OK, I admit that I haven’t read the books. I have read all the Horatio Hornblower books, and I like sea movies. And I found this one borrrrrrrrrring. There’s no characterization (other than the doctor, about halfway through the movie), I couldn’t keep the characters straight, there’s no plot beyond “catch the bad guys,” and I found the actions scenes very confusing (I never knew quite what was happening where nor to whom.)
I will give them credit for lots of special effects (like the storm), but I thought it was a complete waste of time. Pretty amazing, because I could happily watch sailing ships in motion for hours.
I totally disagree with you. I found the fight scenes to be confusing, yes, but I thought that was a realistic way to portray it. I thought it was interesting that they were tying black cloth around their arms before boarding to try and tell each other apart, and then to swarm the close confines of the other ship, well, of course it was confusing.
I thought the charecters were fine, I got a distinct Moby Dick feeling from the whole thing, the pursuit of the enemy etc. Then when they abandon the chase in favor of taking the Dr. to the island, it showed how much the Capt. cared about the Dr. Maybe there was a little aft-cabin loving going on there? I certainly didn’t think it was boring. The Matrix movie, now that was boring.
I read on imdb.com that in the original book, it was an American, not French privateer (which makes sense, given the bit about the sailor who the ship being built in Boston).
But my question for anyone who’s read the book, what was the original “do you want your children to sing the Marsailles” speech, if any such speech was made prior to the fight with the American frigate?
Odd response (i.e. "I could watch ships sail around for hours). Because I can’t. Have no interest in the Navy, sea-faring, or any of that sort of thing. I went because my SO and her family have a great interest in it…
And I loved it. Thought it was a very good movie. Whoever did the sound in that movie has definitely got an Oscar coming there way.
Funny thing about the Marsaillies speech: Napoleon banned the use of it as the French national anthem. So if he’dve overrun London, they’dve been singing something else. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/marseill.html
I found the whole Galapagos Island thing unecessary. They seemed to be trying to demonstrate that any naturalist visiting there would have become the next Darwin. They should have just stuck to the naval battle scenes and shipboard life. I mean, of the three great traditions of the British Navy, they showed the lash only once, they only alluded to rum (extra grog for good work by the men), and there was absolutely no sodomy whatsoever.
I thought that it was quite the opposite: that they were showing that Maturin was a genius in the same league as Charles Darwin, but circumstances were against him. Plus, it was some first rate nature photography, and it showed growth in both Aubrey and Maturin: Aubrey when he lets the Acheron escape to save his friend’s life, and Maturin, when he let’s his specimins go to get back and tell Jack that the ship is on the other side of the island.
I really loved this movie. They really managed to get across the feel that it was a duel between these two captains, in a way I haven’t seen since (don’t laugh) Star Trek II. Although, if they make a sequel, I’d dearly love to see some fleet action.
I did have some trouble keeping the characters straight, but this time, I didn’t mind. I’m planning on watching this movie several more times: I’ll figure it all out eventually.
I suspect the speech was made up for the movie. I’ve only read the first book, and that was a while ago, but I seem to recall that Aubrey wasn’t partial to rousing speeches.
I just saw it, and I thought it was really brilliant. I’ve got to read the books now.
The song that they played at the very end of the film, when Lucky Jack was playing his violin like a guitar…does anyone know what that song is? Its so familiar to me, but I can’t place it.
A couple of quibbles. In the first encounter, the Surprise barely gets a glimpse of the Ach in the fog, yet when Ach let’s fire, it is incredibly accurate and destructive. Damn fine gunning.
For some reason it really bothered me when the Captain went to his cabin and saw the doc’s cello uncased and standing up against a chair. On a ship under sail?
Took me a long time to realize why the one sailor looked so familiar. It was Pippin!
Had a hard time believing the marine would be so stupid with his rifle.
The galapagos stuff seemed out of place to me. I recall one shot of an iguana going into the water that looked like different quality from the rest of the film - as tho it was clipped from an old Nat’l Geo special. And was anyone surprised when the doc saw the french ship?
But I enjoyed the film. Probably would have been better a little shorter with some of the island stuff cut. Lots of humor. And my son - the military historian - claims it was quite accurate in detail.
You’re right, it was originally an American ship, so thats why the studio brought in the 10th book in the series (Far Side of the World) - it gave an excuse to switch the ships while ‘staying true’ to the books. That all sounds a little dodgy to me, and methinks a very unsubtle marketing decision was called.
Anyways, I’m in Ireland and it hasn’t been released here yet, but I’m hoping and praying it’ll be good. I’m a huge fan of the books, and I’d recommend them to anyone (esp if you’ve read Hornblower C K Dexter Haven ).
I know the film wont live up to the books, but I just hope it doesnt suck donkey balls. Consensus here so far seems to be a split decision. aw crap…
The speech is not in the novel.
jack doesn’t make very many and “realized he wasn’t very good at it”.
There is much character development in the first novels.
Maturin, BTW is a nautical moron, thinking that starboard and larboard change with the direction he is facing.
One reason for making the ship French might have been to cover a base O’Brian apparently regretted later in the series – as the number of books extended into the double digits he lamented in one introduction that he hadn’t started Aubrey’s career earlier than 1800-1801 because he was running out of history. By the sixth book in the series it’s already 1813. In his novels the War of 1812 seems to last longer than it did in the real world in order to give Aubrey time to make cruises against Americans. Since the movie took place in 1805 the choice of enemies didn’t include Americans, but it leaves a historical period open for a sequel without running out of time as O’Brian did. Favorite line about fighting the Spanish – ‘The thing about fighting Spaniards is not that they are shy, for they are not. But that they are NEVER ready.’
One or two nitpicks which did nothing to damage my enjoyment: In the shots of the French ship it appears to be flying a commission pendant, which I don’t think would be appropriate for a private vessel. On the other hand, it might have been part of it’s disguise. On the third hand, why would a French privateer want to disguise itself as a French warship. Brain hurts…
Also, the whole thing about “If we can just get to windward of the enemy we can come up behind him and strike him in the stern” tactics that led to the Surprise chasing the privateer through the storm didn’t really make much sense. Yes, the stern was the weakest part of a sailing warship, but there’s no reason to believe that the privateer would have continued to present her stern to a threat. The disguise-the-Surprise-as-a-whaler ruse was more Aubrey’s style, but the Aubrey in the novels wouldn’t have needed to be given the idea by one of Stephen’s specimens.
I had a great time picking up on events and conversation from the various novels (The lesser of two weevils!), but IMHO a huge missed opportunity was the chase – where were Jack’s hawsers to the mastheads and doubling of the backstays? You know how it goes in the books – chase begins, Aubrey calls the bosun and tells him to set up preventer backstays so that the Surprise can bear more sail. Bosun (old, experienced, but conservative) questions their usefulness but Aubrey prevails, preventers go up. Aubrey sets topgallants on fore and mainmasts, chase tries to do the same but after brief period loses a topmast.
Finally, I watched as closely as possible, but nowhere in any of the battles did I see O’Brian’s favorite “Three gunports battered into one.” Did I miss them?
I don’t know Jack (har!) about sailing, but the impression I got was that Aubrey felt that as long as he could keep his eye on the Acheron, he’d be able to match it maneuver for maneuver and always come up on its stern. If he lost it, however, he’d either never see it again, or he’d leave himself open to being outflanked, like he did in their first two encounters.
I loved the movie and the cinematography and story line and the music. Especially when they (you know who) go “modern” with their instruments.
It was all the sailor language, no, not that language, that I had a hard time translating in my landlubber brain. And the fifteen zillion british accents, it was like watching Coronation Street, crikey!
I tried to read one of the books awhile back, but it was about as coherent to me as a 1040 tax form. Avast!
I give it a 9.4 out of a ten. If there was some karate or car chase through a crowded sidewalk and gratuituous naked male(s) scenery, I think it would have scored a perfect ten.
Haven’t read the books, but very much enjoyed the movie today.
Here’s a complaint, not about the film itself, but about what the studios are doing: during the big storm off Cape Horn, I started seeing those patterns of red dots they’re using as an anti-pirating measure. Five times during that scene. I think this shows sheer contempt for the honest moviegoer. It took away from the tension of the scene because I kept wondering when the goddamned giant red dots were going to flash on the screen again. I’ve seen this in the last four of five movies I’ve gone to.
Ran through all twenty books about three summers back, and that was some great reading. Haven’t gone back to refresh my recollection since, though.
I thought the movie did a good job of portraying Aubrey and Maturin, and conveying the flavor of the novels. It was an enjoyable movie, and over too soon.
I didn’t much care for it. I didn’t think the characters were very well developed at all. I really didn’t care who was chasing Jack and why it was so important to win. The rest of the crew were all just lumped together for me. I had trouble with the accents as well.
One positive was the cinematogrophy. Outstanding storm scenes.
How did the Surprise have enough lumber to completely repair her after the first attack?
