The classic fact-based adventure story of mutiny aboard an 18th-century Royal Navy ship—and its aftermath—gets a muscular retelling by Donaldson and veteran epics screenwriter Robert Bolt. Anthony Hopkins gives a more sympathetic rendering of the deposed Captain Bligh and Mel Gibson smolders as an impulsive 1st Lt. Christian. As Fryer, an officer who seethes at the decisions being made over and around him, Day-Lewis commands attention in his first movie role of note.