RULING THE WAVES.('Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World')(Movie Review)

The new Peter Weir film is called "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World," and what a mouthful it is. There are sailors in this movie who can load and fire a twelve-pounder in less time than some viewers will take to pronounce the title. The reason for the ungainliness is that Weir and his co-writer, John Collee, have packed a brace of novels by the late Patrick O'Brian--titled, yes, "Master and Commander" and "The Far Side of the World"--into a solid lump of narrative, lasting a little more than two hours. Should sequels ensue, the choice of material may prove inexhaustible, for O'Brian left us twenty volumes of his naval saga, of which this movie plunders ...