Captain Phillips Movie Review
by Paul Morales
Thriller movie traps are easy to fall into. Characters are practically forced to make preposterous decisions in order to maintain tension. If people just went around responding to extreme circumstances with sensible, level-headed actions… well, most movies would probably be pretty short.
As it turns out, Captain Phillips is a taut, masterfully executed thriller that manages to avoid most of the ridiculous clichés that plague its genre. Tom Hanks (of the Toy Story franchise) plays the titular Captain Richard Phillips, an experienced seaman and dedicated husband and father. Captain Phillips is easily one of Hanks’ best roles, and one of modern cinema’s most fascinating heroes. He doesn’t have any military training, no background in engineering – MacGyver or Jason Bourne, this guy is not. He’s really just a normal guy in an extraordinary situation.
In this compelling true story, the good Captain leaves the middle-eastern country of Oman, bound for Kenya. On the way, a small group of Somali pirates take control of the ship, steal some money, and make for the coast of Somalia in the ship’s lifeboat with Captain Phillips as a hostage. What follows is an intense psychological battle between Phillips and his captors.
Somali actor Barkhad Abdi makes his feature film debut in Captain Phillips as the leader of the pirates, and he is truly a revelation. He imbues his character, Muse, with a three-dimensional, truly lived-in quality – especially impressive for an actor in his first role with a character that could have easily slipped into caricature. He is every bit Hanks’ equal on screen, and the biggest disappointment of the film is (without giving too much away) that Muse isn’t with Phillips and the other pirates in the film’s otherwise flawless climax.
Let’s talk about the climax, while we’re here. I won’t tell you what happens, but I will say that it was one of the most tense, horrifying, emotionally brutal things I’ve ever experienced in a theater. Director Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Ultimatum) never allowed me the luxury of reminding myself that Phillips is the hero of the film and therefore cannot die. His imminent death is a very real and palpable threat up until the very last moment, and the weight of the film’s end is almost too much to bear.
All that said, though, the film isn’t perfect. Greengrass is a little too attached to his shaky-cam style, and every once in a while it distracts from the film more than it adds to the tension or energy of it. It’s also worth noting that while Muse is a fully realized and well-drawn character, the rest of his posse is less so. They fall more or less into the four-man-team clichés: the leader, Muse, and then the hothead, the kid who shouldn’t be there, and the fourth guy who doesn’t really matter.
Those are small qualms in what is otherwise a masterpiece of tension and drama. It is a career achievement for Tom Hanks and a triumphant introduction from Barkhad Abdi. Captain Phillips is one of the best films of the year. It’s playing at the Carmike 18 at Jefferson Pointe in Fort Wayne. Call or check www.carmike.com for show times.
Score: 9.5 Amazing
