History Film / MasterAndCommander

* CornerOfWoe: After Aubrey denies him permission to explore the Galapagos Islands, Mauritan is shown reading a book by himself in the stern, ignoring the land he was eagerly peering at through a glass before. After Blakeney brings him a beetle he's caught, Mauritan pulls himself together and is shown making the best of things by dipping a net over the side and examining the marine creatures he's caught.

** There's a closeup of the cannon striker in action during the gunnery practise, to set up the scene where a man blocks the striker from firing during the final battle.

* ChekhovsGun: Aubrey is told that a mast has been damaged, but refuses to make landfall and spend weeks looking for the right timber to fashion a new one, because the ''Acheron'' will escape. Later while pursuing the ''Acheron'' around Cape Horn in a raging storm the mast breaks, ending the pursuit and sending a man overboard. Even though there's a chance of saving the man, Aubrey has to cut the mast loose [[ColdEquation or risk sinking the ship]].

** Lampshaded when Aubrey predicts they'll have the ''Acheron'', then tells the midshipmen to touch wood. Sure enough the ''Acheron'' escapes after the mast breaks during a storm.

* NotSoDifferent: Aubrey is bemused by the determination of the French captain to hunt him down and wonders if ItsPersonal; that in his prior career he might have killed the man's son or the like. Maturin points out the man is simply Aubrey's French counterpart. "He fights like you, Jack."

** LivingLegend Lord UsefulNotes/HoratioNelson is an inspiration for every seaman of the Royal Navy.
** Captain Lucky Jack ''himself'', who was also famed for knowing Lord Nelson in person. Aubrey will never forget the first time his idol spoke to him in person, nor what he said: [[spoiler:"Aubrey... may I trouble you for the salt?"]]

* RedAlert: "We shall beat to quarters!" This line heralds a Napoleonic Red Alert sequence with sailors being rousted out of their hammocks by drumbeats and scrambling to their battle stations. Hollom isn't sure he actually saw anything in the fog, and his gross incompetence and fear of the crew’s already dismal opinion of him forces Calamy to step up and give the order instead. He allows Hollom to take the credit as to not further humiliate him. It proves to be a prudent decision, as the crew is immediately ready to fight back when fired upon.

** Junior officer Blakeley suffers severe damage to his right arm after the third skirmish against the Acheron, which necessitates amputation at the mid-humerus without anesthetic, just a shot of whiskey. Blakeley is awake and aware of the procedure, including the dreaded bone saw. Hospital escort ships hadn't been invented yet, and a sick bay was a rare luxury too good for the Surprise.

* DrivenToSuicide: The aging midshipman Hollom, who has no prospects of promotion, is completely lacking in leadership ability, and to top it off gets labeled as a curse on the ship's luck. He ends up jumping overboard while holding a cannonball.

* DoomMagnet: Hollom is believed to be this by the crew, which results in him being DrivenToSuicide.
* DrivenToSuicide: The aging midshipman Hollom, who has no prospects of promotion, is completely lacking in leadership ability, and to top it off gets labeled as a curse on the ship's luck.

* INeedAFreakingDrink: Soon after a scene where Aubrey is seen with a picture of his wife while writing a letter to her, ''Surprise'' pulls into a Brazilian port where they take on supplies and he lays eyes on a woman smiling at him from under a parasol. Far be it from him to catcall a girl like some of his crew, but he still finds it hard to look away. The scene immediately following is dinner in the officer's mess with a hefty decanter of wine being passed around, Aubrey apparently having decided that it is a good occasion to get himself and his officers piss drunk.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: The first scene sets up the difference between the timid midshipman Hollom and the much younger but braver Calamy. Hollom is technically proficient, checking the draft of the ship's waters when told of a possible contact, but when he spots the shadow of the Acheron in the fog, he second-guesses himself and doesn't call an alarm without checking with Calamy, a teenage midshipman over a decade his junior. Calamy didn't see the Acheron, but even though Hollom is the watch officer, he calls for the alarm when Hollom hesitates, having no fear of the possibility of being wrong when the ship's safety is at stake.

* EasyLogistics: "The French have their spies in England and elsewhere... as do we." This seems to imply a French spy all the way back in Portsmouth, where he saw ''Surprise'' put to sea, somehow ran out across the ocean to warn the French Captain so he could lay an ambush ''at just the right time and place''. Relatively possible, though, as there could have been agents located in South America or other ports where the ''Acheron'' could have stopped by, and these agents would have been aware of English man-of-war movements in the area eve if they did not necessarily see the ''Surprise'' put out to sea. It is also possible that the French were warned that England had dispatched the ''Surprise'' to intercept ''Acheron'', allowing the ''Acheron'' to ambush ''Surprise'' rather than the other way around.

* PapaWolf: Discussed. Aubrey says that the French captain fights so hard that you would think it's personal for him. Aubrey even worries that it might ''be'' personal--that in his prior career he might have killed the man's son or the like.

* INeedAFreakingDrink: Soon after a scene where Aubrey is seen with a picture of his wife while writing a letter to her, ''Surprise'' pulls into a Brazilian port where they take on supplies and he lays eyes on a woman smiling at him from under a parasol. Far be it from him to catcall a girl like some of his girl, but he still finds it hard to look away. The scene immediately following is dinner in the officer's mess with a hefty decanter of wine being passed around, Aubrey apparently having decided that it is a good occasion to get himself and his officers piss drunk.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: During a RousingSpeech, Jack asks his men, "Do you want to see a guillotine in Piccadilly?" even though the famous Piccadilly Circus wasn't built until 1819 and wasn't called that until the late 1800s.

* SpeakIllOfTheDead: In a subtle way. [[spoiler:At Hollom’s funeral, Killick hands Aubrey a bible so he may read a verse, and has pointedly opened it at the book of Jonah, showing that the crew still think of the man as cursed. Aubrey, however, shuts the book and doesn’t read anything from it at all out of regret.]]

* SuperstitiousSailors: An unpopular and borderline incompetent officer is labelled as a "jonah" by the ships crew -- someone who is believed to be bad luck -- when the ship is becalmed. This eventually drives him to suicide.

* MilitarySalute: PlayedForDrama. Nagle not only refuses to salute Mr. Hollom, but he also bumps into him without so much as an apology. A military salute is crucial, whether you like the officer or not, because it means you respect the rank itself, if not the officer. Nagle's deliberate insubordination was a very grave insult by the standards and he is punished for it, despite his own popularity with the crew. After the punishment, Hollom finds everyone saluting him, a situation he does not find comfortable.

* PrideBeforeAFall: Captain Aubrey's character arc. After the first engagement, all the officers agree that HMS Surprise is no match for the Acheron. Aubrey surprises them all by insisting they pursue the larger and faster ship, and later reveals he is exceeding his orders by doing so. When Aubrey says Acheron has twice their guns and twice their numbers, he's actually putting an optimistic spin on it. The United States class frigates were among the largest frigates of the time, and Surprise is among the smallest. In real life, the Royal Navy had standing orders for frigate captains not to engage the American heavy frigates without a numerical advantage. Aubrey nearly gets his ship sunk and his friends killed before [[spoiler:he relents and decides to go home at the opening of the third act.]]

* LightningBruiser: The ''Acheron'' is based on a kind of American-made super-frigate (like the famous ''USS Constitution'', a RealLife example). She has a solid body that is almost impervious to any cannon shot the ''Surprise'' can hit her sides with, and while she is vulnerable to raking fire from behind, her speed makes outmaneuvering her a tricky proposition... [[spoiler:but [[AttackItsWeakPoint concentrated fire directed at the base of the mainmast]] (which is possible thanks to a clever ruse allowing ''Surprise'' to get close enough to make the gunnery accurate) is able to leave her a sitting duck.]]

* DavidVsGoliath: The Surprise is a Unity class corvette of about 650 tons, with a nominal armament of 28 guns and an actual armament in RN service closer to 36 guns. The Acheron is based on the real USS Constitution, a 1,600 ton heavy frigate with a nominal armament of 44 guns and an actual armament of 50. But counting guns makes the fight seem fairer than it is. Acheron's guns are much larger, longer-ranged, and fire heavier shot. Surprise's broadside throws 328 pounds of metal to the Acheron's 1,408 lb broadside. The two ships are barely in the same class, as the sailing master points out after the first engagement.

* DavidVsGoliath: The Surprise is a decent mid-sized vessel, but the Acheron has nearly twice the firepower and crew. In their first two encounters the Acheron came up on the tail of the Surprise, which Aubrey knew left them at a disadvantage and so the only choice was to flee, since the Surprise had a slight speed advantage.

*** Also counts as a HilariousInHindsight moment, as Creator/PaulBettany would [[Film/{{Creation}} later go on]] to play the great naturalist himself, who would develop his theory only after visiting the very same islands and its creatures as the film.