Greengrass Struggles Aboard the MSV Maersk Alabama

Rating: 3/10 (6 January 2014)

Paul Greengrass of Bourne fame ventures into the semi-true story of Captain Richard Phillips and his encounter with the not-so-bloody not-so-terrifying pirates of the Somalian coast. When the MSV Maersk Alabama, loaded with food for the poor, starving children of Africa (rolleyes), embarks onto its course to the port of Mombasa from the Oman coastline, they are full aware of the dangers posed by pirate activity in the area. With Somalian kidnapping on the rise, the loaded cargo ship is but another prey for the rag-tag band of yellow-toothed AK47-wielding outlaws. Normally a crew would back down and hand over the ship peacefully, but not this yippee ki yay band of die hards (with glass traps to boot). Led by the scrawny Muse (Barkhad Abdi) this band of hijackers has met their match!!!
Achingly overwrought "Captain Phillips" intends to thrill, together with manipulative background music attempting to heighten the tension, where there is none to behold. Somehow, most people seem to have fallen into the trap set up by Tom Hanks and Greengrass' shaky cam, but when the foursome of motley pirates are set to collide with the navy and seals the attempt to keep tension high is as ludicrous as the outcome is inevitable. The fearless Somalian fishermen-turned outlaws versus the entire might of US military excellence - never has an action thriller been so lopsided in favour of the so-called 'good guys'. This is one movie where I actually found myself rooting for the 'bad guys', despite Greengrass's best intentions to have Phillips and the overbearing force of the US Navy being perceived positively.
Riddled with unnecessary focus on detail the movie irritates with its trite dialogue, often inserted to add some skin-deep expansion on the plight of Somalia, but never offering any attempt to flesh out any of the characters. Lacking any meaty commentary Greengrass basically offers a straight up action film, which however lacks the ingredients to make it interesting. The conclusion is foregone from the outset and the lack of depth fails to really emotionally involve with anyone. With the story basically devoid of tension from mid-way (when the terrorist kidnap Captain Phillips and use an escape pod to head for the mainland), the last hour is overbearing to the point of excruciating cries for the story to just end. The realistic fly-on-the-wall never really helps, as it struggles to imbue a sense of purpose of proceedings, making you almost wish for the crew to just dump Captain Phillips in the water, so the movie will finally end.
With an overwhelming sense of patronisation of the plight of Somalians, "Captain Phillips" also barely treads on the right side of the moral landscape. Not to say that Somali pirates are justified or noble, but the story has been literally whitewashed with the fearless 'whites' saving the day and outsmarting their opposition (I believe not a single talking part from the 'good side' was offered to a coloured person). The "Smiling Pirate" Muse has been vilified, not one mention being made of him actually being underage, with absolutely no focus being placed on 'his side of the story', apart from some banal shopworn tag-lines about his fisherman roots. The beginning was actually promising, when Muse was introduced, but soon focus shifts away from him and suddenly we become overpowered by American patriotism coupled with overblown music intended to force a sense of tension. Single lines of dialogue are afforded to wider ranging issues with Rich Phillips supplying an opening comment about the rat-race juxtaposed with the conditions of life of ordinary Somalians one of the few high points of the drama. Apart from that its an pompous mess of action overly focused on the title character and his emotional responses than to actually posing any serious questions.
Tom Hanks acts his heart out, but with such a divisory persona it's hard to really connect with him. The best acting is therefore on the side of the worn Somalian naturals like Abdi, who deserves Oscar recognition much more than Hanks. Nonetheless, the secondary cast of the cargo ship crew was mostly terrible and laughable in their execution, offering a few hardy laughs with their picturesque poses and worried mimicry.
Within the cascading amount of Somali pirate movies, this is by far the worst. "A Hijacking" is hardly a great movie, but shows how deficient Greengrass's storytelling is. Just around the corner: "Fighting without Nets" will premiere at Sundance and hopefully present a movie with more than one layer to it.