Absolute First Class Action Drama

Rating: 8/10 (16 January 2015)

I'll admit that when I first saw trailers for this movie I wasn't too impressed. It just looked like an average run-of-the-mill "based on true events" drama. I'm glad I changed my mind, though, as Captain Phillips is one of the best movies I've seen in a LONG time.
Firstly, the casting was absolutely spot on and for his first acting event, Barkhad Abdi is absolutely fantastic and is well deserving of all nominations and awards he has received for his role as Muse, the lead Somali pirate. The other three actors - Barkhad Abdirahman as Bilal, Faysal Ahmed as Najee, and Mahat M. Ali as Elmi - all do a stand-up job also. As for Tom Hanks, well, what more can be said really? He delivers once again.
You might think that at almost 2¼ hours long it's pretty drawn out, but nothing could be further from the truth. It doesn't take long to get going and the suspense just continues to build from there on in.
I've actually read reviews about how "unbelievable" it is that only 4 pirates manage to board & take over such a large cargo ship. I guess these people never knew that this film is actually based on true events and it wasn't just a matter of Hollywood hamming up another storyline. Even if it was a Hollywood thing....the Pirates had semi-automatic rifles and handguns so compare that to the cargo ship's water cannons and NO guns and it would have been relatively simple for these pirates to have boarded such a big vessel.
When watching the film, you kind of feel a certain amount of sympathy for Muse because of where he comes from and his background. I know that that doesn't condone his actions of pirating, but he does actually draw a certain amount of sympathy. Then again, if he was a hothead like Bilal it might have had a different feel to it and been a different story.
Captain Phillips is one of those classic must-see movies and is actually deserving of the "must-see" tag. Absolutely fantastic film that deserves every plaudit received.