Master and Commander:

The Far Side of the World The titles and content of the first and 10th volumes of the late Patrick O’Brian’s popular 20-book seafaring series have been adapted into a bracing tale of comradeship, courage, leadership, loyalty, oceanic hunts, pitched battles and onboard surgeries. The film briskly sails over the screen in rich nautical detail, as the friendship of British Capt. Jack Aubrey (Russell Crowe) and ship’s physician Dr. Stephen Maturin (Paul Bettany) and the mettle of their crew are tested in 1805 as they attempt to intercept the French privateer warship Acheron. This nearly epic mission set during the Napoleonic wars takes us along the fog-shrouded coast of Brazil, around storm-battered Cape Horn and into the doldrums of the South Pacific, where “Lucky” Jack jockeys his 127-mate “little wooden world” into a confrontation with a vessel of superior construct and firepower. The film was directed and co-written by Peter Weir (The Truman Show and Witness).