Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)

When a sudden attack by a French warship inflicts casualities and severe damage upon his vessel, Captain "Lucky" Jack Aubrey (Crowe) of the British Royal Navy is torn between duty and friendship as he embarks on a thrilling, high-stakes chase across two oceans to intercept and capture the enemy at any cost. Nominated for 10 Academy Awards including Best Picture!

 Great BD Video & Fantastic HD Sound!!!
I do not care for anything "extra" in my movie watching so I do not relate to anybody complaining about the lack of extras. I can say that viewing this (rented from Netflix) yesterday on my 60" Sony SXRD XBR1 (even with a faulty OB) with my Samsung BD-P1400 bitstreaming DTS-HD MA to my Onkyo 805, I was transported into the Surprise. I "felt" splinters hitting my flesh (the major cause of human damage in these fights), cannon balls were zipping through my HT, and the concussion of firing was palpable. I will be replacing my SD version with the BD version. May 14, 2008

 I just don't care
Listen I watch a movie for the movie. I rarely if ever watch the extras. Nowadays everything is green screen or blue screen anyway. All you every really see is some guy on the extras disc sitting next to a computer talking about what he did to make the scene on the computer. I'm sorry but this is not that interesting. I'm sick of hearing people bitch about it and give good transfers on blu bad reviews because of this. This does not help someone purchase it. Is this really so important to you 1 star people for the Master and Commander blu-ray? There are better things to bitch about. And for this Peter character to compare Predator to other blu-rays. Come on dude the damn movie was made in the mid 80's you really think the thing is going to look good as a new release transfer. Get your head out of the clouds. Every one of the blu discs I have from Fox I'm happy with this one is no exception. As for this disc great picture and sound and a good movie to boot. May 14, 2008

 Great audio and video!
Master And Commander won two Oscar's for its great sound editing and another for cinematography and was nominated for several more including best sound mixing and visual effects in 2004 and there has never been a better way to enjoy it with this release,the standard dvd had great sound to begin with but this is a much higher level.The picture quality is pretty good as well,I'll have to agree and disagree with other reviewers here.Yes Fox most recent blu's have had pretty bad picture quality(AVP2,Hitman,Predator)even Independence Day was a disapointment but having said that there is nothing wrong with the picture with Master and Commander,at times its as good as anything out.I think it has to do alot with the color the film was shot and the general fim source whenever it doesn't look its best.As I look at it right now a scene in the ship within the first 30min.were the two young shipmates bring a model of the enemy ship to the captain I though wow thats as good as anything I got on Blu.Yes the special features are bare but there are two pretty cool things.First there is a map you can look at anytime in the film to see the ship's position relative to the world and second and really good fact track that runs during the film.I'm not big on special features anymore I look more for performance on Blu Ray and this has it with both Audio and Video,finally Fox put out a good one,now they just to work on price's and we'll be ok. May 14, 2008

 If you're not a fan of extras, the PQ/SQ upgrade makes this a must have Blu-ray Disc
From the opening cannon battle's visceral sound design you know you're in for a treat with this dts-HD Master Audio presentation from Fox. For several years now we've had high resolution digital audio for our music, but only over the last two years has it finally hit the video market. Master and Commander on DVD was a disc I was impressed with for the quality of the 768Mbps dts track, but good Lord the improvement of this Blu-ray track is seven-fold. I continue to be impressed by the sound quality on Fox's discs, including Independence Day, I, Robot, The Day After Tomorrow, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer and now Master and Commander. This is what home theatre is about! All speakers are in use here and the directionality is spot on. I truly believe I have cannons beside my sofa, powerful, heavy cannons. Not for the faint of heart is this one at reference level volumes.

Where picture quality is concerned there are one or two scenes that I did find to be not eye-popping, but these are few and far between. On the DVD release of Master and Commander there are many scenes in the ship under-deck that are a mess, with mpeg-noise all over the place, a shortcoming of DVD's bandwidth. On the Blu-ray Disc you'll find no such errors. The level of detail watching this movie on a 1080p plasma is incredible and there are no complaints whatsoever of the day scenes. Although this will not compare when stood beside the sheen of I, Robot, one of the most incredible pictures I've experienced so far on Blu-ray, it definitely is a huge improvement over its DVD counterpart.

Fox have made very little effort here with the extras, but have included D-Box functionality for those with a bit more money to spend on their theatre seating. That is not something I can afford so I can't comment on it, but D-Box tracks are starting to catch the attention of the other studios and you will see Disney or Sony Blu-ray's coming soon with D-Box tracks. If you want to go more into the history of the time there are numerous special features on the DVD, but with the movie already running 137 minutes this is one reviewer that has yet to ever pop in that second disc, ever. Missing out on porting over the DVD extras is something a lot of reviewers, amateur and professional, gripe about. I do not care for extras if they are in standard definition. I have all three of the Lord of the Rings Platinum Edition 4-DVD sets, I bought them because of the 6.1 dts:es tracks and the extended footage. That amounts to 6 DVD's that have never been released from their plastic teeth. I will likely watch some of them when the inevitable Blu-ray Disc versions come out if they are in 1080p, but otherwise I just don't have the time to watch that much extra footage about each movie I buy. Master and Commander is a pretty incredible movie with excellent performances all round and the subject matter is interesting, but when the movie's over, turn out the lights.

I dock Fox 1-star for not including the extras for those that have never bought the original DVD, but this release for the sheer improvement of audio and picture quality and being able to enjoy this on a large screen that even the best up-converter for DVD's cries beside, gets 4-stars.

For those wishing to wait for the "inevitable" double dip, consider renting this title from your local Blockbuster or Netflix, you'll not be disappointed.

Picture Quality - 4/5
Sound Quality - 5/5 (Reference!)
Extras - 1/5 May 13, 2008

 Fox is the pits
even at a discounted price of 28 dollars - it feels like an enormous jip by Fox to assume blu-ray buyers would fork out that much for SO LITTLE - for the film... fine... but for so few supplements - that's highway robbery. Shame on you Fox, shame! 'Predator' was mentioned, but 'Commando' was omitted as being another lame attempt by Fox, 'Master and Commander' continues the trend. May 13, 2008

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