LFF: Captain Phillips Dir. Paul Greengrass

Just when you thought Tom Hanks had nabbed every single endearing and heroic role in film history, Captain Phillips graces our screens. Based on the true story of an American container ship that is attacked by Somali pirates, Hanks plays middle - aged, cool-headed Captain Phillips desperately trying to protect his crew and travel across the African seas to deliver US goods.

The shaky camerawork throughout the film puts you right in the heart of the action; you are on this ship with Hanks. Anxiety enters audience’s bloodstream right from the beginning – The eerie green dots vigorously coming closer to the ship on the radar is when the adrenaline really starts to churn.

The Somali pirates are petrifying, almost demonic in appearance; Unpredictable and barbaric, their interactions with the American crew set the tone immediately. This is a film about civilisation being attacked by a tribal community, desperate and vengeful. Phillips voluntarily is taken hostage in the second half of the film. His proactive demeanor is consistent throughout and this leads up very nicely to his emotional breakdown when he is finally rescued by the Navy. 

Film still -
Somali Pirates

The film subtly orchestrates a patriotic melody during the second half of the film; The US Navy deal with the situation in an effortlessly seamless and triumphal manner - They even manage to jump out of a helicopter in a Spiderman-esq manner with no glimmer of light for direction on where to land. 

Unlike the usual run of the mill action-thriller plots, Captain Phillips contains no cut away shots of Phillip’s family back home staring longingly at the phone or a window. Nor does it contain any melodrama in its depiction of the attack. Instead, the film offers a believable atmosphere with some fantastic performances.  

There is an outstanding short sequence towards the end of the film when Hanks is blindfolded covered in the Somali’s blood, hands tied and wailing in sheer agony. The camera, for the first time in the film, stays fairly still until Phillips is able to tug the blind fold down.  It’s dealt with sensitively and Hank’s emotional breakdown whilst he is being inspected by medics is truly moving. This is by far the most emotionally raw role Hanks has ever played.

Captain Phillips is a tense, sophisticated and well executed film. However the celebration of America (as to be expected) is at times embarrassing to endure.  This will certainly be a favourite at the awards season in early 2014.