Master And Commander: The Far Side of the World

By EWAN MCDONALD

Herald rating: * * * *

It's based on a book by a man, directed by a man, produced by several men, written for the screen by more men, and stars a lot of men. In fact, there's not a female aboard ... aah, no, this is not a chick-flick. This is the one that the boys hire on the weekend that the Blues have a bye.

We are back in April 1805. Napoleon is master of Europe but the commander of the rest of the known world is the British fleet and it is on the seas that the defining battles will be fought.

Sailing off the north coast of Brazil is HMS Surprise, a warship with 197 crewmen and 28 guns under Captain "Lucky Jack" Aubrey, played with many a swash and a buckle by our... no, their Russell Crowe. He's been ordered to intercept a French ship, the Acheron.

This dastardly frog has been preying on English shipping, so Aubrey is instructed to sink, burn or take her as a prize. Unfortunately the Acheron is faster and has more guns than the Surprise, so the chase will become a nautical chess match through the devilish weather around Cape Horn and up to the Galapagos Islands that will last for the next two hours or so.

There is a sub-plot or two: the tetchy friendship/rivalry between Aubrey and the ship's surgeon and naturalist, Dr Stephen Maturin (Paul Bettany), who shares violin and cello duets with the skipper; and lower-deck warfare between a young officer and the rough, ready and superstitious crew, who think he might be jinxed.

But there are movies where you don't need a great story and this is one. This is a rollicking good tale tailor-made for Crowe. He is commander of the screen, appearing in almost every scene, masterfully creating a rounded, believable man of few words, decisive, suitably heroic, respecting his enemy's strengths, perhaps more compassionate than his times would have allowed, particularly towards his motley crew. Indeed the only times that the movie slows is when director Peter Weir lets speeches get in the way of the action.

But the action! Oh, that's marvellous, realistic -- yes, violent and brutal, like the amputation scene -- but above all exciting.

So let's crack another tinnie and look at the DVD version. And look is the crucial word: it's presented in the wide, 2.17:1 anamorphic ratio that's about cannon range. Much of the movie is filmed "aboard ship" so it's fairly dark. Remember that this won the Oscar for sound, and that comes across in all its lounge-rocking glory.

Try to get hold of the two-disc collector's edition. The first disc carries the film in widescreen with soundtracks, 36 scene selections, in English, French and Spanish language and subtitles. On the second disc is a treasure trove of extras, notably the 69-minute documentary The Hundred Days, in widescreen and narrated by the director, crew and stars.

In The Wake Of O'Brian is another 20-minute documentary about adapting the 10th novel in Patrick O'Brian's

Master and Commander series (yes, expect sequels). There are three major behind-the-scenes features, six deleted scenes, and multi-angle studies of various scenes. To finish, there are four art galleries and trailers.

(DVD, video rental April 21)