Review 280: Captain Phillips
Based on the book A Captain's Duty by Richard Phillips and Stephen Talty, The film focuses on the relationship between the Alabama's commanding officer, Captain Richard Phillips (Tom Hanks), and the Somali pirate captain, Muse (Barkhad Abdi), who takes him hostage. Phillips and Muse are set on an unstoppable collision course when Muse and his crew target Phillips' unarmed ship; in the ensuing standoff, 145 miles off the Somali coast, both men will find themselves at the mercy of forces beyond their control.
The plot is a gripping, tense, exciting, edge of your seat survival story with a hint of emotional complexity dashed on top. Not only is it intense, emotionally powerful and really exciting, it's also a story about survival, bravery and globalisation.
Survival: Captain Richard Phillips and his crew really wanted to get out of the situation and Captain really wanted to escape the pirates. He told his crew to hide otherwise they would be caught which shows that Captain Phillips was a who did what he saw as his duty to protect his crew-and in doing so he became a hero.
Bravery: Watching this film you strongly get the sense that Cap. Richard Phillips really was a brave man and a noble leader. He made big sacrifices to ensure the safety of his crew and even though it meant being taken hostage by the pirates he did not loose hope that the U.S. government would do something to get him out of that lifeboat alive.
Globalisation: This film is also a tale of two captains: Captain Richard Phillips (the titular captain) and Abduwali Muse, the leader of the Somali pirates. Both of them become pawns in a much larger game which neither of them have any control over.
Another great thing about this film is that it shows the situation from the Pirates point of view: These weren't the sort of pirates in the traditional sense, they are savages who will not hesitate to kill you without a second thought.
they had to live that life to survive because they were people with no education, potentially no future and they were working for a warlord. They needed to survive. Even though they were massively outnumbered, they held on because Captain Phillips was the only bargaining tool other than the the money they stole from him because most of that money would go to that warlord. Because of this they refused to negotiate.
Director Paul Greengrass' direction is outstanding (bringing his signature handheld cinema verite style to create a documentary style that fits perfectly with the films real life story), the cinematography is beautiful and captures the claustrophobic environment , the effects are excellent (you can tell their using a lot of practical effects and stunt work), the score by Henry Jackman is appropriately subtle and used sparingly to allow the actors emotions carry the scenes.
The scenery is breathtaking, the production design is tremendous, the costumes are terrific, the make up is rich, the tension is gripping (one of the great things about this film is the tension, Greengrass just plops us an audience right into the middle of what was a very tense, nail biting situation and gives you the strong sense that the whole situation could go south at any moment).
the sound effects are terrific, the props are well crafted and the ending was superb.
The acting is excellent, Tom Hanks is amazing as Cap. Richard Phillips. Brilliantly conveying the mans bravery and desperation.
Barkhad Adbi (in a breakout performance) is menacing as Abduwali Muse, the Pirate leader. He may be doing really awful things but you could see were he was coming from. As I said before he isn't the sort of pirate who just wants to steal peoples loot he has to do this to survive and the way Adbi portrays that is really moving.
Captain Phillips is a first rate Bio/Action picture and possibly the best film of 2013 so far, 5/5.
The Anonymous Critic.
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