Abdi is so good that we almost find ourselves rooting for him, a fellow who has not quite allowed his desperation to trump his humanity or humor. The best moments are the mano-a-mano collisions between Phillips and the lead pirate…and it’s a real pleasure to see an acting newcomer – Somali-American Barkhad Abdi – more than hold his own against a two-time Oscar winner. “Captain Phillips” is a solid nail-biter. Except that at the last minute they take Phillips with them. For $30,000 from the ship’s safe the interlopers will be set adrift in a lifeboat.
When one of the hijackers is captured by the crew (which have hidden deep in the engine room) a tradeoff is negotiated. This is a tale of confrontation and terror at sea, with four Somali pirates first capturing the freighter. He employs hand-held camera work (yes, the reviled shaky cam, but here it gives the story added immediacy) and stripped-down dialogue to create a simulacrum of reality. Though he has dabbled in mainstream fare (a recent “Bourne” film), director Greenglass is the modern master of the docudrama (“Bloody Sunday,” “United 93”). But Tom Hanks fills the void with his own star presence.
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Under most circumstances this would result in a movie with a hole where its center should be. “Captain Phillips” lives mostly in the moment, and we don’t learn a whole lot about our protagonist except when he’s under the gun.Įarly on we see him driving to the airport with his wife (Catherine Keener, filmed so obliquely she’s hardly recognizable) and we learn that he’s married with a couple of college-age kids. It’s hard to say precisely what sort of a guy he is. But he’s also a resourceful fellow looking out for his men in a crisis. We see early on that Phillips can be something of a tough captain – not a Queeg-ish martinet, exactly, but forceful enough to irritate some of his crewmen. He was hailed as a hero after Navy Seals rescued him from the lifeboat on which he was being held by four Somali pirates.īut since then members of his crew have sued Phillips for what they say was a reckless disregard for their safety by insisting on navigating close to the Somali coast – thus saving time and money – rather than plotting a course further out to sea.
Richard Phillips, the main player in the incident and in this film, is a somewhat controversial character. Tom Hanks’ near-uncanny ability to build a compelling Every Man character out of minimal substance is put to good use in “Captain Phillips,” director Paul Greengrass’s tension-charged recreation of a real-life 2009 hijacking of an American freighter in the Indian Ocean.Ĭapt. “CAPTAIN PHILLIPS” My rating: B (Opens wide on Oct.
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