captain phillps review

Rating: 8/10 (4 March 2014)

Captain Philips - 2013 Cast: tom hanks and barkhad Abdi Director: Paul greengrass
Synopsis: Captain Philips is a multi-layered examination of the true story of the 2009 hijacking of the container Maersk Alabama by a crew of Somali pirates. Based on a story the film focuses on the Alabama's commanding officer captain Philips and the Somali pirate muse who takes him hostage The two men are set on an unstoppable collision course when muse and his crew target Phillip's unarmed ship in the ensuing standoff both men will find themselves at the mercy of the forces beyond their control. Review: I think this film is a fine piece of film making from one of the finest director around who previously directed 2 of the Bourne movies. At just over 2 hours long it is a very good tense story that goes on at a nice pace, though I would have probably watched it for another hour it was so exciting. I never took my eyes of the screen and the film never lost my attention. I think the most powerful aspect of the story was watching the relationship between Captain Philips and muse develops throughout the film, it goes from a hijacker and a victim to two men who understand each other and the fact that muse is a thief not a killer. I never fully felt threatened that muse was going to kill Philips because he understood he was no killer and the most frightening aspect of the film where the other 2 pirates who seemed more unpredictable than muse. However barkhad Abdi gives and incredible and scary portrayal of muse and so do the other actors playing the pirates. I was not fully aware of the real story so there were a number of shocks in this film for me for example I thought that the whole main part of the action would take place on Philips ship I was genuinely shocked when he was kidnapped in the life boat and the main part of the film took place there. I have to say that tom hanks has given some memorable performances in the past in films such as the toy story films and Forrest Gump but his performance in this film is outstanding and defiantly one of the best performances of his career. Overall I think the film was epic and thrilling from start to finish and it made me really think of what a terrifying event it would have been for the people who were involved in the real story and happily as we found out over a year later captain Phillip's would take to his ship and on to the sea yet again I would give this film a 8.5 out of 10