Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World is a 2003 American epic period war-drama film co-written, produced and directed by Peter Weir, set during the Napoleonic Wars.

The film stars Russell Crowe as Aubrey, captain in the Royal Navy, and Paul Bettany as Dr. Stephen Maturin, the ship's surgeon.

During the Napoleonic Wars, the British frigate HMS Surprise is ambushed by the French privateer Acheron off the Brazilian coast, suffering heavy damage.

However, when Surprise reaches the islands, she rescues survivors from a British whaler burnt by Acheron and Aubrey orders a pursuit of the privateer, upsetting Maturin.

Finally giving up his pursuit of Acheron, Aubrey grants Maturin the chance to explore the Galápagos and gather specimens before they return home.

He returns to Surprise and warns Aubrey, who after observing the camouflage ability of Maturin's phasmid specimen orders his ship to be disguised as a whaler.

Both ships are repaired by the crew of Surprise off the Galápagos, and lieutenant Pullings is promoted to the rank of captain and ordered to sail Acheron to Valparaíso.

[8] Philip French noted that the casting of Crowe, an Australian, as a British naval hero followed a tradition in film (e.g. Errol Flynn as Geoffrey Thorpe in The Sea Hawk, Peter Finch as Lord Nelson in Bequest to the Nation, and Mel Gibson as Fletcher Christian in The Bounty).

Various opinions have been offered with regard to which Royal Navy captain most closely matches the fictional character of Aubrey; David Cordingly, writing for The Daily Telegraph, suggested Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald,[9] a view with which the Royal Navy Museum concurs, at least with regard to the inspiration for the captain's character in the first novel, Master and Commander.

[4] The film, however, takes place in 1805 during the Napoleonic Wars rather than during the War of 1812[4][better source needed]; University of St. Francis historian Cathy Schultz claimed that the "filmmakers thought American audiences might not want to see Americans as the villains", leading them to "switc[h] the events to 1805",[13] an assertion strongly disputed by 20th Century Fox chief executive Tom Rothman, who initiated the film's development.

Rothman also omitted scenes portraying homosexuality, violent impressment and corporal punishments of sailors, and severe hardships of life at sea in order to obtain a PG-13 rating.

[15] With regard to further differences between source novel and film, the fictional opponent was changed from USS Norfolk to the U.S.-built French privateer frigate Acheron.

20th Century Fox executive Tom Rothman had wished to adapt O'Brian's novels since first reading them, recognizing the potential for a film franchise.

[8][note 3] Other scenes were shot on a full-scale replica mounted on gimbals in a nearly 20-million-gallon tank at Baja Studios in Mexico,[14][19][8] built for the filming of Titanic (1997).

A storm sequence was enhanced using digitally composited footage of waves shot on board a modern replica of Cook's Endeavour rounding Cape Horn.

[citation needed] Their faithful 18th-century appearance complemented the historical accuracy of the rebuilt "Rose," whose own boat, the "Thorn", could be used only in the Brazilian scene.

[21] King and director Peter Weir began by spending months reading the Patrick O'Brian novels in search of descriptions of the sounds that would have been heard on board the ship—for example, the "screeching bellow" of cannon fire and the "deep howl" of a cannonball passing overhead.

[21] King worked with the film's Lead Historical Consultant Gordon Laco, who located collectors in Michigan who owned a 24-pounder and a 12-pounder cannon.

For the sounds of the shot hitting the ships, they set up wooden targets at the artillery range and blasted them with the cannon, but found the sonic results underwhelming.

[21] For the sound of wind in the storm as the ship rounds Cape Horn, King devised a wooden frame rigged with one thousand feet of line and set it in the back of a pickup truck.

[24][25] Iva Davies, lead singer of the Australian band Icehouse, traveled to Los Angeles to record the soundtrack to the film with Christopher Gordon and Richard Tognetti.

The site's critics consensus states: "Russell Crowe's rough charm is put to good use in this masterful adaptation of Patrick O'Brian's novel.

[35] However, Jason Epstein, also writing for The New York Times, criticized the film, taking issue with changes from the novel, Crowe's "one-dimensional action hero", and implausible events in the script.

[14] Christopher Hitchens gave a mixed review: "Any cinematic adaptation of O'Brian must stand or fall by its success in representing this figure [Dr. Stephen Maturin].

This was the age of Bligh and Cook and of voyages of discovery as well as conquest, and when HMS Surprise makes landfall in the Galapagos Islands we get a beautifully filmed sequence about how the dawn of scientific enlightenment might have felt.

Having not read any of O'Brian's novels, I can't say if the fault is in Weir's adaptation or in the source material, but halfway into Master and Commander the friendship of the captain and the doctor begins to seem schematic, as if all the positive traits that an individual could have were divided equally between these two guys, just so they can argue.

Club, noting that "this surely stands as one of the most exciting opening salvos in nonexistent-series history, and the Aubrey–Maturin novels remain untapped cinematic ground.

"[42] In 2009 Crowe claimed in an interview with the Associated Press he was in negotiations for a sequel to the film based on the eleventh book from the Aubrey-Maturin series The Reverse of the Medal.

A tall ship appearing in the background of Deadpool & Wolverine in 2024 was speculated to be a reference to Master and Commander, and the claim was initially backed by the film's director Shawn Levy in a press interview.

In June 2021, it was reported that a second film is in development by 20th Century Studios, a prequel based on the first novel only, with Patrick Ness penning the script.