Captain Phillips Movie Review

This is what I am talking about people! This is what a fall movie should be like, and to Captain Phillips I say well done..

Captain Phillips is directed by Paul Greengrass, the man behind the Bourne Supremacy and Ultimatum, and he pairs with Tom Hanks to deliver us this movie which is based on real life events. In 2009, Captain Phillips and his crew sail from Ohio to deliver goods via the East African coast. However, they encounter difficulties when a group of Somalian pirates board their ship. Captain Phillips then shows the thrilling events which happen afterwards. I have to say, this movie is one of the best of this year.

It's a movie that has such terrific emotional weight yet dishes up thrills throughout!

The first and final acts of this movie are nailbiting to say the least! The tension and drama escalates supremely during the last few scenes of the film and I also believe that it is equally impressive during the first act, when it lays the foundations and introduces us to the characters.

The middle part of the movie however was one that I found to be fairly slow in all honesty. The quality of filming seemed to take a dip during the middle part of the movie and events seemed to be slow and drawn out in my opinion.

Captain Phillips is also a film which can not boast about the spread of talent involving all of its actors. However, it makes the most of what it has got and the main cast all deliver excellence through their performances.

Tom Hanks felt like a real person, to me he WAS Captain Phillips in this movie. I've heard large amounts of praise for his performance and many have stated it to be his best work to date. That is an exceptionally bold statement considering he has 2 Oscar's to his name already, through his work on films such as Forrest Gump and Castaway. For his work in Captain Phillips, he will receive a nomination.

He is consistently good throughout the movie but really shines in one scene in particular towards the very end of the movie. Without spoiling anything, he handles the feeling of "shock" excellently to a point where I almost felt like crying. Hanks is amazing!

As a straight up thriller Captain Phillips works well, even if a 2 hour run time slows the pace down a fair amount. It is also a movie which works well as an emotional experience. You will experience the full spectrum of emotions during Captain Phillips which will emotionally drain you whether you like it or not!

Also, the men who played the pirates were very impressive and shone through their performances. The few lines they did speak in English meant something, plus the dialogue they had written for them via a very good script, was delivered well. I have to say I was impressed by them, imagine being asked on your first movie to do these tense and emotional scenes with such a fantastic actor like Tom Hanks? That must surely be commended...

The movie builds up well and is directed beautifully by Paul Greengrass, who uses the techniques at his disposal to create a thrilling and tense atmosphere throughout. Also, he is very good at using "shaky-cam" action sequences to his advantage. Nowadays, shaky-cam is a severe annoyance and is used horribly in action movies, which at times have given me slight motion sickness! In Captain Phillips, Greengrass uses this technique to enhance the tension and give the viewer that feeling of being out at sea, with the characters, in this sick and horrible situation.

The musical score was at times eerie, at others emotional. This surprised me as well!

Despite a middle act that was not as good as the beginning and end, I thought Captain Phillips was a great movie, and I would rate it like this:


Rating - A-


1 sentence summary - A thriller and an emotional drama, executed well through good direction and some note-worthy performances!


Finally got to see it! I am so glad it didn't let me down!

Thanks for reading,
Matt