Are Patrick O'Brian's novels too complex for the screen?
Ten years ago the historical novels of Patrick O’Brian at last arrived on the big screen. The film starring Russell Crowe as Royal Navy Captain Jack Aubrey (no relation to Captain Jack Sparrow!) and Paul Bettany as doctor (and spy) friend Stephen Maturin entitled Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, hit movie theaters late in 2003 and appeared on DVD early in 2004. There has not, however, been any sequel since.
Perhaps this is because of O’Brian’s writing style. Sparse yet elegant, quick but vivid, it is a style that gives the novels a terse tone and feel. They are also 100 percent "total immersion" with the only exposition coming occasionally from character dialogue. That is a style hard to translate well to the silver screen.
Granted, the screenwriters and director Peter Weir capture something of the tone and feel of O'Brian's novels in Master and Commander, but this also causes a problem. It gave the film a cool remove from the characters. Indeed, we scarcely get to know Jack Aubrey, Stephen Maturin, or any of the other characters. They become too "absolute," which in turn makes them unintentionally dull.
The style also leaves the movie’s plot development muted as the story of Aubrey's pursuit of a French warship unfolds. It is no surprise then that the film did not have much of an impact beyond O'Brian's fans. One reason the Aubrey-Maturin novels are best left as books, not film-source material.
O'Brian's nautical tales about his seagoing odd couple (the only thing Aubrey and Maturin have in common is their tastes in music) are also sprawling. They literally roam from one end of the globe to the next, and quite often. Try distilling that down for a movie! Inevitably a lot of good stuff will have to fall by the wayside in a screenplay; another good reason just to let these books be books.
The Master and Commander movie was once listed as part of 13 failed attempts to start a film franchise. Do you think another one should be made, or should the remainder of O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin tales be left alone by Hollywood?
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