Captain Phillips

If you've seen the movie Zero Dark Thirty then you have to remember the way director Kathryn Bigelow managed to control the breathing and heart rate of the audience during that epic Navy Seals raid sequence near the end? Now imagine that for an entire two hours, because that's what the director of Captain Phillips, Paul Greengrass, accomplishes throughout just about the entire two hours. Captain Phillips is just about as intense start to finish as any movie I've ever seen. The thrilling, cat and mouse scenario is only made more intense because this is based entirely on a true story.

This film is obviously the story of Captain Phillips (Tom Hanks) who is set to take a cargo ship with food and water through Somalian waters to deliver the goods to African families and villages in need. The captain receives email warnings of pirate activity off the coast of Somalia but he prepares his crew by running drills and continues with their route. Of course, soon they are being attacked by a group of Somalian men led by Muse (Barkhad Abdi). The first time they try to board the ship, they manage to outsmart them, but they come back and soon they are on the ship and taking over, looking for money. What ensues on the ship is the most tense thing I've seen on a movie screen this year. The movie is so intense at times, I could literally feel my heart thumping in my chest. After the time on the ship, the men take Phillips hostage on a lifeboat, and the film loses a bit of its intensity. They become embroiled in a stand off with the Navy which can't really end well for anyone. And while the film may lose its intensity A BIT during these scenes, it never stops being a good movie.

Most of this, of course, is thanks to Tom Hanks who is so damn good here. After seeing Gravity last week, I thought about how Sandra Bullock and George Clooney are two of the most likable actors in Hollywood, well, Hanks may be THE most likable. His Captain Phillips is strict but affable, a family man and a hero. He is so understated and subdued throughout the first two/thirds of the movie but during those last twenty minutes on screen, when all the pent up emotion of this heroic man is released, he goes after that third Oscar hard. And a nomination is surely in his future. As I said earlier, the movie also succeeds because of Greengrass and his edge of your seat directing style. You are absolutely riveted from beginning to end and that is no easy task for a movie based on facts that people are familiar with. If you remember this being all over the news, then you know how it ends, but that makes no difference here, because you still won't be able to take your eyes off the screen. The final piece of the puzzle is Abdi as Muse. This man has never acted before in his entire life. He's a revelation. He manages to make his character Muse terrifying yet fused with so much humanity that his performance is both frightening and heartbreaking. He also has explosive chemistry with Hanks and the two go toe-to-toe quite well, which I think is just another thing that's great about Hanks' performance. He could have easily stolen the entire film and made it all about him, but he managed to help this nobody guy acting for the first time turn out a great performance as well. It helps make the movie so much more than it could have been.

I haven't been quiet about the fact that movies this year are disappointing me left and right. But Captain Phillips is a definite exception. It is a thrilling, taut suspense film that is definitely worth checking out since, as of right now, it's one of the best of the year.

Grade: B+