“Captain Phillips,” starring Tom Hanks, is a taut,
white-knuckle thriller that features an ordinary guy placed in an extraordinary
situation. And since this is based on a true story, it’s not your typical
action hero flick. If there’s a complaint against director Paul Greengrass,
it’s that he’s overly fond of shaky handheld shots, which he does too much in
the first half. Billy Ray’s screenplay is based on a book written by Captain
Richard Phillips (co-authored by Stephan Talty) called A Captain’s Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS, and Dangerous Days at
Sea. It tells of events in April 2009 when Phillips (Tom Hanks), commanding
the merchant vessel Maersk Alabama,
helped defend his ship against Somali Pirates. Eventually, four armed men
boarded the ship and Phillips was able to keep them off guard. He was taken
prisoner aboard a life raft and became a pawn in a game of brinksmanship
between the pirates and the US Navy.
Tom Hanks has proved that he can be trusted to star in a
film (Cast Away) where his character
is placed in constant, evolving jeopardy. In “Captain Phillips,” Hanks is an
everyman. He’s great at representing how a normal person might react in this
situation: by seeking to avoid a confrontation and, when that proves
impossible, to achieve victory by outthinking his opponents rather than blowing
them up. Hanks does some powerful acting and it makes the film unforgettable. The
rest of the cast consists of unknown actors. The four men playing the pirates,
Barkhad Abdi, Barkhad Abdirahman, Faysal Ahmed, Mahat M. Ali, are making their
feature debuts, but you wouldn’t know that they had no acting experience. “Captain
Phillips” is impressively directed with an Oscar-worthy performance from Tom
Hanks. 9/17/13
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