I was in the Navy (albeit as a submariner), devoured all the Horatio Hornblower books when I was younger (and even one or two O'Brian books, later), and finally was able to join the crew of an actual square-rigged ship for three years when I was around 30. With that background, this movie is a mixed bag for me.
In terms of "look and feel", this movie evidently aims to be the DAS BOOT of sailing ship movies, and in that, it succeeds with flying colors. Never in any film have I seen anything close to the level of detail you get of what it might be like to be on a man o' war in the golden age of sail. When I saw that the art department was in fact nominated for the Oscar for this I was not surprised, and was initially stunned to learn it did not win; surely, that is because the Academy did not realize what they were seeing. The depiction of the alcohol-fueled raucous wardroom dinners (and corresponding downtime of the crew in the 'tween decks) was also much appreciated for its atmosphere.
But after that the quality of this starts to coast downhill. The modern tendency in film acting to practically mumble lines indistinctly is a significant drawback in this movie, especially where so many of the lines are spoken in what is supposed to be English working-class dialect hard on an American ear to begin with. The movie won an Oscar for sound editing but because of this flaw I find it difficult to understand just why. I was also unimpressed with the cannonade sound effects as not nearly deafening enough to approach the same level of realism as all of the other effects.
The writing also does not keep up with the various effects. Dialog noticeably does not necessarily conform to action seen on the screen, and more exposition is needed to make the action fully comprehensible to audience members not raised on Hornblower stories. More significantly, the story is too melodramatically contrived in places to pass the willing-suspension-of-disbelief test. Oftentimes it reminds you of the "interpersonal drama" angles of World-War-Two-era propagandistic dramas. And in this case, too many unlikely things are going on at the same time for a single cruise to digest absent more compelling emotional impact or at least faster pacing to get you through these rough spots. While described as character-driven by some, the problem is that the characters are too frequently too soap-operish to elevate this to a top flight character story. To reach the kind of height in characters it needs to match its production design aspects, it needs the writing of a MISTER ROBERTS or maybe a Billy Wilder production. Unfortunately, it doesn't get into that ballpark.
Lastly, I will at least quibble with the combat action. From what you read in both real history and the Hornblower novel series the action overall is not quite believable. And in that regard, among many other points, it is difficult to conceive of the French ACHERON being what is apparently supposed to be an American Joshua-Humphreys-built 44-gun frigate, which at the time were an innovation built for the US Navy which were the most formidable warships of their kind in the world, basically the pocket battleships of their day.
In sum I give this movie the highest possible marks for its look and feel -- HMS SURPRISE is a glorious reproduction probably unequaled in the history of the movies, so that if you want to experience that, this movie is must-see material -- but too much else was a let down that falls short of the mark as must-see entertainment.
In terms of "look and feel", this movie evidently aims to be the DAS BOOT of sailing ship movies, and in that, it succeeds with flying colors. Never in any film have I seen anything close to the level of detail you get of what it might be like to be on a man o' war in the golden age of sail. When I saw that the art department was in fact nominated for the Oscar for this I was not surprised, and was initially stunned to learn it did not win; surely, that is because the Academy did not realize what they were seeing. The depiction of the alcohol-fueled raucous wardroom dinners (and corresponding downtime of the crew in the 'tween decks) was also much appreciated for its atmosphere.
But after that the quality of this starts to coast downhill. The modern tendency in film acting to practically mumble lines indistinctly is a significant drawback in this movie, especially where so many of the lines are spoken in what is supposed to be English working-class dialect hard on an American ear to begin with. The movie won an Oscar for sound editing but because of this flaw I find it difficult to understand just why. I was also unimpressed with the cannonade sound effects as not nearly deafening enough to approach the same level of realism as all of the other effects.
The writing also does not keep up with the various effects. Dialog noticeably does not necessarily conform to action seen on the screen, and more exposition is needed to make the action fully comprehensible to audience members not raised on Hornblower stories. More significantly, the story is too melodramatically contrived in places to pass the willing-suspension-of-disbelief test. Oftentimes it reminds you of the "interpersonal drama" angles of World-War-Two-era propagandistic dramas. And in this case, too many unlikely things are going on at the same time for a single cruise to digest absent more compelling emotional impact or at least faster pacing to get you through these rough spots. While described as character-driven by some, the problem is that the characters are too frequently too soap-operish to elevate this to a top flight character story. To reach the kind of height in characters it needs to match its production design aspects, it needs the writing of a MISTER ROBERTS or maybe a Billy Wilder production. Unfortunately, it doesn't get into that ballpark.
Lastly, I will at least quibble with the combat action. From what you read in both real history and the Hornblower novel series the action overall is not quite believable. And in that regard, among many other points, it is difficult to conceive of the French ACHERON being what is apparently supposed to be an American Joshua-Humphreys-built 44-gun frigate, which at the time were an innovation built for the US Navy which were the most formidable warships of their kind in the world, basically the pocket battleships of their day.
In sum I give this movie the highest possible marks for its look and feel -- HMS SURPRISE is a glorious reproduction probably unequaled in the history of the movies, so that if you want to experience that, this movie is must-see material -- but too much else was a let down that falls short of the mark as must-see entertainment.