Dawg, the subject matter predates Liberalism. It's the napoleonic war. It's history nerd pilled, they're like that cause dudes were like that

Nah, the British Navy is as relevant as ancient Rome as far as modern audiences goes.

Also I recommend Culture Why Are So Many Guys Obsessed With Master and Commander?

Will Menaker, the co-host of the popular leftist podcast Chapo Trap House, said, “I don't know how there could be ironic fans of a movie that's this brilliant—a movie that does onscreen everything movies promise. What's bad about this movie?”

“I always think of the scene where Aubrey and Maturin are playing their cello and violin—you're hearing that and it's just sort of taking you around the ship and it's all very quiet. And then there's just a moment where the camera goes underneath the boat and it's a shot of the anchor trailing through the ocean as you hear the slightly muffled sounds of Aubrey and Maturin's music,” he continued. “I just always am so struck by the beauty of that moment and the fact that every single conceivable detail about the social hierarchies and physical maintenance of this vessel is so lovingly crafted. It's the historical verisimilitude of it and just how it does a very rare thing for movies of this nature—it's like the battles are almost incidental.”

Sure, there are no female characters in the movie (except for the ship, and the wooden lady on the ship). But overall, the masculinity of Master and Commander, especially as modeled by Aubrey, is overwhelmingly wholesome and positive. Any nostalgia for the traditionalism in the movie is less reactionary and more about the healthy male bonding between the characters.

“You've got a bromance for the ages in Aubrey and Maturin,” Menaker said. “They're just fucking buds and they play their violins together as they're traversing the Cape of Horn. It's awesome.” Writer David Grossman told me that Master and Commander is “a deeply felt vision of non-toxic masculinity,” while Alex Yablon pointed to it as “a portrait of healthy homosociality.” Even director Taika Waititi once called it his favorite romance movie.

I don't mean as an appeal to authority lol fuck Chapo shit, but this article and the quotes are a Siberian winter level take on why the movie is actualy kind of good and I completely agree with all the points.

I can see why you may not like it since there are basicaly two audiences for this movie now. The original viewers mostly nostalgic and the whole early 2000s the end of the blockbuster era(LOTR, Gladiator, M&C etc) and the modern audience looking through all the context of modern society and what Hollywood has become. If you see yourself in the modern audience I guess yeah it probably isn't all that special or even relevant, specialy as a leftist even.

Yeah it sucks about the movie's politics but on a pure entertainment level I still love it. It helps that they're fighting the Fr*nch so it's not like it's a film about Brits putting down a fully-justified uprising or something.

Yeah but the big boat was cool

They were priming it to.be a whole series, but it didn't do as well as they hoped