Bring back Russell Crowe in Master and Commander 2

It’s about time we had a sequel to Peter Weir’s masterful ‘Master and Commander : The Far Side of the World’ starring Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany. While I am not the first person to advocate that this movie be made, I want to make a point that Hollywood does have a knack for making sequels. Why not give Russell Crowe a 2nd run, or even a re-boot in 2012?

The first movie gave us a taste for life at sea, the hardships of the crew, the brutal weather, enduring battles and the balance of military power during the Napoleonic wars. Within that reality was a man with determination of steel who sought to outwit a superior opponent, the French frigate Acheron, on the far side of the world. Jack Aubrey (Crowe) kept his crew focused, and motivated them to believe they could win against difficult odds and outsmart a superior opponent. The movie has a superb ending, but it leaves me hungry for more.

Jack Aubrey is stubbornly brilliant as a lead character and I feel a sequel could take him much further. Audiences fell in love with Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow character, and looking at the box office numbers of the last 3 Pirates Of The Caribbean sequels, it’s obvious to me that people love adventure at sea. Are there any movies that fit this category in the coming year?

Master and Commander 2 could incorporate higher stakes, bigger battles, and more adventure, mixed with strong story and superb production values. Patrick O’brian’s novels give producers a wealth of information to adapt the sequel to screen. It could even go in the direction of a re-boot, but sticking with the authenticity of what we saw in the first, particularly Jack Aubrey’s defining character.

'Master and Commander' had soul, and the research behind it made it for me, the best movie of 2003. Aubrey also represented the idea of an underdog, which is popular in modern day culture. People can identify themselves with him and we all need a hero who is willing to defy impossible odds to win. Russell Crowe can definitely deliver this. So I wait for news as we say goodbye to 2011 to see whether this will ever happen.