Disc 1. Kingdom of Heaven: Orlando Bloom stars as Balian, a young Frenchman in Medieval Jerusalem during the Crusades, who, having lost everything, finds redemption in a heroic fight against overwhelming forces to save his people and fulfill his destiny as a knight..
Disc 2. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World: Three-time Academy Award® directing nominee Peter Weir and Oscar® winner Russell Crowe join forces to create an epic, emotional adventure: Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. Based on author Patrick O’Brian’s series of Aubrey/Maturin novels, the movie is set during the Napoleonic Wars. Crowe is Captain “Lucky” Jack Aubrey, renowned as a fighting captain in the British Navy, and Paul Bettany is ship’s doctor Stephen Maturin. Their ship, the H.M.S. Surprise, is suddenly attacked by a superior enemy. With the Surprise badly damaged and much of his crew injured, Aubrey is torn between duty and friendship as he pursues a high-stakes chase across two oceans, to intercept and capture his foe. It’s a mission that can make his reputation – or destroy Lucky Jack and his crew.
In the course of the characters’ epic journey, the movie travels the world – from the coast of Brazil to the storm-tossed waters of Cape Horn, south through ice and snow, to the far side of the world, to the remote shores of The Galapagos Islands (becoming the first feature film ever to film there).
Author Patrick O’Brian is one of the great, if relatively undiscovered, authors of the twentieth century. His novels were often compared by critics to the work of Jane Austen and even Homer. A writer of breathtaking erudition, O’Brian evoked in complete and dazzling detail an entire world – that of the British Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. In a cover story in The New York Times Book Review published on January 6, 1991, Richard Snow wrote that Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey/Maturin naval adventure novels are “the best historical novels ever written.” In addition to formidable scholarship, O’Brian brought to his work keen psychological insights, a sharp wit, and fast-paced, heart-stopping action.