Pirates have taken over his ship! Time for Captain Phillips, ex-special forces & Navy SEAL, to kick some ASS! Not quite, but this is still an awesome movie! Read on for more!

Rating: 9/10 (20 November 2013)

Does anyone remember Dragnet, Big, Turner & Hooch, Splash, The 'Burbs??? All the silly but great movies I used to watch Tom Hanks in as a kid. That's who he was in the 80s, a comedy actor, doing quirky light-hearted movies. I guess there's no way we'll be seeing a sequel to the awesome Dragnet with him now being a celebrated thespian and all.
Somewhere along the lines of Apollo 13 and Saving Private Ryan (1998), his career shifted gear and he's been producing acting powerhouses pretty much ever since. We can't really complain when they come as good as Captain Phillips.
I'm not going to do a comparison of the movie and what happened in real life, there are plenty of other sites out there doing that. All I can say is that this is an excellent movie with enough reality and Hollywood magic to keep any movie fan happy.
The story sounds almost like a sequel to Under Siege but thankfully there is no Steven Seagal anywhere in sight.
Captain Phillips (Tom Hanks) is tasked with guiding the cargo ship MV Maersk Alabama to Mombasa around the horn of Africa, a known pirate hotspot. It soon becomes clear that Phillips was right to be apprehensive. Despite their best efforts, the ship is attacked and boarded by a band of Somali pirates.
Although the pirates are few in number, they are armed and deadly, intent on getting a large payout. Under the expert guidance of Captain Phillips, the crew hide in the ship's engine room but things take a turn for the worst when Phillips himself is taken hostage in the ship's lifeboat.
The Navy as well as a SEAL team are soon in pursuit but whether they can save Captain Phillips or not is a different matter altogether.
This is another excellent movie and is easily up there with the likes of Gravity as one of the best movies I've seen this year.
It's damn tense with Hanks turning in yet another outstanding performance which really has to be seen. It's testament to his skill as an actor and dedication to his craft. The research he did into the character obviously payed off big time. This of course would be nothing if not for the great performances of his supporting cast, including Barkhad Abdi as the leader of the pirates and of course expert direction from Paul Greengrass who ensures that the action is tight and on point. Thankfully, there's no shaky-cam rubbish here for which Greengrass was previously infamous for.
There are no lulls, no laggy moments, just a tense, emotion and heart driven thrill ride from start to finish. It makes you appreciate your loved ones and value the time you have with them, much in the same way Gravity did for me.
People complain about the US meddling in other peoples affairs, acting like they are the police of the world, but for what it's worth, when crap like this goes down, I'm glad they're out there trying, not always succeeding, but still trying to do the right thing. When the Navy and SEAL team arrive on the scene, even though I'm not American, I felt grateful that there is someone that can come to the rescue when stuff like this happens.
I've been intentionally vague about the story to avoid spoiling the experience for you, but let there be no doubt, this really is a great film which I highly recommend to everyone.
Don't expect Under Siege 3, or your typical one-man-army action hero type flick. This is as close to reality as most of us will ever want to get.
Rating 9 out of 10
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