[Review: IN THEATRES] CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (8/10)

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