Captain Phillips

RottenTomatoes.com

For years, some moviegoers have criticized the man-against-an-army movie (Die Hard, Air Force One, Taken) for its implausibility. For the skeptics, Captain Phillips is here to satisfy. Because it's based on the true acts of a real man, the movie is grounded and very realistic in its approach to the story. Nothing is ever overly-extreme or over-the-top. 

En route to Kenya to deliver supplies to poor African areas, Captain Richard Phillips (Tom Hanks) speculates that the dangerous African waters could lead to hijacking by pirates. To no surprise to those aware of Murphy's Law, pirates emerge from the coast of their Somalian village with AK-47s, ready to take the crew hostage. After a failed attempt, the pirates eventually secure their place on the boat. And when Muse, the pirates' leader, sees Captain Phillips, he stares him right in the eye, declaring "I'm the captain now." Phillips struggles to keep his cool during the invasion, while the rest of his crew fumbles around in the engine room trying to find a way out of their situation. 

There are essentially three parts to Captain Phillips: the part before the pirates are on the boat, the part where the pirates are on the boat, and the part where the pirates leave the boat and take Phillips hostage for ransom. Now, the movie is about 2 hours and 15 minutes long, and about an hour of the movie is dedicated to the third part. The result was a drawn-out and oftentimes uneventful hour. During this hour, I was still invested in the story of Phillips and whether or not he would survive, but not to the extent that I was at the beginning. Although a good part of the movies drags on, the final 15-20 minutes of the standoff between U.S. forces and the pirates brings all the intensity right back to the screen.

The scenes before and during the hijacking were firmly intense, and the film editing was superb. I would even say the film editing in Captain Phillips is comparable to that in Argo, which went on to win the Oscar in that category. Will Captain Phillips win this year? It wouldn't surprise me. It would be the second Oscar for film editor Christopher Rouse, who previously won for The Bourne Ultimatum.

The movie also excelled in the field of music. Henry Jackman's original score is a success in both its composition and its timing in the film. When it comes to Tom Hanks, it's arguably his biggest on-screen achievement since Cast Away or Road to Perdition, especially when the frailty and vulnerability of his character comes out in the final minutes of the movie. Skillfully directed by Paul Greengrass, Captain Phillips is a tense and realistic drama-thriller.

Rating: 4/5