Captain Phillips from director Paul Greengrass is absolutely
riveting, Greengrass, a former documentarian is excellent at putting the
audience directly within the action employing often a handheld camera (and high
ISOs – I saw this in 4K and it was noticeable). The film, despite the presence
of movie star Tom Hanks attempts to strip out the artifice, like the
filmmaker’s United 93 he uses actors who are little known or unrecognizable.
Opening in a quiet New England hamlet, Phillips (Hanks) foreshadows what’s to
come in a conversation with his wife Andrea (played by Catherine Keener).
Hitting the high seas he sees piracy warnings and orders a
piracy drill which quickly becomes a real world situation – Greengrass is
excellent at balances perspectives and often orienting us within the ship. He’s
one of the few blockbuster filmmakers with the clout to tell this story in this
way – often pushing the limits. Consider thrilling sequences that happen
virtually in the dark later in the film, Greengrass is the man for this job.
The ship goes into lockdown after it’s boarded by a band of
pirates (thankfully not headed by Johnny Depp) in several sequences that are
truly terrifying. The leader is Muse (Barkha Abdi) who doesn’t play any civilized
rules. The ship is an unarmed freighter with only $30,000 on board (offered
initially to the three pirates – four skinny teens with guns and nothing to
lose). It’s perhaps the nothing to loose that’s the scariest – even as the crew
fights back in small ways (including leaving broken glass on the floor for the
bare foot one).
Thrilling the story kept me engaged right up and until its third
act after a somewhat slow opening. Phillips played by Hanks is a likable family
man, much like Hanks – and here’s the challenge: it’s hard to de-Tom Hanks, Tom
Hanks. In a Greengrass film with often first time actors his casting is
engaging but a tad distracting because, well quite frankly, he’s a too damn
good and too damn iconic.
The film is quite strong in a number of ways including its
performances, direction and writing. This hasn’t been a great year for films at
sea, in 2013 we had the headache inducing ethnographic (torture) film on a fishing
boat documentary Leviathan, the georgeous yet slow Kon-Tiki, and thankfully now
Captain Phillips – the best of the bunch.
Screening: Dipson Flix, Dipson Market Arcade, Regal Transit, Regal Quaker Crossing, Regal Walden Galleria, Regal Hollywood 12
