Captain Phillips - Movie Review



image


Ratings
(My Rating - 8.2 out of 10)


What It's all about
Based on the true story of Captain Richard Phillips whose Cargo Ship - a U.S. flagged Maersk Alabama got hijacked in 2009 by Somalian Pirates


Behind the Camera Crew
Director : Paul Greengrass
Screenplay : Bill Ray (screenplay), Richard Phillips (based on his book) and Stephan Talty (based on his book)
Producer: Khadija Alami, Dana Brunetti, Eli Bush, Michael DeLuca, Gregory Goodman, Christopher Rouse, Scott Rudin, Kevin Spacey


Actors
Tom Hanks, Barkhad Abdi, Barkhad Abdirahman, Faysal Ahmed, Mahat M. Ali, Michael Chernus, Catherine Keener


Review
The movie "Captain Phillips" is based on the true story of Richard Phillips who was the captain of a US based company's Cargo ship - Maersk Alabama when his ship got hijacked by a bunch of Somalian Pirates in year 2009.

Basically this film can be divided in two parts - in first part before the interval where it has been shown that how a bunch of gutsy Somalian Pirates in a small skiff attacks a huge cargo ship which could be around 100 times of the skiff and overpowers captain and his crew on gun-point. In second part of the film, it has been shown that how Navy SEAL and US Maritime forces tactically handle the situation of abduction of Captain Phillips who has been kidnapped by the pirates and returning to Somalia in a airless, tiny and fully covered lifeboat. The movie’s initial irony—of a ship the height of an office building and the length of one-and-a-half football fields being taken captive by a skiff with an outboard motor—has come full circle, and the world order reasserted itself with successful rescue operation.

The film's main highlights are its edge of the seat thriller storyline, its fast moving pace (considering its more than two hours film) where audience does not get bored much even by predictable, simple and known plot and above all terrific, mind-blowing performances by all actors. But, this film will be remembered mostly after many years for one thing and that is fabulous and outstanding performance by Tom Hanks. Yet again, Tom Hanks who played central character in this film of Captain Phillips has proved that why he is still one of the best in class and despite his iconic status, it has been a long time since Hanks has challenged himself as an actor to this degree.

For me the stand-out moments from this film are
  1. the emotional sequence in very last frame where Captain Phillips is interacting with Doctor who is inspecting him just after his rescue. Its real heartening to see Hanks's performance in this particular scene and I was completely moved by it. I don't think any other actor could have done more justice to this scene
  2. The scene of execution of three pirates is also stand-out for me which seals the fate of pirates and confirms the rescue of Captain Phillips. It actually gives the audience a sense of relief and closure of long-standing struggle of Phillips. This is one of the scenes in film where you can expect clapping, whistles and applause in the theatre.
Paul Greengrass has done a superb job in directing this film like he did in past with his movies such as United 93 and two of best Bourne series films Bourne Supremacy and Bourne Ultimatum. His handling of actors, making the simple story interesting and thrilling are really commendable.

Last but not the least definitely, I would like to mention the performances by Barkhad Abdi, Barkhad Abdirahman who have done a remarkable job as Somalian Pirates considering they were facing camera for the first time and that too in presence of figure like Hanks. Future is definitely bright for these bright young actors.

Captain Phillips is, in short, a terrific film, and I look forward to watching it again. I really urge you to watch this at any cost.

Happy MovieWatching !!

 

Comments

Post a Comment