Retribution (2002 film)

Plot

The film starts In Kingston, Jamaica, where the court martial for Horatio and the other lieutenants begins. It is seen that Lieutenants Bush and Kennedy are locked away in the prison sickbay and only Lieutenants Buckland and Hornblower are at the trial. The tribunal of the court includes Commodore Pellew, Captain Hammond, and Captain Collins.

The film then flashes back to six months earlier, where the Renown is retreating from the Spanish fort. While the captain is still locked in his cabin, the dead are buried at sea. Despite the acting captain's desire to sail to Kingston, Hornblower and Kennedy suggest they launch a surprise night attack on the Spanish fort by land and then trap Spanish ships in the nearby bay.

The film then goes back to present day, where the tribunal is questioning Dr. Clive about his decision that Captain Sawyer was unfit to command.

Six months earlier, a group of sailors, led by a man named Randall, choose to desert the Renown during the night rather than serve under mutineers. Randall offers to let Hobbs come with them, but Hobbs states he is too loyal to Captain Sawyer to abandon him now, so Randall knocks him out and leaves.

The court martial tribunal asks why Buckland decided to continue with the mission, despite a deserting crew and an injured captain. Captain Hammond claims it was for glory, but Hornblower disagrees.

Back to six months earlier, Matthews discovers Randall's desertion. Because 33 others deserted with him, Acting Captain Buckland agrees to attack the fort. The landing force, led by Hornblower, Kennedy, and Bush, discovers Randall and the deserters all killed.

During the tribunal's recess, they agree Captains Sawyer's good name should be preserved, but need a clear outcome for the lieutenants. So they decide if found guilty, they will only hang one man, but do not yet know who.

After finding the dead deserters, Hornblower concludes it was not the Spanish who killed them, so they continue on, with no time to bury the dead. Meanwhile, rebel slaves take out the sailors guarding the lifeboats. On the ship, Captain Sawyer asks Acting Captain Buckland to release him and, in exchange, he will speak for Buckland at the court martial in Kingston, but Buckland refuses the offer. Buckland is called on deck as rebel slaves, who are revealed to be the ones behind the killing of Randall and the other deserters, have taken one for the lifeboats and are demanding the Renown leave Santo Domingo, claiming this is not the Renown's fight. As the landing party approaches the fort, a clash occurs between the British and the rebel slaves, which alerts the Spanish to the presence of the landing force. As the landing party comes under heavy fire from the garrison, Hornblower discovers a series of underground tunnels, used by the Spanish during the fighting. Using the same tunnels, Horatio helps the landing party capture the fort. Using hot shot, the landing party uses the fort's cannons to fire on the Spanish ships in the bay.

Back in Kingston, Captain Hammond congratulates Hornblower on taking the fort, but criticizes him for abandoning Bush and the rest of the landing party during the fighting to find the tunnels. Commodore Pellew and Collins congratulate Hornblower on his use of the hot shot on the Spanish. They also disagree with Captain Hammond's interpretation of the events. During another recess, Collins states his opinion that Pellew is uncomfortable with judging a man he cares for like his own son.

After their victory, Acting Captain Buckland joins the other lieutenants at the fort, where they meet Colonel Francisco Manuel Ortega, the Spanish commander, who is anxious to leave the island. It is later discovered why; the fort is under siege by the rebel slaves, and the Spanish are starving. As Buckland stalls the Spanish colonel, Horatio and the other lieutenants prepare to fire on the Spanish ships. Meanwhile, Hobbs tries to free Captain Sawyer, but fails. Hobbs then confronts Midshipman Wellard and accuses him of pushing Captain Sawyer down the hold.

Back at Kingston, Captain Hammond questions Hornblower and calls him an opportunist for some of his tactics, such as with the cannons.

Midshipman Wellard rides up a gun to the top of a cliff, when the rope starts to break, so Horatio rescues him, using a hangman's noose as a life line. Then, they begin to open fire on the Spanish ships. Seeing this, Colonel Ortega surrenders his ships as prizes of war. As the Spanish are surrendering, the slaves attack the fort. Bush orders the gun spiked and retreats. While evacuating the Spanish, now prisoners of war, Buckland orders Horatio to lay a charge and blow up the fort. Despite orders, Bush and Kennedy help Hornblower destroy the fort. Buckland then asks Hornblower to take command of the Spanish ships.

Back in Kingston, the tribunal congratulates Lieutenant Buckland on the Spanish surrender, but then question him about the rebel slaves he encountered, his relationship with Lieutenant Hornblower, on the destruction of the fort.

As the Renown and the Spanish ships are on route to Kingston, Hobbs tries to find out from Captain Sawyer if someone pushed him down the hold. Later that night, the Spanish try to take the Renown, but fail. During the battle, Sawyer and Wellard are killed and Bush and Kennedy injured. After Colonel Ortega is also killed in the fighting, the other Spaniards surrender again.

As the court martial continues, the tribunal insults Buckland for being tied up in his cabin during the battle, in which Buckland rashly stating his opinion that Captain Sawyer was mentally unfit to command because Hornblower pushed him down into the hold, but has no one to back his claim. So Buckland calls on Hobbs to back him, but Hobbs states he does not know who pushed the captain. In another recess, Pellew tells Hammond and Collins that instead of hanging Hornblower, they should promote him. Later, to save Hornblower, a still injured Kennedy admits to the tribunal that he pushed Captain Sawyer down the hold and later dies from his wound. Commodore Pellew tells him that one of the Spanish ships has been renamed the HMS Retribution and that he has been promoted to commander and is the new captain of Retribution.