'Captain Phillips' Deserves a Promotion!

Hello, WORLD!! Smokkee here. I saw Tom Hanks latest movie, 'Captain Phillips', this past Wednesday. I wasn't totally shocked that it was great, but I can say I didn't expect it. It earns an 'A', easy, but it wasn't as thought provoking as the other movie I screened this week, 'About Time', so I'll keep this one brief so I can go focus on that one.


'Captain Phillips' tales the incredible story of Captain Richard Phillips, captain of the Maersk Alabama, a US container ship. It's set to deliver some goods in Somali, which is notorious for pirate activity. Of course you know that that's exactly what happens: the ship gets hijacked naturally. There wouldn't be a tale without that happening.

We're introduced to these 'pirates' early and they're nothing like Jack Sparrow. They're more like the grown up version of those kids we see on those "Just $1.00 a day can help feed.." commercials and they're looking like they haven't really changed much from those days. They're the native Somalians who work hard enough as fisherman and other odd jobs to still not have much to live off of who're presented with an opportunity of a lifetime for them: big bucks for finding a ship worth hijacking. All of these guys jump at the chance. It was interesting to see that these characters, for all of their impoverish looks, are actually tech savvy. Those selected to aid the would be pirates rush off to find the lone container ship that separates itself from the rest of the ships, which they scoped out their radars. One tells ultra slim Somalian Muse (Barkhad Abdi) that he better not get in his way. The surprise here Abdi, he who looks slow on the up-think at times but is no where near as naive or as fragile as he appears. From this point on, this movie gets intense.

I'm not gonna get into to much detail about what happens after the first attempted hijacking. It's one of the best scenes in the movie because you really get a sense of who Phillips, and Muse, are. It also sets the stage for a global version of chess that some of these players ain't ranked high enough to play.

As for the acting, Hanks here is flawless. I would say he carries this movie because he's the one lone American we see the most of, even though there's gotta be at least 30-40 crew members on deck. I should add that I should've known Hanks would be flawless here; he thrive's as the everyman against all kinds of insurmountable odds (Cast Away, Philadelphia, Saving Private Ryan, and of course Forrest Gump). An Oscar nod would not be undeserved so no shock if he gets one. But as I said earlier, Abdi is the real surprise, more than holding his own against Hanks' Phillips in a battle that won't turn out as either expects.

I'm sorry if I haven't gave you enough info to decide if you want to see this movie or not. I know I didn't want to see it at all. I didn't think I would be entertained. I was wrong. A tense movie with a great share of comedic moments you may or may not hate yourself for laughing at. I know I felt like I shoulda suppressed a few chuckles. But this is one of the most intense movies I've seen all year. Definitely worth a viewing.

A