This was a bit of an accident from the DVD rental point of view.
I actually watched Master & Commander (M&C) when I was visiting my dad once and I guess I forgot to take it off my rental list afterwards.
M&C is actually an adaptation of a novel in a particularly well loved and popular set of novels that essentially chart the careers of the two main protagonists, Captain Jack Aubrey and the Stephen Maturin who's the ship's surgeon.
The film is also something of an enigma on that front, in that it seems it did okay at the box office, turning a profit; it was quite well reviewed and as I say it's an adaption of one book in a popular series and yet there's never been any more films made. Why was this not the first of a trilogy or possibly even a full franchise?
A quote on Wikipedia suggests that while it did okay at the box office, we're not talking Avengers type popular (or Pirates of the Caribbean might be a better comparison), so sequels never really got off the ground. Also, I know that sea-based shooting is not regarded in favourable light as it's quite difficult to do.
Anyway, the film itself is quite good. The feel and tone is just right and it looks great. The characters also work well and seem quite well fleshed out and clearly motivated. If I was to make one criticism it would be that they're a little generic.
I was going to use the word stereotypical, but I'm not sure that's quite fair. It's more like they're fairly close to archetypes and therefore feel similar to a lot of characters you've seen before. However, they don't feel cliché. The performances are good and they feel subtle and well developed.
The plot is interesting. It kinda launches into the main story with aplomb and there's very little in the way of deviation from that. I mean there are some sub-plots, but they really are subordinate to the main story. However, that main story does meander a bit and, in a way, is more like an overarching goal than a real plot.
It's a little difficult to describe to be honest - it feels more like a slice of (made up) history than a story as such, although it does have beginning middle and end. I guess what I mean is that it does feel like proper historical fiction, rather than just happening to be set in that period.
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