Rating: 
Summary: Master of the screen
Review: If you're like me and like your action films smart, well written, well acted and with plenty of action; then this is the DVD for you. Chances are if you are thinking of buying this DVD right now you already know this is a great movie, but just in case you're not sure, let me tell you why this is one of those movies that definitely belongs in your collection. The acting, from Russell Crowe (The captain of the HMS Surprise) to Paul Bettany (The ships doctor), down to the most minor character is top notch, and leaves you believing that you are looking through a window in time rather than just watching a Hollywood movie. This film is a historical journey that knocks you back into 18th century naval warfare, and at times with a vengeance. If you happen to own a home theater system (and if you don't you should get one, they're reasonably priced now) you'll be amazed with the sound quality in this film. The action scenes are filled with roaring cannons blasting man and ship into smithereens, ferocious storms at sea where you can almost feel the wind and rain slashing at your face, and fierce pistol/sword fights that fill your senses with the smell of smoke and blood. Like I said at the beginning, if you like action, you've come to the right movie. But read on, it's not all just blood and guts. What writer/director Peter Weir really does quite masterfully however, is bring you down from all this chaos and conflict with quiet, human, and sometimes humorous scenes that give the viewer an insight into what life on a warship must have been really like in those times. For me, this peek into the world of Captain and Able Seaman alike, is what really sets this movie apart from the ordinary action film. The relationships are well developed and acted to the point where you actually care about the lives of the characters, even the minor ones. The conversations and interactions between the characters on the ship, are believable and interesting, drawing you deep into the story like the novels they are based on. It's this masterful blend of war and peace that makes this movie so commanding (;)). For more than just financial reasons, long ago I decided I was only going to buy the very best movies. The ones that could stand watching over and over again, the ones that could stand the test of time. This is one of those movies.
Rating: 
Summary: decent movie
Review: Great start, and great ending. Middle of the movie drags a bit but overall , great sound through the DTS.
Rating:
Summary: Just made the 5th star by a hair
Review: Okay, if you like "The Patriot," or any of those pictures that have the settings from 200 years or so ago, then you should like this one as well.
If you're a sailor, or into sword fighting, then you too will dig this movie.
If you like Russel Crowe, then you will love this flick. It wasn't fully what I expected, but I still injoyed it. How did I do without giving away anything?
Rating:
Summary: Period piece falls short of hype...and where's the ending?
Review: A big-budget entry into the Napoleonic era so well trodden by Horatio Hornblower, "Master and Commander" falls far short of the hype surrounding its release. While the fantastic historicity of the sets and the salty mood is well done and then maintained throughout, the plot is never given the chance to develop: the viewer is simply thrown into the chase of the French frigate by the HMS Surprise with only a few words typed onscreen to explain what follows for two hours. Additionally, as many reviewers have already noted, a subplot involving the naturalistic interests of the captain's doctor friend stole precious screen time from the rest of the deserving cast. Finally, and most annoyingly, there is an almost complete lack of a proper end to this 2 hour and ten minute feature. Rather than simply ending the film five minutes earlier, the screenwriters inexplicably decided to create a fascinating plot twist...and then leave it dangling!!! I sat in horror whispering to myself, "They wouldn't...they couldn't..." They did. Without revealing too much, it is not the open-ended finale many initial features end with to allude to a sequel. Instead, the cliffhanger plot twist is never resolved, and the so-called "ending" falls flat on its face, prompting me to take the time to reveal this embarrassing failure by means of this review. This is not a bad film. It is simply not as good as either it should have been or as it was reported to have been. For all the millions spent on detail and effects, and for all the star-power of Crowe, Ioan Gruffudd and the producers of A & E's Hornblower series outdo this seafaring tale by a wide margin.
Rating: 
Summary: movie is good DVD is a ripoff
Review: I went to the theatre and saw this film the first day it came out. It was differant but i loved it. I couldn't wait for the DVD to be released. However once i saw that there were two versions, and one of the versions cost twice as much as the other i was to say the least angry. One version is just the movie and it costs just the same as any other DVD (might as well just wait for it to come on cable). The other version (the collectors addition) contains all the extra's that you would find on any other DVD movie only they are expecting you to pay twice as much for something you would normaly get for the regular price of a dvd. What a scam. That is the reason i will only give it one star. Like i said, i loved the movie, however the value when buying the DVD is terrible.
Rating: 
Summary: Well, it's lacking a bit
Review: First of all, I will get my bias out of the way and say I haven't seen that many "sea" movies that I have liked. So when I saw this one, and came to realize that it is more about the relationship of two characters, Russel Crowe (Captain) and Paul Bettany (ship's surgeon,) then I realized I just did not like it. Now this one isn't a creative mental movie like Crowe's earlier part was in A Beautiful Mind, and it lacked the action in Gladiator. Those aspects gave the other movies the acclaim that they received. This one however leaves fighting as a tie-in to all the events going on in their busy personal lives, raise sail here, swab deck there. Give it a chance; because open-minded is better than close-minded, still I felt personally disappointed by the movie more than anything.
Rating:
Summary: Worst movie of the year
Review: This movie should not have gotten the credit that it did. it may have had good art direction and costume designs but that does not make a good movie. Master and Commander was filled with a boaring plot, very few and very dull battle sequences, and scene after scene at the dinner table that make doing bifunctional equations seem interesting. Watching this movie was probably the worst thing I have done all year, including cutting off my own legs and beating myself with them.(...)
Rating: 
Summary: A nice sea tale.
Review: Unfortunately for Crowe and crew this movie had the bad timing of being released after the summer of "Pirates of the Caribbean". Try as it might, it can't reach for the same panache. I can't figure out why. The movies are set in diffrent eras, about 50 to 60 years apart. They aren't even the same genre apart from the fact that they are sea epics. Maybe it needed a spunky Keira Knightly to order everyone around (the book does actually contain a female character). As bluff and strong as Crowe's Captain Jack Aubrey is, he can't erase the memory of Depp's dreadlocked, eyelinered and drunken lisped Captain Jack Sparrow. Also, the military crew in P.O.C seemed more spit and polish. I had a hard time believing that Captain Aubrey would let his men get so dirty, lazy and careless, no matter how long they were at sea. Maybe the mistake was in marketing the movie as a swashbuckler when it was really a claustrophobic character piece. Anyway, the film looks gorgeous. It nails its time period wonderfully. But the most interesting stories were of the young midshipmen. The children who were drafted into service. I wished the film would have spent more time with them. I wanted to know more about Mr. Blakeney and also about the doomed Mr. Hollom. But just as their stories get going, we are back to Aubrey and his friend Maturin fighting about the Galapagos Island. Why did they keep that subplot in? That should have been out in the first draft. I also feel that the film should have been true to the book and had Aubrey fighting Americans. That was where the bite of the story was. But I think everyone thought that would not have been p.c. However they do give a nod to the original by having the French sailing around in a high tech American made boat. All in all, this was a well made film. Once you can get past the fact that it is not an adventure tale, it has a lot to offer. I gave this Dvd 4 stars instead of 5 because there are no film commentaries. The director does have a small documentary about how he wrote the screenplay but it doesn't compare. Again "Pirates of the Caribbean" had the documentaries and it had 3 film commentaries (the director and Depp, Keira Knightly and Jack Davenport, and all the screenwriters). Why couldn't they do the same for this film? Will it alway be in the shadow of a popcorn movie? If they plan to release a bigger version later, I really don't think it will generate that much interest. Everything should have been released now!
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I probably went into this movie with the wrong mindset, mainly wanting to enjoy a movie. It would have been much better if I had expected to pay twenty bucks to see something I can see on the discovery channel. This was the worst movie I have seen in the last five years, and is easily the most overrated movie of all time. The ads for this movie all seem to pump up the action aspect, yet I almost fell asleep watching this. As for the rest of the DVD, poor features.
Rating:
Summary: Great movie -even on DVD
Review: Missed this at the cinemas, so only caught up with it recently on DVD. I really enjoyed it, even on the small screen. The pacing was good and a lot of emphasis on detail and atmosphere. I have been on many tours of HMS Victory in Portsmouth and a lot of detail is historically correct ( for example removing the partition walls from the captains cabin when going into action). It's not an all action "popcorn" movie, but one that takes its time, and is more the enjoyable for it. Some reviews commented on difficulty in understanding the dialogue? Might I suggest warm water and cotton wool buds.
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