Captain Phillips, 2013.
Directed by Paul Greengrass.
Starring Tom Hanks, Catherine Keener, Barkhad Abdi, Barkhad Abdirahman, Faysal Ahmed, Mahat M. Ali, Michael Chernus, David Warshofsky, Corey Johnson, Chirs Mulkey and Yul Vazquez.
SYNOPSIS:
The true story of Captain Richard Phillips and the 2009 hijacking by Somali pirates of the US-flagged MV Maersk Alabama, the first American cargo ship to be hijacked in two hundred years.
I need to preface this review by saying that it may come across as a overly negative. This film has been receiving a lot of high praise, both on Flickering Myth and elsewhere, and I’m not by any means saying Captain Phillips is a bad film but I don’t think it’s deserving of the high ratings.
Firstly, I really liked that this film took place at sea. I don’t think there are enough naval adventures made any more and it made the film feel a bit fresh and different. Having said that, I think the film missed an opportunity to create some really gorgeous scenes of the boats set against the backdrop of the horizon. I know it wasn’t really the focus, but I think it could have given the film an extra spark. The night time scenes did work really well though, and they managed to create a good atmosphere, which helped the climax of the film.
Tom Hanks was superb as always. One of my favourite moments in the film was just after the pirates had boarded. Captain Phillips was relaying orders to his crew through the radio, and while his words were steady, calm and authoritative, his breaths were rapid and anxious. I thought it was a nice touch that gave the character some depth. Muse was an interesting character too, but otherwise I thought the other characters were shallow and just archetypes. However, I did like how the pirates were presented as…not necessarily sympathetic, but their motivation was treated with a degree of pity.
Until the climax I never got a sense of tension that others have described. At first Muse and his pirates seemed menacing and it was a genuinely terrifying situation, but soon enough it was revealed that they were rather hapless and it was clear that their entire endeavour was futile. With a bit of tweaking this could have been a farcical comedy following the misadventures of the pirates. Up until the end the film meandered along, and one of my biggest complaints is that even though it was set on isolated boats away from any land I never got a sense of claustrophobia and the riveting tension just wasn’t there.
Yet despite all of that the ending of the film worked. The last few moments had loads of tension, it was very emotional and it did move me, mostly due to Hanks’ ability. I just wish that it had been able to have that level of tension throughout the movie, and I wish that Muse was a more dangerous adversary.
I’d say that this is a decent movie. If you’re a Tom Hanks fan then you should certainly see it, but otherwise you could easily wait for it to come out on DVD (in fact, watching it on a smaller screen might actually help increase the sense of tight space). But ultimately it won’t be a casual watch and unless you stick it out to the end (there is a danger of the film losing your interest) you won’t get the payoff that the film aims for.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert D. Spake – Find me on Facebook and Amazon.
Originally published October 20, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
