Very well made, and very linear, straight forward movie about a wild true story

Rating: 7/10 (1 February 2014)

Captain Phillips (2013)
Straight up excellent movie making about a true story with superb pace and clearly etched characters. It's hard not to like, and to appreciate the main character, played by Tom Hanks, as he does his best to keep his ship and crew safe from pirates.
If that's what you're looking for in a movie, this is top notch. The director, Paul Greengrass, is really expert at this kind of action thriller—he did the 2nd and 3rd Bourne movies, which are sizzling. "Captain Phillips" is by its nature more limited in its plot. It has to stick to the reality of the world at that time, and more or less to the facts. There have been some objections to the actual details of the movie, but I think Greengrass is right when he defends it as true to the big points, which you see (with some astonishment) here.
If you want some further element of surprise, or something to make you think, or discover aspects that rise above simply telling a riveting plot, you won't find it here. Except, for me, in the last two minutes of the movie. Here, at last, we not only see the depths of what the captain had to discover in himself, we see the movie take a turn in deciding what to show us and how. Maybe this by itself justifies all that comes before. Or maybe it will make you wish for more of this best aspect. Somehow.