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

[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.