"Capt. Phillips"

[Stewball]

OK, three things up front about the movie. 1). As a right winger looking for Greengrass to let his pinko slip to show, I didn't see it. 2). In line with that Greengrass made the pirate leader Muse (pronounced moose-a), into something of a complex sympathetic figure without turning him or the rest of them into victims--give him a gold star for finesse. 3). The ones playing the pirates were all born/raised in the Somali area and emigrated to the U.S. This is the first and only acting credit, or any other information, for all of them on IMDb. Amazing, particularly Barkhad Abdi who plays Muse. Hanks' role is boiler plate until the end where he was required to step his performance up considerably.

I expected the movie to be a low key sort of ho hum retelling, but Greengrass' details and the continuously building suspense, even though you know how it ends, made it Bourne-like top notch for me. 9/10

FYI, the Maersk Alabama, starting 6 months after this incident, was attacked under the same circumstances 4 more times by Somali pirates in those same waters. But each time automatic weapons, and in at least one case according to Wikipedia, sonic weapons, were used. All were unsuccessful. I'm surprised they didn't post that tidbit at the end of the movie with the other post scripts--or why it took this incident to get them off their duffs.

[TrixRabbi]

It's a surprisingly complex film. I think there's a key line in the beginning of when Phillips' is talking to his wife on the way to the airport. I can't remember the exact quote but he says something along the lines of "It's a lot harder for the young sailors to make their way up the ranks these days. They have to fight for promotions. Back in my day you just had to keep your head down and follow orders and eventually you were made a captain."

This line informs us about the entire struggle about to take place. Captain Phillips is actually the story of TWO captains, Phillips and Muse, in conflict with each other. Phillips, the middle class captain safely in his position, and Muse the young sailor who has to fight his way to success. And Phillips' line even details their strategies. Phillips survives by keeping his head down, doing what he's told, and acting submissive while slowly trying to undermine them psychologically. Muse and his gang have to be violent, and literally fight with guns and fists. They try to be domineering, loud, vicious. But for most of them that's also an act, a part of the mindgames. They're just as frightened and uncertain as Phillips.

I agree with you that Greengrass is sympathetic to Muse while never absolving him. Muse is always in the wrong, but the sympathy highlights the immense hardships in his life and issues currently facing Somalia. The film lightly touches on this without making a big "issues movie" out of it. But Somalia's economy and their oceans have been destroyed. Muse and his gang were once fishermen, and they still are in a way. They've been forced to adapt their fishing techniques to piracy - they hook, reel, and profit.

I was really taken aback by the movie. The only other Greengrass films I've seen are the Bourne movies but those are an uninteresting blur to me. But he impressed me here.

[Playprice]

I actually like the Bourne films very much. They're like smart action movies. This one I found to be an actual drama, trying to be an action film. I did not like that. It kinda made me think of Speed 2.

[Neonman]

I'm a big Paul Greengrass fan, but I didn't think this was up to the quality of his other films. It was a really professionally made re-enactment dramatisation with very good acting, but didn't feel like much more. The dialogue ain't too bad, since a lot of it is technical talk that I don't understand, but the opening scene was pretty badly written and failed at the only shot for emotional resonance. A good-ish film, but I probably won't see it again for another nine and a half years (and I'll skip the first 15 minutes).

[cameron326]

It was decent, but the ending really dragged. For the last half hour there was only one way it was going to end but it took such a long shouty time getting there, for me the drawn out ending actually defused a lot of the tension that had built up.