Our favourite aussie hot head returns to the big screen for this oceanic opus based on a story taken from a whole series of books by the same name. In a nutshell, a ship, or rather its master and commander (get it?), are ordered to locate the whereabouts of a larger and more powerful enemy vessel. So as you would expect a battle of wits and tactics ensues taking you on a journey of duty, courage, honour and discovery... apparently. Crowe is, as expected, excellent, with a strong supporting cast also mirroring the films lead in quality of performance. The film is directed smoothly, tastefully and with a very rich sense of traditionalism, which to some may evoke a sense of all that is good about basic raw cinema. To others though, the film may just seem to exhibit much too much of an outdated style of story telling which at least on the surface, only serves to highlight the stylistic limitations of the material and the films director. Whatever your opinion may be on the films general tone, most of you should agree something seems to be holding the film back. However, even in the worst possible cases of stylistic clashes between the film and its viewer, 'Master and Commander' will still entertain from stem to stern even though admittedly some parts of the film are without doubt lacking considerable wind in their sails. If you were expecting 'Gladiator' on water you'll be disappointed, but if you leave comparisons to Crowe's previous work behind at the pop corn stand, you'll probably half enjoy yourself.

3/5