Katie Hogan FILMHOUNDS Magazine Sep 10, 2025 4/5

Master & Commander could very well be considered a forgotten epic but with releases such as the new Steelbook, keeps the magic of the film alive.

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Kevin Maher The Times (UK) Sep 9, 2025 5/5

It’s the stuff in between the action, of course, that marks this movie as a masterpiece. Weir is one of the great thinking film-makers and a committed altruist, so the lion’s share of screen time is devoted to small acts of kindness on board.

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Douglas Davidson Elements of Madness Aug 29, 2025

It’s because of the film’s ability to balance so much that audiences connect with "The Far Side of the World," creating the burgeoning fan base that has kept the film in conversation well past its initial release.

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Allison Rose FlickDirect Aug 5, 2025 4.5/5

A thrilling high-seas adventure, Master and Commander delivers gripping naval warfare, strong performances, and breathtaking cinematography.

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Kat Sachs Chicago Reader May 16, 2024

Master and Commander is both quite good and a fun watch.

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Stephen Silver The SS Ben Hecht Nov 17, 2023 4.5/5

Above all else, it’s a portrait of a complex but ultimately healthy male friendship. The kind where the captain and ship surgeon take breaks from their adventures to play classical music duets. (20th anniversary)

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Collin Garbarino WORLD Nov 3, 2023 4/4

The film depicts the indignities of a 19th-century life at sea, along with the horrors of the Napoleonic Wars. But the narrative rests on the bedrock of Aubrey and Maturin’s friendship.

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Loren King Newport This Week (RI) Aug 3, 2023

Weir wisely grounds the intense but wearying high seas adventure in the friendship between Aubrey and Paul Bettany as Dr. Stephen Maturin, the ship’s surgeon who tends to the many wounded.

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Sean Axmaker Stream on Demand Jul 1, 2023

The attention to detail is mesmerizing, the action is thrilling, and Weir never lets you forget the stakes and the consequences for all the stalwart heroism.

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Wendy Ide The Times (UK) May 8, 2023

... As satisfying as an epic yarn as it is as an intimate study of male friendship and courage.

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Anthony Lane The New Yorker Jan 18, 2022

We feel ourselves to be in good company with these men, and strangely jealous of their packed and salted lives.

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Taylor Baker Drink in the Movies Aug 22, 2021 92/100

It seems the sea will keep churning and Jack Aubrey will be there to command his men to victory or a well earned death.

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Chris Plante Polygon Mar 30, 2021

Despite the setting (a Royal Navy ship off the eastern coast of South America during the Napoleonic Wars) and the gore (blunt limb removal, exposed brains) the film is tender and poetic.

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VyceVictus Lewton Bus Feb 6, 2020

I can say most assuredly that it has already earned its place among the pantheon of classic war films and indeed the greatest films of all time.

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Micheal Compton Bowling Green Daily News Nov 15, 2019

There aren't too many films that can combine intelligence and thrills, but Master and Commander succeeds on both counts.

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Debbie Lynn Elias Behind The Lens Nov 13, 2019

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.

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Michael Kleinschrodt Times-Picayune May 30, 2019 2.5/4

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.

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Joel Siegel Good Morning America May 23, 2016 A

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.

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Kevin Carr Fat Guys at the Movies Jan 12, 2016 3.5/5

an exciting film

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Tim Brayton Antagony & Ecstasy Jan 2, 2016 9/10

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

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