Speaking of movies, I saw the film "Admiral" (Dutch name: "Michiel de Ruyter") TWICE within a couple months.
For a square-rigger, age-of-sail, powder-and-shot movies it beats the 'Pirates of the Carribean' franchise hands down,
and also blows away 'Master and Commander."
- Unlike those ship-vs-ship movies, this is FLEET vs FLEET stuff; four replica maritime museum vessels were put to sea and then CGI takes over to duplicate these into MAJOR-MAJOR engagements.
- Johnny Depp is not in the movie.
- NOT a Disney Movie.
- Many scenes use the same traditional lighting of 'Dutch Masters' paintings; indeed there are references to nearly a dozen classics. Some are reversed horizontally, like de Ruyter's house servant pouring milk next to a bunch of bread rolls ( = L/R mirror flip of Vermeer's 'The Milkmaid,') and just to make it TOTALLY obvious, about 50min into the movie there is an actor who looks a LOT like Rembrandt, but he's dressed in the canary tunic and hat of Rembrandt's 'Night Watch,' and he's carrying a copy of 'De Staalmeesters' partially wrapped in a sheet. I caught some Heyronimus Bosch references, too. NONE of this distracts from the main, serious story, but it's COOL to detect in passing.
- 9/10 rating for naval action scenes. The cameras take you below decks to show you what 12 - and 16-pound ball does, bouncing off overheads and frames. After some engagements, seamen (some are young boys, too) are wounded, bleeding on deck from hellacious hardwood splinters passing through arms and legs. Again, NOT a Disney Movie.
- Some of the Dutch sailors are Dutch Marines IRL.
- Costume porn: Brocades, lace, tatting, and corduroys abound. On the women, too.
- The Dutch speak Dutch, the English speak English, and the French speak French.
- The characters look reasonably like their historical equivalents, and the movie is about the political intrigues and military moves that forged the Anglo-Dutch wars. No one is trying to re-write history (as in, let's pretend the American Confederates had won at Gettysburg.)
- Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance) plays King Charles II of England.
