Movie Review - Captain Phillips

If you are gonna shoot somebody, you shoot me. I’m the captain, not them.

In the direst of situations when one of the pirates has a gun cocked to a crew-member’s head threatening to kill him if the captain did not reveal where the other crew members were hiding, he had the guts to say this.

The story is based on the hijacking of an american ship - MV Maersk Alabama by Somali pirate in 2009. The protagonist - Captain Richard Phillips (played by Tom Hanks) is shown as a cautious man from the start ordering security drills for the crew when the ship sails off. Near the coast of Somalia they are approached by two Somali skiffs carrying armed pirates. While they are able to escape first attempt of the pirates to capture the ship, they are not so lucky the next day when pirates come with greater speed. During the course of the hijacking, the crew members hiding on the ship capture the head of the pirates and demand that all the pirates leave the ship in a life boat. The pirates(they still have captain Phillips with them) agree but the exchange for the captains go wrong and the pirates end up taking Phillips as a hostage and sail for Somalia in the life boat. Meanwhile US Navy had been deployed to tackle the issue and they arrive to save the day but not without some serious effort.

In an excellent choice for casting, Barkhad Abdi plays Muse - the intelligent lead pirate whose character is shown with a sensitive undertone in his conversations with Captain Phillips but his determination and rage is not masked when he hits another pirate with a wrench for being a coward. His accomplice Najee played by Faysal Ahmed is shown hot-headed and ever suspicious of the actions of the Americans.

In the last 20 minutes, the film cashes on the momentum it had been gaining and we see gut wrenching action as Captain Phillips tries to escape and the pirates try to get the situation under control despite the dominating presence of three large US Navy ships around their lifeboat and US SEALs desperately trying grab the slightest opportunity they get to save the Captain.

Though the film is supposed to be based on a true story, be not deceived about the amount of truth in it. Cinema is meant to be larger than life and there might be more to the story of captain Phillips than told in the movie. To read more, go here

A must watch for all the movie lovers!