(2003) "Brace the yards to starboard!" Off the north coast of Brazil in April 1805, the HMS Surprise, with 197 officers and sailors, under the command of Capt Jack Aubrey (Russell Crowe), is caught out by the French heavy frigate Acheron, a privateer, suddenly appearing out of the fog with the weather gauge (wind advantage). His warship receiving a full broadside in the engagement, its rudder blasted away - "We're fish in a barrel!" - Capt Aubrey nevertheless pulls off another of his fortunate feats to avoid defeat.

The "butcher's bill" tallies nine dead and 27 wounded. Rather than seek a port for repairs, Aubrey has his crew mend the ship at sea, so as not to lose more time in pursuing the faster, longer-gunned enemy. Based on the novels of Patrick O'Brian, Peter Weir, who co-wrote the screenplay with John Collee, masterfully takes command of directing this adventure on the rolling main during the Napoleonic Wars, convincingly illustrating with nautical details from bow to stern life and death aboard a British warship.

From its mainsail and mizzen topgallant to the taffrail and braces to the anchor, "this ship is our home," proclaims Aubrey. Rituals and tradition (bonuses of grog), discipline and superstition (some sailors believe a Jonah aboard has cursed the ship) fill the days of their "wooden world."

Little more than a child, Midshipman Blakeney (Max Pirkis), suffering a compound fracture of his right arm, undergoes amputation; a sailor has a coin inserted into a hole in his skull to patch a gaping wound. Ship's surgeon Stephen Maturin (Paul Bettany) is also a pre-Darwinian naturalist intent on collecting bugs, beetles, and other creatures on the Galápagos Islands. He and his long-time friend Aubrey play duets together on cello and violin, respectively, as well as argue over whether pride or duty, respectively, has determined the course of this "belligerent expedition" against a 44-gun ship "out of our class."

Employing another maneuvering trick at night, Aubrey evades the Acheron again (about which he's learned from one of his sailors its Yankee construction in Boston), rounding the treacherous Cape of South America before heading northward. Highly regarded by his crew for his courage, cunning, and seamanship (knows his ship and what she can take), "Lucky Jack" is kindly toward his men, taking any loss of life hard, such as having to abandon a man overboard.

After a run of bad luck, including an accidental shooting of the physician (Maturin must perform surgery on himself with the aid of a mirror), Blakeney, after assisting the naturalist in collecting samples on the Galápagos, shares with Capt Aubrey a rare phasmid: "It's an insect that disguises itself as a stick in order to confuse its predators." Having earlier taken aboard the remnants of a crew from a whaler the Acheron had earlier captured and burned, chameleon-like, Aubrey transforms his vessel into the Syren to lure the French close and then surprise them with his cannons.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in video and/or DVD format, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

Copyright © 2010 Patrick Ivers. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

Patrick Ivers can be reached via e-mail at .