Thursday, 10 October 2013

Somali Pirates Don't Say "R" - My review of Captain Phillips (Spoiler Free)

This movie is the dramatic retelling of the 2009 hijacking of the MV Maersk Alabama a US cargo ship off the coast of Somalia.  The movie stars Tom Hanks as the lead Captain Phillips and he delivers a quality performance which we have come to expect from him.  Tom Hanks plays the everyman leading the working class crew's cat and mouse antics to evade capture.  On the other side is actor Barkhad Abdi who leads the hijackers in his first movie roll.  The latter delivered a very strong performance and I felt a strong sympathy in this characters drive to support his family.  It is easy to hate criminals, but this movie makes the point that these pirates are victims as well.  I would not be surprised if this actor is nominated for Best Supporting Actor.



The movie is a thriller and the director (Paul Greengrass - The Bourne Supremacy and United 93) does a great job of building up to critical moments of drama.  It features several strong action sequences and they stand out because they lack the usual Hollywood bravado we have come to expect. There are no 'one-liners' and no great diatribes by Somali pirates.  What you will see is a lot of khat chewing, the stimulant that gives the pirates their courage.

It is interesting to see the techniques the crew uses in attempts to evade the pirates and how the pirates over come them.  You'll ask yourself why they wouldn't have any guns aboard a ship, especially considering the daily love fest of gun out of the states.  But this is a true story.... so hindsight is not here to save the day.

This movie goes into wide release October 11, 2013 and is well worth watching.

In conclusion: 8 out of 10











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