*****
DVD Release
Based on the true story of
Captain Richard Phillips, the film follows the story of how the Maersk Alabama was
hijacked off the coast of Somalia in 2009.
Tom Hanks is Captain Phillips, a
seasoned captain of cargo vessels, who, in 2009, was charged with delivering a
vast quantity of goods around the Horn of Africa and across the Somali Basin.
Everyone seems to know that it is dangerous, and yet that is the route they
must take to have the goods delivered in the time set out. Hanks is excellent
as Phillips, and we go on an emotional roller-coaster with him, from leaving
his wife at the airport to having his ship overrun with pirates, to then being
taken hostage (not a spoiler – this is shown in the trailer!). With this being
a Paul Greengrass movie, the dialogue is very naturalistic, feeling almost
improvised, and this allows Hanks to play the part with complete realism –
there are no epic speeches, just short replies and interjections. Opposite
Hanks is Barkhad Abdi, who plays Muse, the captain of the Somali pirates. Abdi had
never acted prior to this role, and it is quite astonishing that he managed to
maintain his role so excellently when faced with such an A-list star as Tom Hanks,
but he does. Muse starts out as knowing exactly what he wants, but as time goes
on and the situation gets more out of hand, the doubt and fear clearly sets in,
and Abdi portrays this wonderfully. Barkhad Adbirahman plays Muse’s second in
command, and it is he that we really fear out of the four pirates – he has a
terrifying temper, and is frequently violent. Every time he was seen toting his
gun and screaming at various members of the crew, either his own or Phillips’,
I wished for something bad to happen to him, which I felt guilty about because
at the beginning of the film, Greengrass shows us the world that these pirates
come from, and it is a desperate lifestyle.
I’ll admit, although I had heard
this story at the time that it happened, I had forgotten what the outcome was
when I sat down to watch the film version, so by the final 20 minutes I was biting
my nails in nervous anguish, and I think a lot of my enjoyment came from not
knowing how the whole fiasco would end. Greengrass expertly cranks up the
tension from the moment we first see Hanks pouring over an email warning him of
the piracy threat in the area, and it just builds and builds. Henry Jackson
provides an excellent score to accompany the building threat, and by the end I
was watching through my fingers.
It isn’t any entirely perfect
film – I did think it could have been a little shorter – but it is pretty
close. The acting, direction and score are all exemplary and it really is one
of those films that has you on the edge of your seat.
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