FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD: HUZZAWESOME

I give it four huzzahs:

Huzzah!
Huzzah!
Huzzah!
Huzzah!

When you see it, please guess which costume detail of Dr. Maturin seals his character perfectly, watch the emotional ripples pass across Aubrey's face, duck at the flashes in the fog, note what the young midshipman writes in his notes, and Hold Fast.

The variances from the exacty O'Brian story are all defensible - Weir has accomplished a major feat, capturing the rich atmosphere of the stories in a movie, with a lack, lack mind you, of easy costume drama cues (golden light, stilted language, rosy fingers of dawn, etc). Battles are shockingly dangerous, minor characters are compelling, and there is a particular genius of pacing after battle that is an excellent read of O'Brian. Best seen as a superlative complement to the books - it's Weir's movie of Jack's World rather than an exact duplicate, which would have been utterly impossible.

[I'd say "there's not a moment to be lost," in seeing this, but I must HOLD FAST until Michelle gets back from Mexico! -CCPC]