For those who don't know, and that is probably most of you, the plot of the story is an exiciting, if not long winded story about the battle between a British naval ship by the name of the H.M.S. Surprise under the command of Captain "Lucky" Jack Aubrey (Russel Crowe) and a French privateer under a, for the most part, nameless captain. The British ship, which is severely outmanned, outgunned, and (in the earlier scenes) outpreformed by the Privateer, must, against all odds, sink/capture the privateer or die trying.
The cast, while generally unknown to me (well, apart from Russel Crowe, of course, and the suprise appearance of Billy Boyd as the ship's helmsman) pulled off each of their roles exquisitely, all around improving the quality of the movie greatly. To be quite frank, if it wasn't for the superb acting, I probably wouldn't be speaking so highly of this movie right now.
The battle scenes, while intense and realistic, were (in my opinion) the most lacking of all scenes. Most of the time, I was confused as to who was getting hit where, for the scenes were comprised of 60% of close up shots of cannonballs hitting miscellaneous ship parts, most of which I could not match with the ship they were hitting. In fact, there was the occasional time where I had no idea which ship I was looking at.
The plot of the story was amazing. It was simply incredible. Managing to roll in the elements of suspense, action, and mystery all into one, the story only lacks, utterly and completely, romance. For myself, who is especially tired of the same old mushy romances pointlessly slapped onto otherwise great films, this is a good thing.
Anyway, enough about my views on the matter. Has anyone else seen this film? If not, I highly recommend it.
