The Lord of the Rings trilogy is excellent filmmaking, but I've been hoping for more than one assuredly enjoyable feature per year. I seem to have found one. Two days after I'd responded to a television commercial for Master and Commander with "I'm there," William F. Buckley gives the movie a powerful recommendation:
The sweep of the film is especially engrossing, one assumes, for those who find the sea alluring, but Master and Commander is studded with enough drama, poignancy, and excitement to overwhelm even the tumultuous oceans. There is a child midshipman, beautifully played, who is an aspirant naturalist. Together with Dr. Maturin, the fabled aide and friend of the captain, the kid is captivated by the sight of the least insect or lizard. These are plentifully there when the ship dallies in the Galapagos Islands. Dr. Maturin is hit by a bullet gone astray and takes over the surgical challenge of removing it, using a mirror to guide him.From time to time the two men, the captain and the surgeon, meet in the great cabin of the master and commander to play music, a cello and violin. In a final scene of galvanizing charm, Maturin takes his cello athwartwise and strums it like a guitar, bringing to a close a film which everyone must see who has any eye for cinematic art and great adventure.
Did I already say I'm there?