“Captain Phillips” directed by Paul Greengrass, written by Billy Ray and starring Tom Hanks, Barkhad Abdi, Barkhad Abdirahman, Faysal Ahmed, and Mahat M. Ali hits theaters today on October 11.
The story that “Captain Phillips” is based off of is an incredible one. Right away many people went on and said that this is a story right out of a movie. If only the movie could have given the story proper justice. Is this the fault of director Paul Greengrass? Only partially. Greengrass knew what he wanted to make: a thrilling tale of a man put in an extreme situation that has no happy ending. He was given incredible performances to work with led by the wonderful Tom Hanks as Captain Rich Phillips. “Captain Phillips” isn’t able to hold the tension that it aims to create and by the time we reach the thrilling climax, the film has already sunk underneath its own weight.
The film is split into two parts: the first on the main ship and the second in a claustrophobic life boat. The first half of the film plays like a cat and mouse game, which Greengrass is able to execute with ease. The pirates, Muse (Abdi), Bilal (Abdirahman), Najee (Ahmed), and Elmi (Ali) chase after the boat and in a thrilling sequence maneuver to attach their ladder to the ship and climb aboard. From here on out, Muse takes control as the captain of the ship. Phillips works hard to keep the pirates off the ship, but once they’re on he knows he has to protect his crew. When he can relay messages to them he does, when he tries to deceive the pirates he does. It all seems to be coming easily for him. It’s when he’s tricked and he’s held hostage where the film takes a turn, and not for the better. From here on out, it’s just Phillips and the four pirates and unfortunately that doesn’t make for a watch as thrilling.
Each of the pirates play to a different sort of villain archetype, so the actions they take while in the lifeboat become predictable. That said, there’s still a lot that’s good about “Captain Phillips,” in particular the rescue mission to retrieve the captain from the lifeboat. While the film stalled a bit having just Rich and the Somali pirates together, it picked right back up once the Navy came into play as they tried to plan and rescue the captain. The tension is felt within the USS Halyburton as each and every crew member know that a man’s life is in their hands. While these sequences may have been a few minutes too long here and there, what’s undeniable is that these scenes made Captain Phillips the thrilling tale that it is.
While Captain Phillips may have its flaws, there are more positives to take from it. For one, Tom Hanks was at his best. Tom Hanks hasn’t been as active over the years, so seeing him get to take on a role this heavy was a treat. The rest of the cast worked with what was given to them and they were all spectacular. While their characters may have been weak, it wasn’t any fault of their own. Another thing to take note of was the effective cinematography done by frequent Greengrass collaborator Barry Ackroyd. Ackroyd is effectively able to make the events going on seem as realistic as the moment they actually happened.
It’s safe to say that Captain Phillips is a mixed bag…for the good moments in the film there are average moments. But is it a bad film? I wouldn’t say that. It’s more character driven than it has to be with Greengrass wanting to explore not just Phillips, but the pirates as well. He tries to do too much to a fault and it hurts the movie more than it helps. The best part about “Captain Phillips” is the great performance that every member of the cast is able to put together, and for that reason alone “Captain Phillips” was worth the watch.
-Joshua Kaye
