THE MOVIE: 4 1/2 stars out of 5Set in 1805, Master and Commander stars Russell Crowe as Captain Jack Aubrey, the commander of a warship in the British Royal Navy on the hunt for a French war ship that poses a threat to the Royal Navy. However, the French ship sneaks up on the British ship in a fog bank and causes extensive damage to the ship. The Brits are able to escape and retool and Captain Lucky Jack Aubrey chases the French ship over two oceans to sink her, finally catching up to her in the Galapagos Islands where the climatic battle takes place. Master and Commander is filled with some incredible battle sequences and some very fine acting by the entire cast. Recommended. THE VIDEO: 4 1/2 stars out of 5Master and Commander is encoded with AVC and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2:40:1. I have no doubt that this encode will disappoint some fans of the film. The reason for any such disappointment lies not with the encode but with the cinematography of the film. For those of you out there who want their high def films to “pop”, this is not the disc for you as the film has a rather dark and subdued look that is deliberate, to match the mood of the film. The color palette here is very muted and drab and gray. This is especially clear when the ship arrives at the Galapagos. As one who has been lucky enough to have been there recently, I can assure you that the film does not faithfully capture the experience. Again, this is deliberate on the pat of the director and not the fault of the encode. Make no mistake, this encode faithfully reproduces how this film looked in the theater and is heads and tails above the DVD in terms of color accuracy, detail, shadow detail and clarity. While the difference is not as dramatic, this encode is also superior to that on the D-Theater release which I whipped out for a comparison. This is without doubt the best looking release of the film to date and is well worth a purchase by fans of the film. THE AUDIO: 49/10 stars out of 5Encoded with DTS HD Master Audio, the audio on this release is reference in every way. The sound field here is totally immersive, bathing the entire room in sound. The sense of space is palpable with every creak and twisting of the wooden ship audible. It really gives you the sense of being in the ship with the crew. The actual battle sequences have to be heard to be believed, from the deep bass of the cannon shots to the sense of projectiles of all kinds whizzing past you, this is as good as it gets. The music reproduction is also top notch, especially the violin and cello pieces which have excellent fidelity with a very open sound with an excellent sound stage that is wide and deep and three dimensional. I am sure that you are beginning to wonder if the sound is so good, why not a perfect score? The reason is that the dialogue during one of the battle sequences is drowned out by the action to the point of inaudibility. But for that very minor and brief instance of inaudibility, the audio on this release deserves a perfect rating. IN CONCLUSIONMaster and Commander is an excellent film and looks its best ever on this Blu-Ray release. This release faithfully reproduces how this film looked in the theater which is all that us home theater enthusiasts can really ask for. Recommended.Note: Master and Commander will be released on Blu-ray disc on May 13.For more high-def news, please click: TVPredictions.com.