Captain Philips

Cast: Tom Hanks, Catherine Keener, Barkhad Abdi, Mahat M. Ali and Feysel Ahmed.

Director: Paul Greengrass

Release Date: 2013

Genre: Drama/Thriller

Running Time: 2hrs 14 minutes

Rating: PG-13

Synopsis:

This is the true story of Captain Richard Phillips and the 2009 hijacking by pirates of the U.S flagged M.V  Maersk Alabama, the first American cargo ship to be hijacked in 200 years.

Based on a true story. Captain Richard Philips took command of the MV Alabama cargo ship, from the port of Salahah in Oman, with orders to sail through the Gulf of Kenya. Careful of pirate activity, off the coast of Africa, he and first officer Shane Murphy, order strict security precautions in the case that anything ever do happen, however during a drill the cargo ship is chased by Somali pirates and Philips calls for help immediately. What happened next took them all off guard. Movies based on real life circumstances can be pretty powerful, because what your seeing in front of you, isn't a story a very talented screenwriter has conjured up, but a real life story. Starring the very talented Tom Hanks as Captain Philips, he takes us on a very thrilling and scary ride through out the movie. By far one of his best roles since "Catch me if you can" he portrays the role of Captain Philips very convincingly, his acting through out the whole film is really quite superb, you can really sympathies with his character and feel his fear and emotion as he's experiencing it. Despite the circumstances in which he is thrust, his character is very smart and very strong willed.

The storyline is very well written and very accurate to the true accounts in which it happened. The pace of the film isn't too bad, as a member of the audience you aren't left hanging for too long before you start to see some action, you are however given a bit of look in on the pirates and the background in which they come from to have some understanding in why they want to hijack the cargo ship. The actors playing the pirates do an absolutely fantastic job through out this film, although it is not always clear what is being said, they thrust the sense of fear into you immediately, one can only imagine how scary it must have been in real life, to have 6 pirates on you, within minutes, stalking your cargo ship. The dialogue is very simple but very realistic and convincing. The determination behind the pirates is terrifying.

There are moments of the film that are pretty boring, however it's more to do with the survival of the Captain and those on board the cargo ship and how they deal with the situation at hand, the professionalism of the men on board ship is absolutely fantastic and spot on, not once does Richard loose his cool, his character is clearly educated on how to react to the circumstances if they are to happen and how to best deal with them, however that doesn't take away the fear and emotion that comes with it, it gets very thrilling, you really have to be patient with it. The film as a whole isn't badly shot however the director has chosen to film almost as if it were a documentary, which is great considering it's a true story, however the camera is moving about far too much, causing scenes to jump about and look poorly edited. The camera at the best of times pans across characters far too fast for you to actually see what is properly happening in the scene. Shame considering Paul is very well known for the "Bourne" films which are brilliantly shot. Unfortunately I think he went too far in trying to make the film look too realistic instead of concentrating on filming it well and concentrating on the story. It's enough to make you feel dizzy. It's extremely off putting. On a lighter note however there are some really lovely aerial shots of the pirates chasing the cargo ship and the ship as a whole.

The ship looks very realistic interior and exterior, the interior design is very similar to that of the rig on Deepwater Horizon. It's convincing, dark and claustrophobic. Although most is shot on board the cargo ship, there is still plenty to see. For a set design it really isn't too shabby is extremely convincing, one can only imagine how uncomfortable it must have been to film inside of a lifeboat for several days on end, all for the sake of a movie. Despite it all being shot in one place, it also adds a sense of loneliness, it dawns on you that these people have no where to go but in one direction and the only communication they have are with Navy seals. Although there isn't much of a score/soundtrack, it works better for the film, you can hear what is going on the whole time, although I did mention before that you couldn't always understand what the pirates were saying, for the little English that they do speak it's very important to hear what they are a saying, a very loud and thrilling score would of taken most of it away, the fear and emotion that you can clearly hear in Richard's voice through out the film.

Not one of the best films, I've seen, but really good none the less.

Educating and thrilling.

3/5 stars