Master and Commander 2-DVD review

Written by Matt Paprocki
Published April 23, 2004
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In The Wake Of O'Brian is a 21-minute featurettes hosted by Weir, since O'Brian died in 2000, discussing the adaptation work of the novels. Cinematic Phasmids is a 30 minute featurettes, the first of three, on the effects of the film. This was quite insightful, as they showed how many scenes were shot without using CG. All of these segments are in 1.85:1 video as well.

Sound Design is a 20-minute featurette on capturing the sounds of the movie, and proves rather comical as we watch these Hollywood sound men out in an open field in snowy Michigan firing off Civil War-era cannons to record the sound. There's also an Interactive Cannon Demonstration, which lets the viewer listen to the cannon firing recordings from different locations. The last featurettes is the HBO First Look, which is the most redundant and fluffy of the featurettes.

There are a total of six scenes running a whopping 24 minutes, presented in widescreen but boxed in on all four sides on my TV. All of these were slower scenes that would have really dragged the movie down, so they were wisely jettisoned.

There are three Multi-Angle Studies showing the filming of three scenes from a variety of angles, including one from the director's perspective. The Split-Screen Vignette lets the viewer access all the cameras at once via split screen.

Finally, there are four Still Galleries, including concept art, Naval art and technical drawings, and a selection of trailers for the film."

There you have it. You decide if it's worth $30+ or not. The single disc should please enough people with it's incredible display of video and sound. The movie itself is strong enough as well. Oh, and if you love this movie and don't have a home theater yet, you now have a reason.

Note: Best Buy includes an exclusive 3rd disc that features a nearly 30 minute documentary on the movie. Not great, but it's a nice touch and a better documentary than the HBO First Look.

Be sure to read the comments on this post over at BlogCritics.

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Matt Paprocki is the former reviews editor for Digital Press, a video game website with an appreciation for the retro side of the industry. The deep game collection which spans nearly 30 systems and 2,000 games line his walls for research purposes. Matt strives to bring credibility to video game journalism, and take it in a new direction to aid the industry in becoming respected with all forms entertainment media. He currently freelances for GameArgus.com and MultiPlayerGames.com.
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Master and Commander 2-DVD review
Published: April 23, 2004
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Section: Video
Filed Under: Video: Drama, Video: Adventure, Video: Action
Writer: Matt Paprocki
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