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Far Side Friday

To finish this week, we have Dr. Strangelove's opinion on the upcoming Russell Crowe project Far Side of The World. Be sure to check out our other world exclusive, the first picture from Confessions of A Dangerous Mind, to see it click here. Tonight, I have the great pleasure of attending the new Cirque du Soleil spectacle, Varekai. I'll give you my thoughts on it next week. Have a great weekend!

Far Side of The World Script Review

"Dr. Strangelove here, back in action with a review of the new Russell Crowe/Peter Weir flick The Far Side of the World (aka Master and Commander). I can tell you right now that Fox has another blockbuster on their hands, Crowe is a box office hotshot and I think Far Side gives him the outlet to express his talent and possibly lead him to the Oscar podium again.

Let me start off by saying that I am not a big Russell Crowe fan. Gladiator, in my opinion, was not the best picture of 2000 and his performance was also not superb. Crowe is a great actor, I will not dispute that fact. However, his work in A Beautiful Mind (again, not my choice for best picture) and L.A. Confidential is far better than his work in Gladiator. Overall, he isn't my favorite, but like I said, he does have a great deal of talent.

Anyway, back to the review. Peter Weir, who also wrote the screenplay, based Far Side of the World on a series of twenty novels by Patrick O' Brian. I guess the script follows like the seventh book, however, it does not match the plot details of the screenplay. I'm not sure what Weir is doing with this because it would be kind of awkward to start of a series of twenty novels, adapted for the screen, somewhere in the middle.

The script revolves around a ship, called the Surprise, and its Captain, Jack (Crowe). The British navy has informed Jack that his mission is to destroy a French ship by the name of the Achron, a job to date that many have failed in. Jack, after a brief skirmish in the beginning of the screenplay, notices that this will not be an easy task as they repair their damaged ship. From this point, Jack becomes obsessed with completing his mission. This is his main motivation, to stop the ship at any cost as he drags the crew of ship into the obsession.

It's sad that this is the only motivation Jack has. It's his heart and soul to stop this ship and I wish Weir and Crowe would bring a little more definition to the character. That is what I disliked most about the screenplay. We know Jack's mission and his obsession, now let's add some more details and another dimension to the character. It makes him a one dimensional character, a stuck character and it's incredibly cliché. Crowe will bring his charisma to this role, but I'm afraid that won't be enough. Weir's screenplay needs something more.

Weir does a great job at establishing a relationship between Jack and the only person who really has a great role. This is the part of Jack's foil and friend, the boat's surgeon, Stephen. Stephen has motivation and is drenched in realism, Weir also uses him as a voice of conscience for Jack. He has his own obsessions and his own thoughts and is not afraid to call Jack on his faults. This makes their friendship a rocky one, but being the more clear headed of the two, the doctor provides a more 'common man' that the audience can relate to. Paul Bettany is the actor who has been cast in the part of Stephen. Crowe and Bettany worked together on A Beautiful Mind with Bettany playing the part of his phantom roommate. I have no doubt that Bettany is going to become a star. Between this role and his part in A Beautiful Mind, he really has some direction going.

Another thing that is going to attract the audiences to this flick are the intense action scenes. They aren't anything earth shattering, but they are done quite well. I can only hope that they transfer well from page to screen, with Weir's style, I wouldn't doubt that he will out do his writing. The fights read fairly quickly and I'm not sure if Weir is going to add more meat to them or what. I would assume so.

Overall, Far Side of the World is a fairly well done screenplay. It's a damn shame that Crowe's part is so weak and this is the major flaw of the project. Also, the screenplay is a little short in my opinion, clocking in at about 100 pages. This could be due to the fact that the battle sequences read quickly and may translate to be a lot longer. We'll have to see. Weir also has written some great dialogue that is real and heartfelt all while keeping the action and tension taught. One other complaint is that MOST of the characters are details. They are there as a source that Weir later turns into victims. We only really care about two of them besides Jack and Stephen by the end of the film. I can only hope, with revisions, that this film does it's job well. It certainly has the talent attached and a nice budget, but we'll have to see."

(Review submitted by Dr. Strangelove.)

Stay tuned...

That's all folks...

Jean-François Allaire (aka DeadPool)

Questions, comments, praise etc. Email me at deadpool@tnmc.org

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Jean-François Allaire is TNMC's first columnist. At only 24 years old he has become a respected entertainment journalist, with his columns appearing in Corona's Coming Attractions and Scr(i)pt magazine. He also writes a monthly column in Screenwriters Monthly entitled 'The Last Word.' Hailing from Montreal this young writer is determined to dig up all the details on the movies before they hit your local theater. If you're part of a movie production then you really need to be talking to him.