Great movie

Rating: 8/10 (11 January 2014)

An interpretation that fits Tom Hanks as a glove . He brings along his bag of tricks to show a whole range of emotions in this movie . An autobiographical movie based on the book by Captain Richard Philips : A Captain's Duty : Somali Pirates , Navy SEALs , and Dangerous Days at Sea . A raw and emotional report about the hijacking of a cargo ship off the Somali coast by pirates and the subsequent hostage of Philips .
Tom Hanks shows different characteristics of this Captain : an ordinary family man on his way to a routine job, a dutiful captain who strictly adhere to the rules and can rely on many years of experience , a devious man with cunning and strategic ingenuity trying to shake of the pirates and afterwards to keep them on a leash, a scared person who fears for his life and still looks for a way out of this dangerous situation and as apotheosis the way he plays a broken person who realizes that he escaped a life-threatening situation . In those last minutes Hanks shows what a brilliant actor he is. Every emotional stage he plays is as if he has already lived through it. The severe dutiful glance , the fear in his eyes and combative look. Each is believable put down and you feel involved .
The interpretation of the Somali pirates was terrifyingly real . Especially Barkhad Abdi was brilliant as Muse . A Somali who has to get money for his tribe and puts together a group to engage in hijacking a ship and ask for ransom. He was a character that showed a mix of thoughtfulness and determination to achieve this. He's also a leader who was able to calm down his team which walked around half- drugged all the time . With their wide open eyes and ferociously waving their machine guns .
Despite the limited locations that could be used in this film, it's a very tense movie and you see the situation escalate to a dangerous and violent claustrophobic journey in a lifeboat .
I had no idea that for such a situation such measures were taken by the U.S. military . At one point I had the idea that this had to be a very special Captain and thus the great resources were deployed . Three military vessels were deployed and a platoon Navy SEALS been rounded up to do the job. Extremely professionally filmed and unnerving exciting moments . I had no idea what the outcome of the film would be , but there isn't much choice: either survive this trip to hell or don't . It's that simple .
I hope that cargo ships are now allowed to arm themselves as they float in these waters , so that they can stop such an attack by a primitive motor boat. And otherwise just send an undercover team and pretend to be a reporting team that wants to interview them , after which they can be arrested. This actually worked at the airport in Zaventem .