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I know, I know… you’re probably talkin’ mad shit about “Mr. Gladiator” already but this movie was pretty damn good. I’m a little biased ’cause I’m a huge nautical buff but I really couldn’t deny this picture. I really wanted to, but I couldn’t. Stars: Russell Crowe, Paul Bettany Hollywood blockbusters love to push everything to the limit these days such as the “real-life” experience seen through the character’s eyes, sweeping cinematography, heroes fighting against impossible odds, you know the drill. Master and Commander definitely follows this formula but makes it seem more than tolerable. Living on a boat for months and years at a time, in the early 1800′s, was a living hell. We’ve all heard the stories, especially if your ancestors came over here from another country. Someone would always bring up “scurvy” (Where the hell was the scurvy in this movie?). Anyway, white/Hispanic people really liked to travel, and conquer, overseas back then and they caused a hell of a lot of problems including slavery, disease and death. Of course, these topics weren’t mentioned once in this movie and the pro-British sentiments made me want to slap one of those frickin’ red coats to a pulp, but overall this movie was a triumph in filmmaking. Combined with some computer-graphics-mastery, the on-location shots were very cool. One of my favorite scenes is when the crew lands on Galapagos Island and before they reach the shore; the camera pans the entire landscape of the island and it looks super-surreal. Almost mythological. The fight scenes were close to brilliant too. I don’t know about you, but nothing says “macho as fuck” like the booming sounds of a warship’s cannons! Towards the end, as the crew jumps over to the next vessel waving their muskets and swords, you begin to understand how crazy these people were (And how young the lieutenants were. Shit, they weren’t a day over 16!) to live and die as a Navy sailor. In conclusion, the characters were well cast, the fight scenes were awesome, Russell Crowe solidified his role as the next Bruce Willis, and I want to get yet another nautical-influenced tattoo.