Captain Phillips Review

I feel that our view of pirates has been romanticized more than it should have. When we hear the word pirate, the first thing that comes to our mind are the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. We think of Captain Jack Sparrow and Keira Knightley, but in reality pirates weren't quite as attractive; they were thieves and murderers. While the conventional swashbuckling pirates are long retired, the business practice has survived all these years. Now a day’s pirating is most often practiced by poor residents from the Horn of Africa. They attack ships passing through international waters off the coast, hijack them, and then ransom them off. While it’s not an ideal line of work, for many of them it's the best they can do. Pirating can earn these people more in a few days than they could have made in their entire life with hard work. While these practices have increased over the past few years one commonality that we always see are these pirates staying away from American ships. The last pirate attack on a ship flying the American flag actually took place back in the early 19th century, that streak was broken one April afternoon in 2009. Captain Phillips tells us the true story of Richard Phillips, a family man and cargo ship captain who was put in charge of a boat passing off the Horn of Africa. Phillips seems to know the risks; he drills his crew on emergency tactics and locks gates that would stop intruders from reaching other parts of the ship. While he is just taking precautions, during a drill he sees to small boats approaching his ship at high speeds. He realizes what's happening and takes appropriate actions; a pirate attack may be the worst thing that could happen to a ship, and Phillips is determined to protect the ship and keep the crew safe even if it means he has to put his own life in jeopardy. Captain Phillips had a lot to live up to, not because everyone expected it to be good but because it was released a week after Gravity (one of the best movies of the year); fortunately Captain Phillips does hold its own. Probably the best aspect of the movie would be the top notch acting, Tom Hanks does a great job as always and might even get an Oscar nomination; but if you ask me Barkhad Abdi, the actor who plays the pirate captain, steals the show. The overall production value was very good, a lot of the footage was actually shot at sea on an actual cargo ship; the cinematography is pretty good, but I felt the director used a little too much shaky cam. While the film is very good for the most part, i felt it suffered from some pacing issues. The movies a slow burn, it takes a while for something to really happen. While Captain Phillips has several really intense moments there are a lot of scenes where nothing happens; it makes the movie feel 20-30 minutes to long. Walking out of Captain Phillips I was pleased, it didn't blow me a way but it is certainly a good movie. If you're itching to go to the movies this weekend Captain Phillips is certainly worth your time; but only if you've seen Gravity, if you haven't seen Gravity go see it now. 

Pros: Excellent acting, good writing and directing, solid production design.
Cons: 20-30 minutes to long, often slow, to much shaky cam.

4/5 Stars