Captain Phillips

Director: Paul Greengrass
Genre: Action thriller
Starring: Tom Hanks, Catherine Keener, Barkhad Abdi 
Distributed by: Columbia Pictures
Release Date: October 11, 2013
My Rating: 8.5/10

In light of the approaching Academy Awards, I decided to offer my take on one of this past year's Oscar-nominated films. Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Ultimatum) directs this true story about the April 2009 hijacking of the MV Maersk Alabama, the first American vessel to be attacked on the high seas in over 200 years.

Captain Richard Phillips (Hanks) prepares to depart from Oman to carry food and other supplies to Mombasa, Kenya through the Gulf of Aden, an area Philipps and his crew have been warned is notorious for piracy. One morning, the cargo ship is approached by two skiffs driven by a band of Somali Pirates about 240 miles off the coast of Somalia. The crew are able to deter them momentarily and alert naval authorities and although some fall behind and return to their homeland, four armed pirates eventually manage to reach the ship and board it by using a ladder. Phillips tells the majority of his crew to hide in the engine room at the bottom of the ship. Leading the criminals is a young man named Abduwali Muse (Abdi), who begins by breaking into the main control room of the ship and holding the Captain and a few other members of his unarmed crew at gunpoint. They try to assuage the fears of Phillips and the first officers, telling them they will not hurt anybody so long as they are allowed to take control of the vessel and take with them everything on it, including the supplies and $30,000 stored in a safe. Muse explains that he wants much more money than that, and that he plans to hold the ship and crew for ransom in exchange for million dollars in insurance from the shipping line company so that he may bring it home to his boss in Somalia. After a series of confrontations between the crew and the pirates, the criminals kidnap Phillips and escape in the Alabama lifeboat. This prompts the crew to alert a USS destroyer and the US Navy, who engage in a standoff with the pirates in an attempt to recuperate the Captain that lasts several days.

The film begins rather quickly, the actual hijacking of the ship occurring in the first few scenes. Right from the very beginning, the viewer experiences the terror felt by the crew members as the band of pirates boards the Maersk Alabama in such a violent and ruthless manner. There are a number of heart-pounding sequences in which one simply cannot correctly predict what will occur next, and the film demonstrates how far these criminals on the high seas are prepared to go in order to obtain what they want (or at the very least what their leaders want). The film also shows how many of the characters slowly begin to lose their sanity for different reasons, and how one Captain and his crew refused to give up until they were safe and until justice was ensured. Both Hanks and Abdi deliver stunning performances as the cautious Captain and the determined and ruthless pirate leader respectively, both engaging in a series of verbal exchanges that send chills through one's spine, each trying his best to stand his ground and figure out his opponent's next move.

One thing that I did find rather surprising was the fact that there are no major weapons on the ship for the crew to defend themselves in such dangerous waters.

It also seemed rather impressive that such a large rescue team was enlisted in order to save one person, and that the pirates were able to hold the Captain hostage for so many days while being surrounded by multiple Navy ships.

Finally, I although the film did show how much trauma the Captain suffered following his kidnapping, I would have wished the director had added a few more minutes to demonstrate how the aftermath of the hijacking and standoff affected future piracy attempts and other criminal activities in the area. 

The movie is based on a memoir written by the real Richard Phillips himself, and thus lends itself to be criticized by many as being inaccurate and depicting the Captain as more of a hero than he truly was. Nevertheless, one thing remains true: this film goes to prove that in some areas of the world, no one is truly safe and everyone can risk being attacked by even the most unexpected enemy.