Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Captain "Lucky" Jack Aubrey (Russell Crowe) heads the crew of the naval ship Surprise patrolling the Atlantic. Great Britain is being threatened by Napoleon and the French and the ocean is now the primary battlefield. Aubrey's orders are to intercept a French ship named the Acheron and keep it from controlling the seas outside of Brazil. Their first battle though was less than successful, in fact, it was a disaster. Outmanned and outgunned, Aubrey and the Surprise flee to rebuild and reload. It soon leads to elusiveness and lots of chasing. After rounding the horn, it seems apparent that Aubrey has lost the Acheron. He satisfies the wishes of his injured best friend Stephen Maturin (Paul Bettany), the ship's doctor and budding naturalist, by allowing him time to explore the Galapagos Islands. It is through this exploration that they happen upon the Acheron and Aubrey soon devises a plan to try to end this mission as quickly as possible.

Before the construction of the Panama Canal, sailors needed to round Cape Horn to get to the Pacific Ocean. That takes a very long time, months and months. And you know what, that's how the first half of the movie felt; like an eternity. While the film is to be commended for its realism and character development, the fact of the matter is, these people are awfully boring. It slowed the entire movie down and it didn't help that we had 6 or 7 different boring storylines to keep track of. It's particularly troubling when a crew member gets killed or does something memorable, but we can only ask "Who was that guy?" The only interesting guy there is Aubrey himself, who covers a wide range of personalities, from heroic, to intelligent, to musically talented, etc. But the movie doesn't pick up until the Galapagos Islands, when we see a different side of sailors that we're not accustomed to seeing in earlier naval efforts, and the ensuing battle with the Acheron, which is crisp with tension and a sight to see with cannons going off, Aubrey leading the way in hand-to-hand combat and a teenager in command. 3 stars