PANORAMA

For Northwest Indiana

     Master and Commander begins in the middle of the night, aboard HMS Surprise, and the only sound is the creaking of the ship's timbers as it rocks slowly in the waves. A lieutenant sights another ship off the starboard bow, or at least he thinks he does; he can't be certain because it's covered in a bank of fog. The alarm is raised, and Capt. Jack Aubrey (Russell Crowe- A Beautiful Mind, Gladiator) steps on deck. The phantom ship out in the fog, which appears to be able to sneak upon the Surprise almost at the whim of its captain, will turn out to be the French vessel Acheron, a fast and modern ship. Aubrey and his crew, which includes his right-hand man Lt. Pullings (James D'Arcy- The Trench) and his friend and ship's surgeon Stephen Maturin (Paul Bettany- A Knight's Tale) have orders from the Admiralty at home in England to pursue the Acheron and take her dead or alive.
     After a fog sneak attack by the Acheron damages the ship, Aubrey vows revenge, rallies his men to rehab his vessel, then turns back and gives chase to the bigger, stronger French battleship. What follows is a game of cat-and-mouse that is both intimate and gripping.
     The personal drama that is the friendship between Maturin and Aubrey is the soul of the film. But, the sound effects make the film. It is a film which Pirates of the Caribbean meets Titanic. I wouldn't run out to the theaters to see this, but on a rainy day be sure to rent Master and Commander.