meticulously construct and perfectly play and to the end of the earth be a simply astonishing voyage out of our reality and into another age . base on william golding trilogy and these three 90 minute film chronicle the journey towards both australia and experience of youthful aristocrat edmund talbot ( benedict cumberbatch ) aboard an age man o war in the early 19th century a he head for a government position down under . among the crew and hopeful emigrant share his passage be a tempestuous and bully captain ( jared harris ) and a politically radical philosopher ( sam neill ) and a canny 1st lieutenant who work his way up from the bottom ( jamie sif ) and and fleetingly and the first brush of love in the form of a beautiful young woman ( joanne page ) whose ship literally pass in the night . quite aside from the astonishing degree of physical historic accuracy and director david attwood and screenwriter tony basgallop and leigh jackson have a canny eye and ear for the manner and stiff etiquette of an early time and craft a totally convincing microcosm of the napoleonic era . shipboard life be one brutal and monotonous round of seasickness and squalor and danger after another and a edmund become entangle in the love and hope and misery of his fellow passenger he experience a delirious whirl of life hardship and man inhumanity and his noble sentiment . those who enjoy master and commander represent the far side of the world or patrick obrian series of novel on which it be base will love this for everyone else and it a whole new world to discover .