Amazing Film and Performance by Tom Hanks

Rating: 9/10 (26 October 2013)

From Paul Greengrass, the director of the Jason Bourne films, comes the thrilling true story of one brave man. When a cargo ship in 2009 gets taken over by four Somali pirates, it is up to Captain Richard Phillips (Tom Hanks) to protect himself and his crew.
Let me start by saying that Captain Phillips is a heart-pounding thrill ride that keeps you hooked from beginning to end. Despite it's 2 hour and 15 minute running time, the film is so fast-paced and never features one boring moment. We watch as Phillips does everything in his power to try keep himself and his crew alive by always trying to be one step ahead of our villains. But the thing about these villains, in more particular the leader, they aren't like your typical villains. They aren't stupid are easily duped. So when Phillips tries out his strategies we are hoping that he can quickly pull them out of the air. That is also one of the beauties of Paul Greengrass as a director, he really knows how to bring on the intensity in the right scenes. And he succeeds massively here. But also contributing to this is the amazing performance by Tom Hanks. Hanks provides so many different angles of Phillips and shows them with such ease you almost feel as if it's all real. We see Hanks play a calm and collected Phillips, to one who is trying STAY calm and use his cunning, to full on panic and a fight to survive, and the ultimate break down he has that really brings his performance full circle. Hanks' performance is by far the best male performance I've seen this year and very much Oscar worthy. Much like Gravity, Captain Phillips will leave you white-knuckled with your heart pounding until you can finally catch your breath.
This is easily one of my top films of the year and it is not one to be missed.
My rating: 10/10