It's A Thrilling Tension-filled Film, But It's Haphazard Priorities Leaves The Audiences Clueless As To What To Feel.

Rating: 6/10 (24 October 2013)

When a talented Director (Paul Greengrass) and a brilliant Actor (Tom Hanks) collaborate, you can't help yourself but be excited. Maybe I expected too much from the maker of 'The Bourne Ultimatum' because the overall effect 'Captain Phillips' had on me was good, but a little underwhelming. The movie is a thrilling Biodrama with appropriately-built tension and terrific acting, but the screenplay meanders a lot in a lackluster pace.
One of the two main protagonists, Captain Phillips (homonymous with the movie's title), is supposed to be the heroic lead of the film. Other than a few evading efforts against the pirate boat and a couple of astute tactics used to trick the on-board pirates, in the first half of the movie, he stoops into lame and unwise attempts of escaping when he's aware of the presence of already-at-work Navy seals. Moreover, his character was quite underdeveloped. Even the climax scene, where he cries out loudly after being rescued, had people reaching for their handkerchiefs, when it had the least bit impact on me; I failed to make any connection with him, or even feel sympathy for him. Though I have to say, Tom Hanks has done an impressive job, at least with whatever was given to him; his character's lack of impact can be blamed on the screenplay.
To me, it was the other lead protagonist, Muse, the leader of the Pirate group, who had more character and was more "empathizable". He was evidently switching between two emotions, one to follow orders and not go empty-handed to his elders, and the other to feel sympathy for his hostages. Barkhad Abdi's controlled and nuanced performance makes the character raw, fierce, emotionally-vulnerable and relateable. If it were upto me, I would have named the movie after him.
I certainly appreciate how the storywriter and director have portrayed the story in such an unbiased way; we get both sides' account. And the funny thing is, maybe the whole US rescue mission is supposed to be seen as a heroic deed, but to me, as the whole story turned out, the whole system (the cargo ship - navy seal team) seemed dumb. First of all, when such a big cargo is being transported through those dangerous waters, I don't understand the logic behind having no security. Then when a ship is in threat or hijacked, they spend so much by deploying the Navy seals and everything. To me, the way the four skinny Somalian pirates hijacked an entire cargo ship on their tiny boat seemed more admirable.
All in all, it's a thrilling tension-filled film, but it's haphazard priorities leaves the audiences clueless as to what to feel.