An engaging tale of survival, based on a real incident!

Rating: 7/10 (31 January 2014)

Captain Phillips is one of those intelligent yet simple thrillers, which without much gunpowder or even brains, get you hooked in just a few minutes. Such films are a rarity these days. But there is more to it than just a survival thriller.
Captain Richard Phillips is a merchant merchant mariner, whose ship is hijacked by 4 Somali pirates. Captain Phillips unsuccessfully tries to negotiate but end up being a hostage.
Global capitalization is a topic which hasn't been brought up in many movies. As I said, Phillips is not just a survival tale but it questions the effects of global capitalization, and the countries' drive and greed for power and control. Countries like Somali try to survive the death race started by other superpowers.
The story not only lets you feel what Rich is feeling, but also the pirates' perspective. Which makes us wonder, where they really bad? Why won't they just give them the money? Muse's character is so intelligently crafted that the viewer only empathizes as much as Greengrass wants him to. Barkhad Abdi compliments this by a splendid acting performance.
This film is the perfect example of 'acting with expressions and eyes'. Tom and Barkhad, compliment each others' performances throughout the film, and their eyes do the talking. Tom really outdid himself by portraying a shocked and traumatized captain at the end. It is very disappointing that he didn't get nominated, but I guess it was due to competition, all the nominations for best actor are simply marvelous. I guess its time the academy needs to extend the number of nominees for major categories other than best picture.
Direction: Greengrass is great, a strong narrative and a strong hold on the film. He easily gets us hooked in just a few minutes. I haven't seen any of his previous works as of yet, thus the hand held camera really gave me a few headaches and dizziness, maybe it was done to give the viewer a more 'seasick' effect.
Script/Story: Superbly written, minimal dialogues. A simple screenplay, but the film is more about expressions than dialogues.
Acting: Tom is back, and he is at his best, he deserved a nomination. Barkhad Abdi was good for a newcomer with no experience whatsoever, though I don't see him wining the Oscar. Rest of the cast was equally good, especially the Somali actors.
Music: The score had a striking resemblance to inception's score. I mistook the composer for Hans Zimmer, until I checked it. But further reading, I came to know that Zimmer was involved but remained uncredited. Nevertheless an amazing score, if not Oscar worthy.
Overall a nail-biting and strong believable thriller. As it isn't a mind twister of a thriller it can easily be enjoyed when you want to rest your head after a long day of work.