Master and Commander: Far side of the world (2003)

[sus]

Like the original film, this thread never got the attention it deserved

 

[sus]

Film was a success no? Why didn't they roll out a franchise based on the other twenty books?

Can you imagine

@Corpsey @catalog @version I'm getting wet just thinking about it. Our own Jack Aubrey... franchised! 😍

 

[IdleRich]

It underperformed actually, hence they canned their franchise plans

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OK I did look at the numbers afterwards and it seemed to make a profit but not an enormous one - and was nominated for like ten oscars. Squashed by Lord of the Rings ultimately I guess.

 

[IdleRich]

Has anyone read the books? Any good?

 

[IdleRich]

Also.... similarities to Moby Dick when it's pointed out to him that his pride is keeping them chasing an elusive enemy that they are unlikely to beat.... though Aubrey never goes full Ahab sadly.

 

[sus]

Also.... similarities to Moby Dick when it's pointed out to him that his pride is keeping them chasing an elusive enemy that they are unlikely to beat.... though Aubrey never goes full Ahab sadly.

I think that's the beauty of it. Aubrey is saved by dialectic; it's his right-hand man who keeps him balanced.

 

[sus]

Two great man, each master of his domain, together master of the world.. is there a more powerful combination in the whole big universe?

 

[IdleRich]

I think that's the beauty of it. Aubrey is saved by dialectic; it's his right-hand man who keeps him balanced.

Yeah.... I did find the doctor's lack of knowledge of the sea a little bit forced at times though - I know it's a device so that he can ask and get it explained for us, but surely he's a fucking ship's doctor, he should know that stuff.

 

[Murphy]

You’re stuck on a boat for months and months with other men whose lives depend on the consistency of you putting we above me

Someone’s gonna eventually see you with your lad out

 

[sus]

nope i'm 100% straight i would never look, that's disgusting

 

[IdleRich]

he was off that one a little queer if you ask me, i wouldnt hang around him with my knickers down

I did wonder - dunno if you remember - but at the start there is a bit where they basically get ambushed by the baddie and the captain wonders how they could know about them and Maturin mutters something vague about spies... well, I wondered if at the end he was gonna turn out to be the spy or something. Obviously at that point I didn't know he was in the same role in loads of the books which would have disabused me of that idea.

 

[Murphy]

 

[catalog]

definitely ripe for a decent netflix series.

I can see why it underperformed though, it's one of those films like maybe shawshank redemption where the sort of people who would actually like it would not go to see it based on the title and trailers.

my mate who is into this stuff a bit more recommended me something called "black sails" which is the prequel story for long john silver, but i've not checked it out yet.

 

[luka]

 

[catalog]

Correct. Would have liked to have seen it in the Cinema. Not quite saving private ryan levels of putting you there, but very good.

Another scene that sticks out is where the doctor is doing open brain surgery on one of the sailors and everyone's looking on from above.

 

[sus]

this is now a gore thread

 

[IdleRich]

Yeah the cannonballs through the wood bits were very dramatic... did they really splinter it as easily as that? I guess they knew what they were doing.

 

[IdleRich]

Never heard of Black Sails but I loved Treasure Island when I was a kid.... "The black spot!".
Makes me think of this... evocative title anyway.



or this

 

[Corpsey]

I read the first book. Apparently they get better but I enjoyed it. It's very dense with nautical terms which I tended to skim over, which made it sometimes hard to visualise the sea battles in my head. The film definitely captures something of the tone of the book I read, which combines a cynicism towards the military and British patriotism with an evocation of the exhilaration of battle and adventure.

 

[IdleRich]

Maybe I'll give it a go. Yeah you have to be very careful how you balance that patriotism in the film... you don't want to be making shonky propaganda with toffs advertising the empire on which the sun never sets, but you do have to acknowledge that every man jack aboard that ship totally believed in England's god given right to rule the seas and that the French were basically filthy monkeys who somehow could sail ships.