Historical naval drama set in 1805 during the Napoleonic Wars and adapted from Patrick O’Brian’s popular fiction series. Russell Crowe plays Jack Aubrey, the captain of the English ship HMS Surprise intent on capturing the French ship Acheron. Crowe is charismatic, as ever, but I wasn’t entirely convinced that a captain so reasonable and jovial could simultaneously be so bent on pursuing an enemy. This feeling of implausibility grew as Jack Aubrey sacrificed so many of his crew for seemingly very little gain.
Plot and character motivation aside, the film does have a lot going for it. Paul Bettany is sympathetic and highly convincing as Aubrey’s friend Dr. Stephen Maturin. The baroque music the pair play together on cello and violin sounds wonderful. And the detail of life on the ship is well created, even if there does seem to be an endless supply of everything hidden somewhere within the confines of the small craft. The nature theme and the scenes in the Galápagos islands also added a layer of richness.
The two sections that will stay with me were the “Jonah” episode, in which a victimised midshipman commits suicide because he starts to believe he's bringing bad luck to the crew, and a harrowing moment in which a man overboard is left for dead when the captain has to cut the ropes of a collapsed sail that endangers the boat.
According to Wikipedia, the lack of women in the film makes it one of only “about 120 films made since 1934 with an all-male cast”.
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