Crowe is powerful and brisk as the head-strong captain. We can understand why the men follow this man into battle. The back-story involving Crowe’s character and the legendary Lord Nelson is a great credibility builder for the film. Crowe rumbles through each scene with poise and delivery. Crowe delivers a great hero character here.

The biggest problem seems to be the film supporting Crowe’s weight. The film needed an adversary for this great hero and all we get is a ship that slips in through the fog. It takes two to dogfight and we really only see it from one perspective. The film could have been more intense if the “Acheron” wasn’t such a mystery but we also saw it from the French perspective. Why not cast an equal actor to Crowe on the bow of the Acheron?

The film’s epic sea battles with cannonballs ripping apart masts and hulls is brilliant filmmaking but sadly there isn’t enough for us to really get emotionally involved whether who lives or who dies. We needed power, emotion, and heart-ripping intensity in this film.

The center of the film which lies between the two epic cannonball battles is extremely dull and you wonder why the filmmakers even wanted to tell this naval story. There is some attempt to evolve some of the personal relationships but instead the film sticks to the naval code. Speaking of code, there is so much of that in here that we can hardly relate. I admire the fact that the film tried for accuracy but during that pursuit they may have forgotten the biggest part of the whole story, human emotion.

It is a valiant attempt and maybe fans of naval skirmishes and Napoleonic history will find more depth here. For the most part the film’s cannonball bookends are a lot more interesting than the filler in the middle. They should have mixed up the luxury cruise some. (3.5 out of 5) So Says the