CAPTAIN PHILLIPS

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 10/5/13 at 11:21pm

Sony decided to release this in 800+ screens this evening, six days in advance of its nationwide opening. So since I saw GRAVITY Thursday night, I figured this would be a nice companion piece, and it was. It may not be a game-changer like GRAVITY, but it is quite a strong film. There may be a few spoilers in here, if you haven't seen the trailer. But nothing that's not in the ads.

Firstly, the film could easily have been cut by about 20 minutes. It does get a bit repetitive at a few points, with the hostage situation just sort of going in circles. But this is a double-edged sword, as it adds to the mounting tension Paul Greengrass so beautifully orchestrates in all of his movies. I thought the strongest segment of the film was the final hour or so, with Phillips in the lifeboat. The second they got into the lifeboat, I thought to myself "this could go one of two ways, very easily." And thankfully, it's executed exceptionally well. Much like Cuaron does in GRAVITY, Greengrass manages to create such a palpable sense of tension with so few characters, and an isolated, sparse situation. I also loved that the script doesn't turn the pirates into one-sided, evil maniacs. Well, at least most of them. At one point, Phillips turns to the lead pirate, Muse, and tells him "there's gotta be something more than kidnapping and killing people " to which Muse replies "maybe in America. Maybe in America." It's chilling stuff.

The biggest surprise of this movie, for me, was the thing I was least prepared to be surprised for. And that would be Tom Hanks' performance. Much like Bullock's performance in GRAVITY, I knew he'd be good (he always is) but I wasn't prepared for a performance of this caliber. He doesn't have any long-winded monologues and he isn't some big action hero saving the day; his expressions and his incredibly emotive eyes say so much without anything coming out of his mouth. It's a restrained, yet somehow surprisingly explosive performance. His final scene had me on the verge of tears.

Barkhad Abdi is also absolutely fantastic in this. At this point, I hope he isn't forgotten come awards season. To be able to have a first-time actor play so astonishingly well off of someone like Hanks is pretty damn impressive. Catherine Keener is in this for literally one scene, which was so bizarre to me. She must have like 20 lines, and that's it.

I enjoyed it quite a lot and really hope it catches on at the box office. My theater was packed and the audience seemed pretty enthralled throughout.