Rum, Sodomy, and the Lush

[davywavy]

As if the above title wasn't enough to give it away, last night ukmonty and I went off to see Master and Commander, which turns out to be a tremendously good film. Better than, for example pulling a name randomly out of the air, The Matrix Revolutions.
I'm not much of a Russell Crowe fan - there being room for only one arragant wanker in my life, and that's me - but the film captures the horrific misery of Napoleonic-Era naval warfare in a convincing manner (i.e. it looks bloody awful, and makes the viewer glad to have been born in an age where one is unlikely to have to take part in anything similar), excepting of course that whilst there's plenty of Rum and a little Lash, they seem to be skipping out the sodomy part except by vague implication. I have to hand it to Crowe as well - whilst I may not have time for the man, he has a charisma that makes hundreds of men being willing to follow him to almost certain death convincing: and this skill of his really, really helps the film.

There are many period details which add to the feeling of conviction which carries the film, like the ship's boat being put overboard before battle (presumably to reduce the chance it being destroyed by cannonade), and the Captain's Cabin opening out into being part of the gun deck when required. All this and more carried the period feeling excellently and only the expensive conditioner which even the cabin-boy seemed to have access to really dented the detail, but you can overlook one glitch.

Couple the authentic feel with scores of comedy Frenchmen ("Why elz do you suppose I speek weeth theees reediculouz acc-cent?!") being put to the sword in a jolly jingoistic fashion and a neat little twist at the end, and you've got a winner. Despite it not being a Lord of the Rings sequel, I may well go and see it twice - which is more than I can say for any other feel I've seen this year.

Comments

[adventink.livejournal.com]

I liked it a lot too. They really did their homework for the historical accuracy and encapsulated the books well.

I almost shot myself though during that bit about the weevils. :)

A&E will be premering the next two "Horatio Hornblower" episodes soon. Hehe!

R.

"And a drop of Nelson's blood wouldn't do us any harm..."

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

As you mentioned LotR, the miniatures/modelwork for M&C were done by Weta Workshop as well. They've really come a long way since Braindead ;o) They not only create fantasy environments convincingly but also real life things accurately, which is the more difficult thing to do, IMO.

[puddingcat.livejournal.com]

any other feel I've seen this year/i>

Ahem. Given the company with whom you saw this, do you mean "film I've seen", or "feel I've had"?

Think very carefully before replying.

[tzel.livejournal.com]

They actually went to companies that had been around long enough to have made the furniture and coat buttons for ships of that time to get all the props. A lot of research went into that film.

One funny thing... I'm told that in the book it's an American privateer they're chasing, not French. Despite the fact that the enemy captain is portrayed as being exceptionally clever, I guess the uber "patriotism" that's running around the US right now would have made it a bad idea to stay true to the book. I'm really looking forward to reading the whole series.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

I think the thing about the Captains is that they're equally matched - both very, very good. It makes the film a cut above the usual thick villain syndrome.

[tzel.livejournal.com]

I agree. You get the impression that the Crowe character is not so used to that.

[blue-cat.livejournal.com]

Not to mention the fact that they actually had black sailors, which was historically accurate, and none of them had a cameo role for PC reasons :)

Also the guy sitting on the front near the bowspit with his pants down, cause that was the toilet.

And yes, Crowe is damn fine in those roles - probably cause he is believable as a macho failable bastard.