>What makes a movie like this resonate with so many men
Are you female? I haven't seen this one but I assume men like it for the same reason they like other war films -- adventure, action, heroism, etc.
>a fictional romanticization of the British Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars over 200 years ago?
Usually a movie about the past is modernity in drag. Also, I don't think a story has to be true or contemporary for people to identify with it.