Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World around Cape Horn is taken from the novel "Desolation Island", although the "Acheron" replaced the Dutch 74-gun warship "Waakzaamheid", the "Surprise" replaced the "Leopard", and in the book it is Aubrey who is being pursued around the Cape of Good Hope. The episode in which Aubrey deceives the enemy by means of a raft bearing lanterns is taken from "Master and Commander", and the episode in which Maturin directs the surgery on himself, while gritting his teeth in pain, to remove a bullet is taken from "HMS Surprise". Other incidents in the film come from other books in O'Brian's series.
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World tallied by the aggregate web site Rotten Tomatoes gave the film an overall positive rating. The site's consensus states: "Russell Crowe's rough charm is put to good use in this masterful adaptation of Patrick O'Brian's novel." On Metacritic, the film has an 81 out of 100 rating based on 42 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". However, the Metacritic “User Score” is considerably less positive, ranking 6.4 out of 10. Roger Ebert gave the film 4 stars out of 4, saying that "it achieves the epic without losing sight of the human". Christopher Hitchens gave a mixed review: "Any cinematic adaptation of