Popular reviews

• 

  Review by Will Menaker ★★★★★ 10

  April 1805. Napoleon is master of Europe. Only toxic masculinity stands before him. The discourse is now a battlefield. H.M.S. Surprise. 28 guns, 197 bros.

• 

  Review by David Sims ★★★★★ 5

  she's in her prime

• 

  Review by Ayo Edebiri 1

  great movie about two guys who just want to have a jam session

• 

  Review by Logan Kenny ★★★★★ 4

  this movie understands four things, 1. the importance of intense male friendship in getting you through extreme adversity 2. the power of being really obsessed with examining turtles and flightless birds on the Galápagos Islands 3. how beautiful it is to witness Russell Crowe in his natural element examining maps and plotting courses across the sea and 4. that the French are absolute pussies and always have been. all of these things combine together alongside Peter Weir’s insanely gifted craftsmanship to create an all time banger, one of the best oceanic movies there’s ever been. friendship, connection to the natural world and honouring the fallen are always more important than the violence or glory sought in warfare, and that’s a beautiful approach to take in your cool ship movie Peter. what a flick.

• 

  Review by DirkH ★★★★ 21

  This film oozes skill and craftsmanship from every cinematic pore.

  Adapted from a couple of novels from Patrick O'Brian's 20 volume Aubrey-Maturin series, it manages to capture the sense of adventure and historical allusion really well. I have read a fair few of these novels and they all share a common trait and that is deep characterization, historical accuracy and spectacle.

  The latter of those is often easily transferred to film, the first two not so much. Leave it to Weir, who averages about 1 film every two years, to not only capture the characters but also submerge us in a richly detailed historical setting that feels refreshingly authentic. Granted he perhaps focusses a bit too much on the characters…

• 

  Review by Nakul ★★★★½ 5

  a quintessential "dudes rock" movie!!

• 

  Review by matt lynch ★★★★½ 2

  Not really anything new to say, but.

  The "This ship is England" thing puts a pretty perfect button on this, duh. The ship's rigid structure with its necessarily ironclad procedure, harsh discipline and social stratification carefully (selectively for the time being) adapting to the encroachment of more humanistic pursuits of pacifism, skepticism, and science. Perhaps the lesser of two weevils har har, but Weir's rich, simple, deep frames and unhurried editing are mesmerizingly devoted to the quotidian, and so maybe the unquestioned structure of a common end can point to a middle ground. It's drawn well-earned comparisons to Lean but Weir's study of polite masculinity here and the frequent downright abstract compositions wouldn't be out of place in Johnnie To or Michael Mann.*

  "Were it from another man, you'd cry out 'Oh, what pitiful stuff', and dismiss it as mere enthusiasm."

  *Which I've been watching a bunch of lately so I could be pulling that entirely out of my ass.

• 

  Review by andy levy ★★★★★ 4

  the best star trek movie

• 

  Review by Taylor Williams ★★★★★ 2

  This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

  Paul Bettany performs surgery on himself in the Galapagos and that’s not even the craziest thing that happens in this.

• 

  Review by Emma Stefansky 1

  lesser of two weevils

• 

  Review by JesseSP ★★★★★ 7

  In my preferred universe, this movie made a billion dollars and has a dozen sequels and there's a Lil' Master prequel cartoon and kids would yearn to grow up to be naval commanders. Instead it didn't even make $100 mil in the US and they haven't made another one. Bah.

• 

  Review by Nate ★★★★½ 1

  Russell Crowe loves maps. You can tell how much he loves looking at them, planning adventures. Saying names of places. "Cape Horn." Explaining how a sextant works. Not a lot of people love maps. Let us have this.