Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)

I love that this movie is simultaneously adored by couch potato fathers and film critics alike. It's by far one of the best movies my Dad showed me growing up, though he doesn't remember it as well as Braveheart. I randomly stumbled across the Blu ray in the wild, immediately watched it, and goddamn did it put my home theater to work. I've watched this probably 4 or 5 time growing up on our family's box tv & speaker combo, but this movie was made for the theater. The sound design is impeccable. Almost the entirety of this film takes place on a naval war ship soaked in sweat, sea water, and jam packed full of men. No women allowed. This isn't a brothel! In fact, in the entire film we only glimpse one women for a few seconds. Nearly everything about this movie impressed me. The script is based on a very long and accomplished novel series by an author who's known for his prose and time period accuracy. So this movie really makes you FEEEL like you're on a naval war ship (as they say). The cinematography and visual design of the film is also top notch. There is always so much happening on screen, so many people, so much water. It's overwhelming to just look at so I can only imagine how insane it was to film this movie. Last but not least, Russell f-ing Crowe in (another) one of his greatest roles, but this one might just take the cake for me. That might be attributed again, to the novel this movie is based on. Lucky Jack is an established character oozing with dogma. A genuine badass. I'm already looking forward to making this a yearly re-watch.​

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