This grand cat and mouse game between the ships of England and Napoleonic France takes place in 1805 on the high seas. Urged on by an anxious British Navy that dispatches the HMS Surprise, a frigate under the command of Captain Jack Aubrey, with orders to intercept the French privateer Acheron en route to the Pacific and "to sink, burn or take her as prize." Of course there are spies lurking everywhere. But the headstrong Captain Aubrey is to interpret his orders in any way that he sees fit thus giving him free reign.

The action begins on the far side of the world soon after six bells on a misty morning off the coast of Brazil, where the Surprise is caught off guard by her rival, the much larger Acheron, with Captain Aubrey through his spyglass only just catching the cannon flashes out of the mist before yelling out for the crew to get down just before the 18-pound cannon balls tear through his ship with incredible deafening force smashing things to smithereens. Then the Acheron disappears like a phantom in the mist. Leaving the battered Captain Aubrey no choice but to re rig the Surprise at sea, for to him, to retreat to the nearest port to make repairs or return to England is out of the question.

In this first encounter between the two ships the Surprise is indeed the mouse and Captain Aubrey is determined that this will not happen again, but it does much to his angst. As the Acheron in the next encounter comes up on the Surprise's stern some days later and after a fierce pounding and harrowing escape by the ship boats towing the disabled Surprise out of harm's way, the captain of the Surprise comes up with an old sailing trick of subterfuge by releasing a floating mast and lantern at night to draw the pursuer away from the Surprise's true course and she escapes into the night. But the carnage has again taken a heavy toll in dead and wounded.

Among them Blakeney, an aristocratic young midshipman who is wounded in the cannon fire and loses his right arm while attended to by the ship's surgeon Dr. Stephen Maturin, who declares that he has never seen a braver man.

The cold hard fact that there is hell to pay sometimes is not lost on Captain Aubrey and he vows that the captain of the Acheron will not do this to him again. He is also determined to patch up his damaged ship as best he can and chase after the Acheron around Cape Horn to the Pacific as soon as possible.

The Yankee-built Acheron is the larger, faster ship of the two with 44 guns and a much larger crew and a seemingly impenetrable hull to the Surprise's 12-pound cannonballs. But this fact does little to deter Captain Aubrey from playing the deadly game of war, and he is drawn to the conflict and relishes in it. For he is the captain of the Surprise, and wherever she sails "this ship is England." Where all the different classes sail aboard commingling and collaborating in tight quarters together in a stiff hierarchical way, bowing to ritual and pomp, all under the command of the dashing headstrong, yet humane, Captain "Lucky" Jack Aubrey. His character is greatly revealed by his camaraderie with the ship's surgeon Dr. Maturin who is also a naturalist, a wise man in many ways, and will always tell the captain what he needs to know. There is a civility between the two that has withstood the test of time through war and privation and the long days and nights at sea.

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The banter between the two reveals the depth of the doctor as well, a quick-witted sensitive man of ideas, as opposed to the captain, a complex, hearty man of action. The two find common ground when they often gather in the captain's cabin after dinner to play music together. Where the captain confesses "I scrape a little, sir, I torment the fiddle from time to time." Maturin plays the cello and is greatly concerned about his friend's personnel obsession with the Acheron and is the only one who dares to offer his ideas of restraint and reason to his friend and captain who seems forever preoccupied pursuing phantom ships.

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The harrowing seas that the Surprise encounters in the South Atlantic and off Cape Horn are about as real as it gets on the silver screen and in one tragic storm scene a man is lost overboard with no chance of rescue and the captain has no choice but to cut away fallen yards and rigging and slog on against the storm for the good of the ship and the rest of the crew.

But at last the Surprise makes it around Cape Horn and Captain Aubrey then plots his course north to the Galapagos Islands where he is certain that he will encounter the Acheron again. Sure that she will go there to reap havoc upon the whaling fleet. Somehow he is determined that he will find a way to avoid her cannons to get close enough so that his cannon fire will be effective and to board her and take her as a prize. The clue as to just how to do that comes later on from the creatures of the Galapagos Islands and Dr. Maturin, a fervent naturalist, who would much rather be hunting rare beetles in the Galapagos than chasing after phantom ships.

The scenes of the Surprise arriving at the Galapagos Islands catch the sense of wonder of it all for Maturin as he eagerly looks forward to searching all over the islands for specimens to take back with him to England. But his hopes are dashed after an encounter with marooned whalers who had been ravished by the Acheron. For Captain Aubrey is determined to chase after his rival without delay and deprive Maturin of the opportunity to explore the island. The two have harsh words for each other.

There is more to this story and the climax of the tale, but perhaps this is the time to leave it to movie goers to experience the rest on their own.

Now on to other important aspects of this wonderful maritime movie.

Life aboard the Surprise is captured in great authentic historic detail right down to the buttons and one has the sense of being there amongst the crew aloft, or scurrying about on deck. The acting all around is superb and the special effects seamlessly applied and the film captures the sailor's world, the endless routines of all who know their place, intimately revealed, superstitions and all. The spell is never broken throughout this movie, as real as it gets with the capturing of those earlier turbulent times. And there is a Jonah aboard the Surprise.

This tale is taken from the first and tenth Patrick O"Brian novels, Master and Commnder and The Far Side of the World and the screenwriters have taken certain liberties and edited and changed the story moving it back from the War of 1812 to 1805 and changed the British Navy's adversaries from American to French.

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Still, the Australian director, Peter Weir, pulls it off with grand style and the essence of Patrick O'Brian is, indeed, intact. Although fans of the book will take notice that the character of Dr. Maturin appears different in the movie, but the role is adeptly handled by Australian actor Paul Bettany who plays off fellow Australian actor Richard Crowe and the flicker of friendship and respect comes through in the rapport between the two throughout the movie as it does in real life for the two have worked together in the past.

Crowe catches the essence of Lucky Jack Aubrey and his charisma shines through giving depth to his character and moving the action right along. For he is the dashing leader and man of action ready to be the first to board an enemy ship armed to the teeth and lusting for the chance to bring the war to their quarters. With his crew duty-bound to follow.

There's plenty of action here with sand scattered all over the decks to make them less slippery from all the blood. It is hard for people of today to imagine just how brutal these sea battles were in those days until they see a movie such as this one.

Max Pirkis, who plays midshipman Blakeney, gives a wonderful performance of the brave, sensitive, determined young midshipman and budding naturalist as well as ardent admirer of Lord Nelson. The performances of the other young midshipmen are also memorable.

Midshipman Hollum, believably played by Lee Ingleby, is the Jonah and in the movie the crew lose respect for him and his strange tale haunts all aboard the voyage until his untimely end.

There has been a recent History Channel special on the filming of this movie. Much of which was shot at Fox Studios Baja and the studio tank replica of the Rose - Surprise. The following Web site will take you there.

Go to Web site

Where they are able to mimic a pitching ship at sea and get the footage needed and then have the special visual effects team to put the polished studio ocean and weather magic seamlessly upon the finished film along with matte paintings, models, computer-generated imagery, and all.

The costume designer, Wendy Stites, gets it right down to the buttons and adds much authenticity to the visual effects.

The violin and cello music and the percussive classic-pop scores contribute heartily to the spirit of this movie and move it right along, thanks to Iva Davies, Richard Tognetti, and Christopher Gordan.

The only women in this movie are the few encountered along the coast of Brazil early in the movie where the Surprise has visited to take on provisions, and a brief amorous glance between the captain and a young dark-haired beauty. No cities or ports of call either, just the Galapagos Islands as far as a landfall for this movie. The Galapagos though, are glorious.

The rest of the film appears rightly as shot at sea thanks to all the studio magic and the spell runs throughout seamless to the end of this wonderful maritime movie. The three studios involved and all hands should be congratulated for their efforts.

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