Captain Phillips

This is my favorite film in the race for Best Picture at the Oscars. I was unfamiliar with the Maersk Alabama hijacking of 2009 before this film but it is a noteworthy event because it was the first successful pirate seizure of an American ship since the early 1800's. Tom Hanks proved that he could still portray the everyman despite his fame and the realism that Oscar-nominated director Paul Greengrass can create is practically unmatched. Even though "United 93" was better, Greengrass delivers another winner with "Captain Phillips".

It is established in the opening that Phillips is intelligent and does his job well. He is a quick thinking during the crisis such as when he pretends to be the military on the radio. He also turns the radio on so as to warn his crew members hiding in the bottom of the ship. The film makes Muse into a villain we can somewhat sympathize with. We see the poverty he lives in and he shows mercy to Phillips. When you consider the size of the Maersk Alabama, it is amazing that four pirates were able to hijack it. Because the pirates have guns, the crew's only chance is to outsmart and use the knowledge of the ship to their advantage. For example, they come up with the idea of using glass to injure one of the pirates. The filmmakers depicted several true events such as one of the pirates being injured in the hand. I like one little moment in the film when Phillips has a gun to his head and it leaves an imprint on his forehead. The standoff between the pirates on the lifeboat and the navy seems unsolvable but the training of the SEALS surprises the pirates and us. Phillips has been able to keep himself composed throughout this whole ordeal but after almost being killed (and after witnessing the sudden, horrific death of his captors), he almost loses his mind. This creates a very dramatic diminuendo that almost had me in tears. What is more amazing is that this scene was not in the script and was improvised by Tom Hanks & the actual navy corpsman on the ship being used during filming. Thus, we have an accidental bookend to the film in response to Mrs. Phillips who asks at the start "It's going to be okay, right?" because the corpsman tells Captain Phillips that it is going to be okay.

Tom Hanks continues to be successful these days but his current films are nothing compared to those roles he had in the 90's. His work on this movie however shows that he has lost nothing in terms of talent and can still produce Oscar worthy performances. For his work on this movie, Hanks did receive some award nominations. His vocal mimicry of the real Richard Phillips is amazing. Hanks' fame could be one reason why it is more difficult these days in a live action film to create a character that is free from his real life persona. In most of the film, it feels like Tom Hanks himself is the captain of the ship instead of Richard Phillips. In the climax however, Hanks' acting depicts genuine trauma and shock. Barkhad Abdi was so believable in the entire film and his more than worthy of his Oscar nomination. He creates a baddie that you want to lose but you feel sorry for him at the same time as mentioned earlier. He is not your stereotypical pirate. For the majority of the Somali actors including Abdi, this is their first time acting but you wouldn't be able to tell that. The first time that the Somali actors met Hanks' and his fellow cast members was the scene where the pirates take over the bridge of the ship. Greengrass didn't even let the two groups talk before shooting the scene. Once the scene was shot, Hanks' was the first one to break the ice and congratulate the Somali actors on their performance who in truth were a little starstuck in front of Forrest Gump. Hanks meanwhile had been amazed watching the Somali actors doing their own stunts on the water and boarding the ship. Depsite the intimidation of acting with Tom Hanks, Abdi & his fellow cast members delivered an amazing performance that day which convinced Greengrass that the movie was going to work. I first saw actor Corey Johnson on "The Mummy" but his role on "United 93" is how I remembered him while watching this show for obvious reasons. This is in fact his third time working for Greengrass. I think I remember Max Martini from "The Great Raid" (he plays the navy SEAL commander who comes to help save Phillips). I have enjoyed Kevin Spacey as an actor for years but he is starting to produce some great films as well such as this movie and "The Social Network". Another producer of "The Social Network", Michael De Luca, also produced this show by the way. Henry Jackman's score sounds a lot like John Powell's score from "United 93" and therefore creates the same feelings of anxiousness and intensity. I would have to say that this score deserves a spot in my list of favorite movies scores. The music during the climax and when SEALS parachute down are noteworthy. I hope that Greengrass and cinematographer Barry Ackroyd never part ways. They are able to effectively take documentary-style filmmaking and apply it to narrative filmmaking. They used an actual working ship identical to the Maersk Alabama to film on and studied the actual lifeboat at the National Navy museum so that it could be recreated for this film.

There is controversy that the real Captain Phillips is to blame for the hijacking because he deliberately went off course. Whatever the case, this movie tells a great story and tells it well. Tom Hanks can always strike a chord with an audience and Paul Greengrass has a way of making you believe the images on the screen. I wanted this film to win at least one Oscar (such as for editing and screenwriting) and it was nominated for six Academy Awards including those but sadly walked away with nothing. I really wanted Barkhad Abdi to win but I wasn't surprised when he didn't win. Other nominations garnished included Best Picture, Sound Mixing and Sound Editing.

4 Stars