Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

Written by Weir and John Collee, this is a faithful adaptation of the O'Brian novels told with a well-paced, rousing exuberance and uncommon intelligence and humanity, richly detailed in both character and action.

Marketed as a rollicking adventure at sea, "Master and Commander" instead is a disguised lesson in social history with just enough action sequences to make it palatable.

Crowe and director Peter Weir have thrown the cliche overboard and replaced them with great storytelling. Run -- don't walk. I liked it so much i wanted to enlist.

an exciting film

So much fun to watch that the fact it's also quite ingenious and crafty can be surprisingly difficult to notice.