True story of a USA ship-Captain's encounter with pirates.

Rating: Null/10 (5 November 2013)

Columbia Picture. Tom Hanks is the eponymous 'Captain Phillips' of this film. He is a merchant seaman and the Captain of a USA cargo-ship attacked by Somali pirates. This modern-day true story is the basis for this tense, character-driven, action-thriller.
Film opens with Captain Phillips preparing to leave home and go to work. Home scenes come across as mundane and realistic. However the journey to the airport jars with a conversation between husband and wife that seems unbelievable. Supposedly married for the best part of two decades, it seems as if they have never talked to each other before this day and have now woken up and discuss their family and the world in a very ponderous and wooden way. However as this is a true story we will just have to accept this bad and clunky scene. So do not be put off at this point as the film picks up after this scene.
Meanwhile we are also seeing scenes from halfway across the world. In Somalia to be precise. Although Somalia has failed to function as a properly governed nation-state for two decades. Somalia is in fact in a state of anarchy and is dominated and ruled by war-lords. We see enough to feel the atmosphere and culture in these brief glimpses. We see too the young Somali men who are the pirates. We can understand their mentality and situation, and compare and contrast it with that of Captain Phillips.
Supposedly Director Paul Greengrass asked Tom Hanks what he thought the film was about. TH said "Pirates", PG replied "Globalization" and asked TH again, who replied again "Pirates". This reviewer agrees totally with Mr Hanks.
In an interview Tom Hanks described how he and his crew did not meet the pirate crew before the pirates attempted to hijack the ship. Clearly the Director wanted this for the shock factor for the Hanks crew and to capture that in an authentic way. A good idea which clearly worked. Sadly however, because of the earlier Somali scenes, we viewers did not get quite the same shock-factor. To us the pirates were not quite that same unknown quantity.
The Director Paul Greengrass, who directed 'United 93' in 2006, seems to be trying to give the impression that he is looking at both sides in this film. However he is only pretending to be even-handed. A film entitled 'Captain Phillips' is not about the Somali pirates themselves but rather about Captain Phillips. The pirates are only important in so far as they impact on Captain Phillips. As such therefore it would have been much better if we, like the Captain and crew, did not see the pirates, until they had boarded the ship. However, having said that, a much more interesting film could have been made from the point of view of the pirates. In 'The Sopranos', David Chase was able to give us a Soprano POV, a pirate POV could have been similarly sublime.
'CP' is a film of two halves. The first half, you get what you expect, if you have seen the trailers. The second half is a little different. It is in fact a little slow in parts. However the tension does build. The problem is that this is really just a small little story. If a film is wanted with a modern-day Somali pirate story-line, then other true stories would be much more interesting. The reality is that this is just an interesting story, for historical reasons, for audiences in the USA, because it is unusual. While the film is shot from various perspectives, it is mainly shot from the perspective of Americans, particularly of course, Captain Phillips.
Tom Hanks is Captain Phillips. His acting is tremendous throughout. Having said that however, all acting is superb. Both the crews, the ship's crew, and the pirate crew, give convincing performances. Rather than an action film, perhaps it is better to consider the film as a character study. We have the battle of wits between the two captains. We have also the interplay between the different members of the pirate crew. If ever a film demonstrated the need for constitutional government and a properly structured command-and-control system, then this is the film.
A major criticism of this film must be the camera work. Director Paul Greengrass, certainly in the early parts of the film, seems to want to give it a documentary feel. He does. Sadly however, much of this 'documentary-feel' is spoilt by cameras swinging violently, and sickeningly, quickly. In later parts we have incredibly close-up close-ups. Again, uncomfortably so. There are also hand-held cameras that veer about violently. A little, of some of this, may have been needed. Most was not. Except if the intention was to make the cinema audience feel slightly sea-sick. It certainly did not make viewing more enjoyable, but rather less so.
This is not a great film, but it is a good film, the subject matter makes it so. 'Captain Phillips' tells the story of what happened to a ship's Captain. It is a film, and story, that gets tenser, and tenser, as it goes on. When the film ended my cinema audience seemed to have been shocked into a stunned silence, although I felt ever so slightly underwhelmed. If you want to find out what happened to Captain Phillips, then this is the film for you. If you are wanting to find out a lot about Somalia and it's pirates, try reading up about them instead.
This modern-day pirate story, is a true story, and a good film. 8/10.