Captain Phillips

Ratings: 9.5/10

Film Class: B+

Genre: Action Drama

Easily one of this year's best movies. Had my reservations at first. How good can a movie be considering its entire plot has been disclosed in the trailers? Furthermore, it's based on a true story - a fact that's difficult to tackle. Make it too exaggerated and the audience will feel insulted by being taken in by the director riding on a publicity stunt. Make it too realistic and the audience will probably be bored to tears due to the lack of intensity.

So will balancing both sides give you the "perfect" concortion for a movie based on a true story? Well contrary to what I believed, apparently not. This movie opened my eyes to another possibility... character empathy. If one is able to skilfully and masterfully draw us into a stranger's world we just met on the big screens, all this while subconsciously being influenced by the fact that it's based on a true account, it delivers more than just a great movie experience, it delivers a personal privilege. The former has the audience being superior to the film, that the film has to "serve" the owner, "us", while the latter makes the audience at the mercy of the film - having the audience think that they are being given a great privilege to be watching the film. 

Captain Phillips is the captain of a US Cargo ship which was hijacked by Somali pirates. The entire film is about his encounter with them, from start... till end... 

*major spoilers ahead* I'm extremely impressed with the pacing, and the overall format of the film. It's not a one-sided film... at the start it also shows the "origins" of the pirates, letting the audience experience both sides of the shore. There's slight twists in the storyline here and there, which I shan't disclose, to preserve the impact of this great gem. At no time was I able to expect what's coming up, or at least I was too engrossed to want to. There were many quick-witted "outs" Captain Phillips had to churn up to protect his crew and himself. 

As for the ending... it was a blast. Till the very end, I didn't know if Captain Phillips would be able to survive the ordeal or not, but all I can say is that the last scene was very emotional for me. I almost teared. It has been a while since a scene has been able to leave such a strong impression, and I know I'm going to keep talking about it in time to come. 

I tried to find faults in the logicality of some parts of the film, only to find myself answering most of the questions... Ie. to say the scenes and situation he was in was realistically portrayed. While I'm tempted to share my insights, I find this movie too good to disclose anything which might jeopardise your viewing privilege. All I can say is that there's a legit reason why the rescue mission seemed to be an overkill, and that every little action helped lead up to the much-awaited finale. 

Thanks to the A-grade acting of Tom Hanks, the movie was made more convincing, and more engaging. The only 2 jarring flaws with this movie is the acting of the antagonist, the Somali pirate captain, and the shaky style of filming. Initially, the film techniques created a little sea sickness for me, but overtime, my adrenaline was pumping so much I lost sense of actual reality, and was shadowing Tom Hanks throughout his ordeal... not having a breather only until he couldn't speak coherently... 

Strong strong film. Captain Phillips has my vote to win the next Oscars.