For years now, there have been an enormous amount of attempts
from Somali pirates looking to overtake foreign ships from all over the
world who cross the waters that they see as their own. With guns,
aggression and the hunger for a large financial payout, the schemes of
these bands of buccaneers usually entail a strategy that they hope will
net them a large ransom from the captives or the countries that employ
them. Other time, some of these calculated attacks have succeeded, some
have failed and some have ended with lives being lost in brutal fashion
on water or on land. As Americans, the one that we've heard about the
most involved Captain Phillips of the "Maersk Alabama."
His run in
with a quartet of Somali pirates occurred in April of 2009 when the
ship under his command found itself under siege while attempting to
cross the coast of Somalia to its target destination of Mombasa, Kenya.
According to some, a safer route was available for the crew and the
cargo ship they were aboard, but Captain Richard Phillips decided that
this was the approach that he and his team of twenty men were going to
take. Besides, they had the training concerning what to do in a
situation if they found themselves under attack by a group of ship
raiders looking to take them hostage. With all the knowledge that was
given to them beforehand, nothing could have prepared them for the real
thing as much as experience can.
After a while, the Massachusetts
born captain who now resides in Vermont, probably wishes that he would
have taken the road wish a safer journey. That's because the same types
of Somali pirates that anyone would have wanted to avoid end up being
hot on the trail of his cargo ship. This ravenous throng of pirates are
relentless due to their insatiable appetite to prove themselves and help
improve their quality of life back home. There aren't a bunch of
opportunities in Somalia, and they figure they have to take what they
can get as far as work and hope is concerned. With that being the set up
for the ride of terror that Captain Phillips will have to endure, you
can see that it's a battle of desperation from both sides. One side
wants to live, while the other side wants to discover life in any way
possible.
In order for Phillips and his crew to save themselves
from the group of four young men with bad intentions in mind, they
needed to rely on ingenuity and improvisation once all of the protocol
procedures are tossed out the window and rendered useless once the
pirates got on board their ship. Instead of leaning on what they were
taught to do, they're going to have to play the game in a way that will
bring them home safely. That's the goal, but it won't be that simple
when you have the group of unhinged, gun toting captors as your main
adversaries. With that in mind, the weaponless prisoners need someone to
take the lead and guide them out of harms' way. They find that of
course, in Captain Phillips, the man who's supposed to be leading them
anyway.
According to what I've read about the book that Captain
Phillips is based on, a good portion of the story that we're told is a
work of fiction. Some of the crew members who were aboard the "Maersk
Alabama" say that the real Captain Phillips isn't exactly the hero that
he claims to be and put them in the center of trouble in the first
place. That's essentially why I included the second paragraph in this
review. It wasn't as prominently featured in the film as it probably
should have been. I wasn't on the boat myself, so I can't truly say who
is right or wrong in this instance, but it's clear that things may get a
bit murky when the one telling the story makes himself the hero in his
own book recounting the adventure.
With this being the way it is,
I'll say that Captain Phillips is a solid piece of fiction at the very
least that's certainly predicated on actual events that have to be a
scary event for anyone who is unfortunate to be placed in such a dire
situation. From what he has to work with, I feel that Paul Greengrass
does a good job of making the film based on A Captain's Duty: Somali
Pirates, Navy SEALs, and Dangerous Days at Sea a feature that contains
plenty of positive qualities to legitimately hold your attention
throughout its duration. When you look at the fact that it's based on
actual events that plenty of us already know about, that can be
perceived as quite the accomplishment.
One thing that assists in
allowing Captain Phillips to keep the attention of the viewer is the
inclusion of depth to the Somali pirates. The film makes sure to at
least attempt to humanize them just as much as if not more than Phillips
and his crew. Do to the circumstances that they find themselves in, you
don't have to do much to humanize Phillips and his crew, but I also
felt that creating the pirates the way they do makes the movie itself
more meaningful and realistic. The truth is, the guys who are in these
kinds of vastly underdeveloped countries don't have much in terms of
opportunities to progress in their lives, and some of them are willing
to go overboard in order to do so.
Without this being included in
Captain Phillips, I think we're talking about a decent film with not
much reason to see the movie. It's an added piece to the story that
takes the movie to another level. Without that being included, there
wouldn't be enough for me to recommend seeing this. Not because it's
bad, but because the story is far to predictable since just everyone
knows how it already ends. It helps the film as a whole, because it
gives us more to concentrate on outside of what we already know.
Greengrass also appears to want you to care about one of the pirates as
well. I won't give anything away, but it makes you focus on the subplots
a bit more while everything else is going on. That's always a good
thing if it's done properly.
One of the things in Captain Phillips
that caught me off guard a bit is the lack of acting by Tom Hanks. As
an actor who's shown what he can do in film, we all know that Hanks has
the goods to put on a great performance. In Captain Phillips however,
his strong acting abilities aren't really put to good use. While
starring in the lead role, he doesn't have to do much for the most part
when it comes to displaying emotion or loads of personality. His
character is fairly basic throughout and he frankly doesn't need to do
much in most instances. Toward the end, we do get to see Hanks do more
from an emotional perspective, but I do wish he would have had more than
the few scenes to do it in. I know it wasn't needed, but it's Tom
Hanks. Finding more for him to do is never a bad thing.
Overall, I
think this film succeeds due to the humanization of the Somali pirates
played by Barkhad Abdi, Barkhad Abdirahman, Faysal Ahmed and Mahat M.
Ali, and the steady hand of Paul Greengrass as the director. If it
wasn't for those features, the movie wouldn't have been worthy of a big
screen release in my opinion. I don't know if this story is a story
worth telling due to the fact that there have been and are still loads
of attempted take overs that still happen at sea by Somali pirates that
put the lives of plenty of people in danger. Is there anything in this
story that separates it from any of those other situations aside from
the fact that the crew is American?
I don't know. The story isn't
unique enough or big enough in my opinion to turn these events into a
full feature film. Although I think it's a good flick that I might watch
again one day, I can't say that it's something that needed to be told
or put out for mass consumption. When comparing it other films based on
true stories or actual events, Captain Phillips doesn't have a whole lot
to say. And when you point out the fact that what's been laid out for
us may have been embellished to make Captain Richard Phillips look
better according to at least some of his former crew members, it makes
me wonder if this should have been out at all. Then again, if you just
base it off of what it is and look at it as somewhat of a work of
fiction, Captain Phillips is good, but I still feel a little weird about
the whole thing.
Score: 3/5
Rating: R
Director: Paul Greengrass
Cast:
Tom Hanks
Catherine Keener
Barkhad Abdi
Barkhad Abdirahman
Faysal Ahmed
Mahat M. Ali
Michael Chernus
David Warshofsky
Corey Johnson
Chris Mulkey
Yul Vasquez
Max Martini
Omar Berdouni
Mohamed Ali
Issak Farah Samatar
Tom Hanks
Catherine Keener
Barkhad Abdi
Barkhad Abdirahman
Faysal Ahmed
Mahat M. Ali
Michael Chernus
David Warshofsky
Corey Johnson
Chris Mulkey
Yul Vasquez
Max Martini
Omar Berdouni
Mohamed Ali
Issak Farah Samatar
Film Length: 134 minutes
Release Date: October 11, 2013
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Article Source:
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