Alicia I love this movie so much

Maidexpl Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

ChicDragon It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

pnestepny I really like the historical aspects of the movie. Well done, one of the best historical-fiction movie I have ever seen!

ronnietg The outstanding screenplay element of this story is the Story World. Unlike real life, the Story World is a reflection of the Hero's flaws. His pride gets the better of his good judgment, as he pursues the "phantom ship" that is bent on destroying his ship - The phantom ship is a French ship- We are told in the very beginning that England vs. France is the historical epic story element of Master and Commander. The phantom ship is the "Opponent," which should be a human, with flaws and abilities to obstruct or block the Hero's Desire Line. It is the Opponent or lack thereof in this story that weakens the Drive. The compensation of weak Drive is the never ending weather as part of the Story World that acts in opposition to the Hero. But again, the weather is not a human opponent. The problems inherent with the ship and the weather and the "phantom opponent" are that there is a Narrative Drive problem in the script. Even with the incredible Story World, which includes detailed land, material made structures, and tools that describe for the audience a time that is unique to 21st century audiences - even with the rich Story World as compensation, the story still lags and lacks the punch-counter-punch of an action genre. Adventure is a sub-genre of Action - This better describes the genre for this story. Drama, whereby opponents are intimate, does not fit believably here. Again, with no strong human opponent, the Drama genre is therefore weakened. A strong moral argument is part of the Drama genre - And the Captain/Hero's decision to honor his friend/ally/point of view character- provides a twist to the otherwise difficult to swallow Drama genre elements in this story. Had these elements been dealt with, a good script could have been a superb script. I still would highly recommend seeing this film. The arena of the ship provides a type of pressure cooker Story World with very colorful, unique character web. And this is a detailed Story World that most of us are not familiar with and therefore, is quite compelling.

Filipe Neto Inspired by a novel, this film tells of the adventure of the frigate "HMS Surprise" and its captain, Jack Aubrey, in the South Seas, in pursuit of a powerful French warship during the Napoleonic Wars. To understand the film, however, its necessary to forget the book, set in a different conflict between British and Americans. The creative freedom of cinema has these things. The best of the film, however, is not the action or war scenes, but the way it accurately portrays the "modus vivendi" of a navy crew during this time. The historical portrait made is absolutely strict and this is something that a historian, like me, knows how to value and thank. Superstitions, war tactics, uniforms, hygiene and eating habits, relationship between military hierarchies, scientific research... all have been portrayed in a trustworthy way.Russel Crowe is the main actor and manages to perfectly embody the spirit of stubbornness and determination of an old sea lion. Beside him, the detailed and meticulous spirit of the naval surgeon Dr. Maturin is personified by Paul Bettany in a grandiose way, especially when both are together on the scene. There are other good actors, I especially liked a young man who plays a boy who, at the beginning of the film, loses an arm in combat (I didn't memorize actor's name but he did a great job). Another detail that delighted me was the soundtrack and the use of music during the film. Cinematography is excellent, particularly in combat and storm scenes. The biggest problem of the movie is it's nearly three-hour length. That will discourage some people, although this has not happened to me.

nszponar I am working my way through the Jack Aubrey/Patrick O'Brian series of historical novels and thought it would b a good idea to see the film of Master and Commander. I was a bit apprehensive about the castings and in some cases they definitely did not work. However, thinking that Russell Crowe was not right for Jack Aubrey, having seen the movie, all I can say is I can't see anyone else doing a better job. In the books, this is a man with a zest for life, courageous and maybe a bit reckless - Russell Crowe captures this very well. Still not sure about the Maturin casting because he is definitely a man who is not what he seems and that does not come across. Boden - also not quite right. However, this is a proper rendition of the period and the spirit of the books. I can only say I wish they had made more - the books do have quite a few love interests in them so this would have been good to see. Of course, it must have been expensive to film but this is what film is made for - beautiful cinematography, great set pieces, a good story and really sound acting - much better than all the action hero stuff that is out there.