LOVE Actually would suggest all English men are repressed, tongue tied and destined to middle-class inertia. Twaddle of course.

There are a couple of causes for good male cheer right now: first that Rugby World Cup success last weekend and now another English conquest on foreign land, or more specifically foreign seas, in the epic sea-faring adventure Master And Commander.

If Love Actually is the Christmas chick flick, then Peter Weir's muscular cinematic account of Patrick O'Brian's novels is one for the Boys' Own brigade.

Leading the life on the ocean waves is New Zealander Russell Crowe, pony-tailed hair streaked blond by the sun, accent newly clipped to English tones, and body bulked up for sea action. He is in heroic mode once more as the Gladiator turns navigator, playing British Navy captain 'Lucky' Jack Aubrey.

In 1805, Captain Aubrey and his all-male crew are cruising the Brazilian coast in his tall ship HMS Surprise with an eye to sorting out any Napoleonic allies. Out of the mist, he is attacked by the sleeker, better equipped French privateer Acheron.

So begins Aubrey's battles, and not one but three. He will seek revenge on the Acheron; he and his crew must do constant battle with the elements; and the captain and his best friend, the ship's doctor and naturalist (Paul Bettany) must sort out their chalk-and-cheese clash. Should the obsessive, pragmatic man of war always win out over the slower progress of scientific discovery and investigation?

This dilemma is but one of the serious strands of a largely stern film - aside from a protracted joke about weevils - that is a journey of discovery for all on board. The bravery and the bravado, the fate of the strong and the weak, the sea life and the living conditions are all explored in rare depth; the seamanship on display would impress Sir Francis Chichester; and the gut and gore of the ocean battle scenes recall the authenticity of Weir's earlier epic, Galipoli.

This is not a swashbuckling yarn in the manner of this summer's Pirates Of The Caribbean, nor does it pursue blockbuster entertainment. Instead, this thoughtful psychological drama stings like sea salt on a cut and yet grows increasingly spectacular and uplifting the more its old-fashioned tale progresses. All the while, Crowe and Bettany vie for top sea dog in the acting honours.

Master And Commander will have grown men punching the air like they did last Saturday morning. As for women, they will probably be as absent from cinema seats as they are from the screen.

Updated: 10:10 Friday, November 28, 2003