Timewaster's Guide Archive
Departments => Movies and TV => Topic started by: stacer on November 15, 2003, 01:20:12 AM
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So, just got home from seeing it. Normally I don't like movies set at sea--Waterworld was pretty dumb in the first place, had no desire to see The Perfect Storm, etc. But I really liked Master and Commander. The plot moved along well, gave us some good historical background about what it was like to be a navy sailor in Her Majesty's service without sugar-coating it.
Some parts were rather more gruesome than I would have liked. Cutting off the kid's arm--what was his name, the gentleman's son?--that was gross. And at the end, the close combat--that was very cool, but some parts were too close for comfort. I can't explain why I cringed. It's not that I thought those parts were inappropriate, but it was just that they were so real. I mean, in a movie like LotR, there is close combat, but it's not so gory, and even though your belief is suspended, you still have part of you that knows it's not real. This seemed so real. And that's good, but also disturbing, if that makes sense. I felt like I was the one holding the sword, swinging in the melee for my life. Yikes.
So, despite--or maybe because of--how it pulled me in emotionally (throughout the movie, not just in the battle scenes), I'd say it's one of the best movies I've seen all year. Now, that's not saying much, as not many of the movies that have come out this year have been worth spending $11 on (no, that's not a typo, I spent $11 to get into this movie tonight ::) ). But I do mark it up there on the chart.
Also, as a Jane Austen fan (movies and books), I thought it was fun to imagine that Lucky Jack was Captain Wentworth (Persuasion) when away from home.
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Oh, and I forgot to mention that the guy who plays Pippin, forget his name, has a minor role in it. Does he really have that scar beneath his eye in real life, or is it makeup? If makeup, that was a nice touch. Many of the guys had scars of one sort or another like that.
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I believe his name is Billy Boyd. Great guy. I should go say hi next time I see him.
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I saw it saturday afternoon at a $4 matinee. It was good. Boyd (Pippin) was cool, the guy who makes the boat go left or right.
The part that got me the most was when that kid fell off the HMS Surprise and they had to cut the ropes or be pulled under. And then when Harlem threw himself off the boat because he thought he was the reason there wasn't any wind. And to tangentize, the guy who played Harlem I've also seen in a Best Buy commericial. Funny, no?
It was a pretty good movie. And I say to you stacer, I enjoyed Waterworld. What with the water, and the turning urine into drinkable water, and the explosions.
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I just have one question about Master and Commander--why, at the end, did they even go into close quarters? I mean, they had the enemy ship crippled. Couldn't they have just pulled back and then pounded the crud out of it?
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His orders were to capture it if possible.
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And I don't see how they could have turned the boat completely around. Plus they put the cannons off their wheels so they could get at the mast. So actually battling in close combat was a better shot than trying to get the boat around for another shot. At which point the French boat could've retaliated and destroyed them.