This was a great pleasant surprise, as I found the trailer rather mediocre and thus I went to the cinema with low expectations, figuring that this would possibly be another heroic Hollywood drama full of clichés. However, I was overwhelmed with joy. In addition to be an adventurous and thrilling movie, it is full of humour and personality, and it also seems quite authentic historically. The tension and special relationship among the crew mid-sea in wartime in the early 1800s is very charmingly described. I think Crowe and Bettany play excellently together. Crowe has the authority, the sympathy as well as the doubt that one would expect of a convincing captain Aubrey - my only complaint is that he does not seem convincingly British. I am really happy that the project was laid in Peter Weir's hands, he never disappoints. Quite a relief also that this was not made into a simple, superficial Hollywood drama by adding unnecessary love stories or such, which is always my worst fear about "masculine" movies. Oh no, this movie is full of manhood and in my opinion it does not at all suffer from not including any female characters. I can't say much about the degree of being true to the original story as I haven't read Peter O'Brian books yet, but at least this movie has surely made me want to read them - and I expect them to be even better (the books usually are)!
