"Captain Phillips" Review

SPOILER WARNING

Each week during this past spring and summer, it felt as if we were getting another new sci-fi picture about an impending apocalypse. Now that the fall awards season is underway, the theme seems to have turned to individual survival.

Last week featured Sandra Bullock in Alfonso Cuarón’s breathtaking Gravity, a film about an astronaut trying to make her way back to earth.

This week, it’s Tom Hanks as a hostage in director Paul Greengrass’s Captain Phillips.

Set in the spring of 2009, Captain Richard Phillips sets out with a crew of 20 men on the Maersk Alabama, a cargo ship carrying food and supplies to impoverished countries in Africa. When the minor threat of a pirate attack in their waters becomes an impending reality, there’s little Phillips or his crew can do when their only weapons are high-powered water hoses and one flare gun. From there, Phillips is forced to fight for his life when the pirates kidnap him onto a lifeboat and hold him for ransom. 

As director, Greengrass brings the intense, kinetic style of filmmaking that made his two Bourne films so terrific. The deft camerawork of cinematographer Barry Ackroyd along with Henry Jackman’s pounding musical score create a sense of urgency that’s grounded in stark realism. Save for a gorgeous opening shot of Phillips’ northeastern home, the camera is always moving.

That means most of the action is filmed “shaky-cam” style which contributes to a feeling of seasickness, in this case. Though I never felt the effects myself, Captain Phillips would be hard to recommend to anyone who typically suffers from motion or seasickness.

As for the performances, it’s impossible to picture Tom Hanks not getting a Best Actor nod for his work as the titular character. Every phrase he utters and every change of the look in Hanks’ eyes allows the audience to know precisely what Phillips is thinking. He is easy to empathize with in his everyman portrayal of the captain. The ending alone features some of the most amazing work I’ve ever seen from the actor and is certainly the highlight of his performance here.

We see a man, who at once had power over a crew of 20 individuals and was able to hold his own against armed captors without a weapon, revert to an almost infant-like state of dependence. Hanks’ ability to pull off the contrast in just those last few minutes is unparalleled to the work of any other actor so far this year.

 

As the leader of the pirate hijackers, Barkhad Abdi proves perfectly menacing in his first ever acting role. Watching this newcomer spar with the likes of Hanks, during what is arguably one of the best performances of the actor’s career, is incredible.

We’re not supposed to sympathize with the pirates, despite our understanding of their plight and motivations. Abdi’s anonymity is consistent with the sense of hyper-realism that Greengrass is trying to portray. A name actor in that part would have diminished the film’s impact.

The script from Billy Ray (Breach, The Hunger Games) is strong for a piece based on source material from Phillips himself. It perfectly captures his side of the story. However, the narrative would have felt more complete if it had shown the captain reuniting with his family or with his crew after such an ordeal. Sadly, we never get that.

While it doesn’t quite reach the visual or poetic aspirations of “Gravity,” “Captain Phillips” is fall’s next great thrill ride. See it.

8.5/10