I hung onto every second of this tense thriller. Hanks was remarkable in this role.

Rating: 9/10 (15 October 2013)

I went to see this movie as an exclusive Cineworld Unlimited IMAX preview screening, which was very exciting as I had been looking forward to viewing this movie after seeing the trailers earlier in the month. The movie had me gripped from start to finish; the atmosphere was crafted very well, making the viewer experience the tension and strain on a person during the ordeal both Captain Phillips and his crew endured.
Captain Phillips is based on the book "A Captain's Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS, and Dangerous Days at Sea" written by Captain Phillips himself. The movie accounts the hijacking by Somali pirates, of the Maersk Alabama ship back in 2009. The movie highlights the relationship between Captain Phillips (Tom Hanks) and the pirate leader Muse (Barkhad Abdi) during the hostile takeover of the ship, up to its thrilling conclusion.
I thought this was a wonderfully paced movie, firstly setting the stage for the movie, from both Captain Phillips's perspective, as well as that of the Somali pirates. While most clearly won't agree with them or want to sympathise, the movie does show you the reality of these countries. Whereas the individual may not want to commit these actions, they feel they have no other option in life and are doing what they have been demanded to do by higher powers. The only niggle I would say, is to give it a more realistic feel, some of the filming was hand held, which when watching it at an IMAX cinema, can make you feel a little queasy, but I get why they chose to film this way, it all adds to the feeling your with the characters every step of the way, feeling almost everything they do.
If anything, this movie is worth seeing for Hanks performance, which I'm sure will earn him another Oscar nomination, for his performance towards the end of the movie. The scenes following his rescue from the lifeboat were very intense; I did feel overcome with the emotion of Captain Phillips, during the medical checkups at the end. I couldn't help but feel so sorry & could not begin to comprehend what he was thinking at that time, completely taken over by the shock of what had happened. This as well as some of the clever things Captain Phillips did to try & save his crew and ship, from the small communications via radio to give the crew a heads up, to the info he gave to the rescue team to help them try to save him.
This is one of those movies that you want to say is such a great film, but you have to stay grounded, as this was based on a true story, one that was a horrible event & nobody should ever have to experience that kind of trauma in their life. It's a very gritty, tense thriller, one of the better ones I've seen in a while.