Product Description

Russell Crowe, Paul Bettany, James D'Arcy, Edward Woodall, Chris LarkinDirector: Peter Weir

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3079 in DVD
• Brand: Blu-ray Drama
• Released on: 2008-04-28
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish
• Dubbed in: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .26 pounds
• Running time: 139 minutes

Synopsis
Based on a series of books by Patrick O'Brian, and directed by Peter Weir, MASTER AND COMMANDER plunges viewers deep into the story of a British Navy ship at sea during the Napoleonic war. Russell Crowe stars as Aubrey, the charismatic captain who wrestles with issues like honour, pride, duty, sacrifice and loyalty while using ingenious tactics to engage his prey--a much larger and better-equipped French Man o' War. Paul Bettany plays his friend, the ship's doctor, who cautions Aubrey about letting revenge cloud his judgement after the French Man o' War almost sinks them in an early battle. Before the incredibly intense final skirmish the men battle a raging storm, launch an excursion to the Galapagos Islands, find time for grog-enhanced merriment, and endure some primitive surgery. Weir fills the film with a rich wealth of period detail, convincing dialogue and the same haunting, dreamlike mood that has informed his best films, like PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK, THE LAST WAVE and THE TRUMAN SHOW. The wealth of sounds and sights on display are so evocative one can practically smell the salt air and feel the heave of the ocean beneath their seats. Russell is intense and inspiring as Aubrey and Bettany proves a worthy match. MASTER AND COMMANDER is another triumph for Weir, and further evidence of his ability to fuse poetic realism with rousing entertainment.

Customer Reviews

Excellent Film - Shame about the special features
This is a fabulous film. The detail is such that it transports you 200 years back in time.

The high definition picture is very impressive. I have watched this film many times in Standard defition however at times I felt as though I was watching additional scenes! The sound has to be heard to be believed as well!

The only let down from the Blu ray film is the quality of the special features. I possess the 2 disk special edition of the standard definition vfersion which contains many excellent documentaries etc. None of these have been ported to the Blu ray version.

A sound treat
Notice this movie gets no less than four stars from any reviewer, that tells you its worth watching but what none of the reviews tell you is its worth listening to as well. If you have a decent surround set up and your receiver can decode DTS Master then boy are you in for a treat. The soundtrack fills the room with sound, even in the quietest moments below decks your room will be filled with the creaking of the ship and when the cannonballs fly you'll want to duck. I've had the blu copy of this film for a while now and hadn't watched it yet but decided to get it out based on Home Cinema Choice magazine describing it as one of the five top DTS soundtracks (Issue 168)and they're not wrong. Go on, give it a listen.

Good film, OK Blu Ray transfer
The film is good. I'm not going to review it here as there are loads of reviews for the film elsewhere. All I will say is that as a long time fan of the books - the film is not as good as the books, especially when they introduce stupid sub plots (suicide) that are not in the books. That aside, it is a good exciting film in of itself.

The Blu Ray transfer is adequate rather than superb. Quite a lot of grain in the picture in a few scenes, though this is the way the film was shot in darkness a lot of the time, rather than the blu ray transfer itself. However it is certainly a step up from the DVD which I own (I rented it on Blu Ray), some scenes are really quite breathtaking. Worth getting if you don't have it on DVD already.

The sound on the Blu Ray disc is either 5.1 or DTS HD, and sounds very good in DTS HD. The fighting scenes are much more immersive than on standard DD 5.1, the soundscape is more natural.