Like the much-loved series of novels by Patrick O'Brian, to which this adaptation will no doubt be scrupulously compared, Peter Weir's film immerses the audience in the day-to-day life on board a 19th-century British warship as it pursues a "phantom" French vessel with the avowed intent of sending her to Davy Jones's locker. Purists will endlessly discuss the casting of Russell Crowe as Captain Jack Aubrey (here deploying his self-described "RSC two pints after lunch" English accent) and Paul Bettany as his ship's doctor and best friend, Maturin, but both give full-blooded performances. It might have been a little repetitive, but thankfully the likeable characters, Weir's meticulous attention to period detail and the stunningly realised action (The Surprise's rounding of Cape Horn is as exciting a seaborne sequence as has ever been committed to celluloid) more than make up for the slightly anorexic story. Sadly for the placated fans, the film wasn't enough of a box-office success to generate the sequels that it seemed to promise.

After an abrupt and violent encounter with a French warship inflicts severe damage upon his ship, a captain of the British Royal Navy begins a chase over two oceans to capture or destroy the enemy, though he must weigh his commitment to duty and ferocious pursuit of glory against the safety of his devoted crew, including the ship's thoughtful surgeon, his best friend.