Excellent Casts and Incredible Performances

Rating: 9/10 (27 February 2014)

When someone heard the word "pirate", funny, drunken-style walking, outwitted Captain Jack Sparrow will hit in their mind. But everyone will have a chance to experience with unfunny modern pirates in director Paul Greengrass' Captain Phillips. Captain Phillips is based on the actual event of Captain Richard Phillips' cargo ship, MV Maersk Albama, hijacked by the ruthless Somali pirates in the sea in 2009.
Director Paul Greengrass have already shown his directorial abilities in previous actions thrillers, the "Bourne" sequels and United 93 (another real event about one of the planes hijacked on 9/11). Captain
Phillips is flawless with excellent choice of Oscar-winning Tom Hanks as the title role of Captain Richard Phillips, and again Greengrass prove to the audience with brilliant use of unfamiliar faces on screen as he did in United 93. Captain Phillips is definitely his intelligent choice of casts especially introducing Barkhad Abdi who amaze audiences without having any acting experience throughout his life.
Captain Phillips (Tom Hanks) drives to the airport, and in the same time, he calm down his worried wife Andrea Phillips (Catherine Keener) who is not willing to let him go at this time since she is afraid of her husband to encounter with the danger of pirates in the sea. This introductory scene is first and only scene of female cast involvement throughout the run time about two hours before the ending scene with the real-life Navy Corpsman Danielle Albert.
Tom Hanks portrayed as a selfless, calm and concerned Captain for his crew is perfection, and definitely one of his finest performances of his career. He brings plot to plot with his outstanding performance which he convinces the audiences unable to see him as Tom Hanks, but the character.
Captain Phillips and his men make their best effort to escape from hijackers which, somehow, reminds the image of Tom Hanks in 2002 crime thriller "Road to Perdition" as a concerned father making the best effort to save the life of his son form the gangsters.
Captain Phillips is a prepared guy for the Somali pirates and he does a little research with them while he transports his large cargo containers from port of Oman to Kenya. The hijackers are poor fishermen who fight with hunger every day of their lives, so they dare to do anything to fill their stomach. The brief scene of monitoring how the pirates live will make you feel sad about their poor lives, how they do for their living. By seeing houses they lives and their appearances will make audience to understand the reason of hijacking ships to do for their living (the only way out from poverty).
Sympathy of these hungry guys will not last too long after the four armed pirates land to Captain Phillips' cargo ship. Unknown cast Barkhad Abdi stars as Muse, the leader among four pirates, surely will make you angry seeing his character on screen. Muse is the best evil character since Daniel Day Lewis' Bill "the Butcher" Cutting in Gangs of New York (2002).
Evil character, Muse, is well done by newcomer Abdi; he convince with his as if like a real Somali pirate or whether he has some pirate experiences in his real life. Abdi is an excellent choice of director Greengrass; no one can replace his part. He has a unique appearance, and also he can bring the audiences with his strong impressions and strange accent till the end. He can make it possible to equalize with Tom Hanks in every scene they are together. Captain Phillips will prove that this man can really act. So there is no wonder Abdi is nominated for Academy Award for best supporting actor in his film debut as Muse.
Phillips and his men keep heads up and do their best to avoid the upcoming danger. Despite their best efforts, four armed pirates land to unarmed Phillips' boat. The captain cannot do anything, but just watching them climbing to his boat with their hungry eyes. Captain Phillips makes some negotiation with Muse;however, failing of negotiation between Captain Phillips and Muse leads to keep Phillips as a hostage in order to make a ransom.
Near the end of the movie, Tom Hanks again does his Cast Away style swimming shirtless in the sea, but in this time he swims in the sea escorted by Navy Seal Group. Muse's quote "I'm the Captain now!" which he said in the first time meeting with Captain Phillips is the best line in the entire movie will make everyone uneasy to get this line out of their heads. This intense thriller is beautifully written and excellent choice of dialogues. Editing job is fantastic; it simply is Oscar worthy. Captain Phillips is one of the best edited movies of the year.
The entire movie goes with non-stop action; it will lead without leaving off from the screen till the end. Overall Captain Phillips is done a pretty good job in cinematography with perfectly and carefully designed of the whole reconstructions. Hand-held cameramen also make fine shots when they capture the right time of the characters' impressions most obviously in shouting and arguing scenes of characters. Sound effects make the movie more intense thriller that will make you grind your teeth.