page booklet, and you have an extras package you will want to show others. Ironically, one of the film's two Oscar-winners, cinematographer Russell Boyd, is only mentioned in passing. --Doug Thomas

From The New Yorker
Finally, the work of Patrick O'Brian arrives onscreen. Two of his twenty Jack Aubrey novels have been requisitioned for this new Peter Weir film; instead of receiving a gentle introduction, we are launched straight into a fogbound firefight, and from there into a race around Cape Horn. The casting of Russell Crowe as Aubrey will divide the fans; he can handle the sway of action with aplomb, but O'Brian readers may flinch at his sullen air and pine for the bluffness of the original. Paul Bettany does a delicate job with the role of Stephen Maturin, Jack's best and cleverest friend; we sense his quiet eagerness-common to the work of Weir and O'Brian-to press on toward the darker reaches of the world and discover more. For all the foul weather, and despite the charming amputation scene, we feel ourselves to be in good company with these men, and strangely jealous of their packed and salted lives. -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker