A Film Bolstered by Two Key Performances

Rating: 7/10 (30 January 2014)

Director Paul Greengrass has carved out a nice little niche for himself in Hollywood. While occasionally delving into the imaginary trappings of action junkie heaven, the majority of Greengrass's movies are retellings of real life situations. They're movies where action has been imposed on ordinary people instead of the common trope of extraordinary people put in extraordinary situations. They're suspense films that require no suspension of disbelief because they are stories we know. They're uncomfortably topical yet while being as predictable as a Scandal Maker's-type made-for-TV movie, they're also engrossing.
It started with his lukewarm freshman project Resurrected (1989) the true story of a British Soldier during the Falkland Islands War. His predilection with real stories and current events continued with Bloody Sunday (2002), United 93 (2006) and Green Zone (2010) all of which had a contemporary feel about complex problems not yet solved at the time of their respective releases.
In comes Captain Phillips (2013), based on the harrowing adventure of Captain Richard Phillips (Tom Hanks) and his brush with modern piracy. His journey starts in Oman where he is assigned to deliver cargo to Mombasa. He's aware the horn of Africa is a hotbed for pirate activity and takes every precaution but a scrappy crew of Somali pirates is desperate to make bank and set their sights on his ship, the Maersk Alabama.
Even if I promised no spoilers, I'm guessing you as the reader know how it ends; even if you didn't see it on the news in the spring of 2009. Still, the entire movie hinges on your ability to suspend everything from prior knowledge of the incident to prior knowledge of action-movie mayhem and just go with it. I went with it and found the movie to be thrilling and intense. Much like all of Greengrass's movies, the film was a self-contained hyper-reality that showed its audience exactly what we needed to see and nothing more or less. In the words of Joe Friday, the film gives you "Just the facts ma'am." The film is buoyed by two remarkably different performers playing remarkably different roles. Tom Hanks is arguably the best actor of our generation playing everything from a gay lawyer with AIDS in Philadelphia (1993) to a wise-cracking party animal in Bachelor Party (1984) to a child's plaything in the Toy Story films (1995-2010). Add to that a charming personality and you've got the closest version of a male Meryl Streep as you're willing to find.
In Captain Phillips his heroics didn't come from a special ability or a John McClane-esque capacity to improvise; no his instincts were drilled in him by what looks like years of training. He accepted the reality of pirates approaching his ship and does everything in his power to mitigate whatever damage they're likely to do. Yet what sets the Captain apart from any of Tom Hank's other characters is once he's past the Worst Case Scenario Handbook his mind is always at work yet doesn't know where to go. He's unsure of his actions and tormented at the thought of what the pirates might do to him and his crew. In that sense we see a person who is a hero because he has to be but otherwise is a normal Joe.
Barkhad Abdi's performance as the lead pirate Abduwali Muse is a whole other beast. He plays him with scary realism, a down-and-out Somali with a strong need to prove something to the world. His world-weary face, pigeon-toed introverted mannerisms and surprising physical strength underlines a contemplative mind and desperate cunning. In another life, Muse could have had the craven fortitude and industry to become a successful business leader but due to geography he has to pay his dues by "fishing". Captain Phillips is Abdi's first full-feature experience acting and joins the ranks of Jennifer Hudson, Julie Andrews and Jaye Davidson as a first time Oscar nominee. Before becoming an overnight sensation, Abdi was no joke, a limo driver with little interest in acting; here's to hoping he follows up Captain Phillips with something worthwhile.
As with all Greengrass films, there are some slight third act problems. There's only so much you can do with five men stuck on a lifeboat and Greengrass doesn't have the considerable skills of Hitchcock to keep the energy going. There are some arbitrary images of Seal Team 6 jumping out of an aircraft in darkness and while I understand the principle belligerents in this tale are men couldn't there be more than two female characters? It's a minor sticking point but it's irksome when a talent like Catherine Keener is relegated to one single pointless scene.
There are three reasons why you should watch Captain Phillips and they are the names of Tom Hanks, Paul Greengrass and Barkhad Abdi. Abdi's freshman performance is vibrant and uninhibited and brings to mind the intensity of other first timers like Lou Castel in Fists in the Pocket (1965) and more recently Dwight Henry in Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012). Paul Greengrass's intense, grabbed from the headlines style has served him well over the past decade and Captain Phillips further raises the bar for the action director. Finally, Tom Hanks once again develops a character so real and genuine that it's hard not to admire the actor who got his start in a little seen horror movie called He Knows You're Alone (1980). And I know I'm not alone in my disappointment that Hanks wasn't nominated this year for his stunning performance in Captain Phillips.
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