Captain Phillips: A tense drama in the middle of the ocean

It’s been a while. This had to come. An actor like Tom Hanks could not be kept away from good movies for too long. For all those who love to see Tom Hanks on screen, Captain Phillips comes as a relief. The last few movies of the actor have been pale shadows of the kind of quality he once used to be involved in. Captain Phillips sets the record straight. Yes, against the normal graph of a movie review, I would like to announce at the very start that Captain Phillips is a must watch for every Tom Hanks fan, and also will be a very engaging experience even for someone who is not as much a fan of Hanks.

Set in the sea around the ‘Horn of Africa’, some distance from the Somali coastline, the movie retells

the real-life ordeal of the captain of an American cargo vessel which gets hijacked by Somalian pirates. We are given a brief look at the Captain’s family, presumably to emotionally anchor us to the character. But, that five-minute passage later, it is all about the ship and the captain’s adventure.

This is not a thriller in the strictest sense of the word. We can call this more a tense hijack-hostage drama where guns are always drawn, tempers are ready to flare and life is literally on a knife’s edge. There is not much high-adrenaline action, most of it is slow paced. The director has kept things slow to maintain the realistic feel of action at sea. The pirate boats chasing the cargo vessel is one such example – no high flying stunts, but one meaningful and tactical pursuit, which is countered equally tactically by the crew of the vessel. It is not the speed of the action per se, but the strategic nature of the moves that keeps you interested, which is why it is important to keep a sharp ear on the Captain’s orders all the time.

The real surprise in the movie comes when the hijack drama suddenly turns into something else. You were gearing yourself for some action aboard the ship, but the suddenly, the ship goes out of the picture, and in one shocking twist, the scene of action shifts to a lifeboat. That segment will surely be a surprise to all those who have not heard about the real events that happened in 2009. From then on, it is an even more tense drama, with a lot of eyeball-eyeball moments, where it is a question of who is able to hold their nerve longer, who is able to keep their wits about them in a life-or-death situation.

The situation heats up with the arrival of the US Navy into the picture. Here again, the director has

refrained from any attempts at going for out-and out action. He maintains the tactical nature of the operation, focusing more on the strategies used by the Navy to confuse, break and outthink the pirates. The precision nature of the operation is highlighted at the very end, where a 48-hour drama ends with three clinical strikes. No unnecessary bravado, no thumping background music, no slow motions, absolutely no dramatics, just a clinical finish. Its all over before you know. You must be prepared to enjoy the tactical precision of the operation rather than expect the regular kind of action.

The best part about the movie’s casting is the Somalian pirates. They look every bit real, remorseless and rugged pirates. The leader of the pack exudes a wicked attitude as if he has the nerve to stand up to anyone and ask them to ‘**** off’. Even better is the way the deterioration of his nerve and command over the crew is portrayed over the two days at sea. The other pirates, each one very different from the other, have been well chosen. Its not a homogenous bunch of gun-wielding baddies, each one has an individuality, which makes the moments in the life boat tenser. Also, limiting their English dialogues, making them speak in their local language (with English subtitles) lends a lot of credibility to the characters.

Technically, the movie does boast of a large canvas, the ocean, and an equally small stage, the lifeboat.

The vast expanse of the ocean is a pleasant relief from the claustrophobic interiors of the life boat, which has been well elicited by the camera. Although a movie involving at least four ships, Captain Phillips does not waste much time on gaping at their size, beauty and mobility, this is not that kind of a movie. Neither does the movie use the sea as an element in the story, no rough weather or storms or icebergs – the kind of things we are used to seeing in movies that have ships out at sea. It is only about the characters and the situation they are thrown into together. The initial portions of the movie have a very unsteady cam, always bobbing and weaving, perhaps to give the viewer a feeling of how a vessel feels when at sea. The economy of sound is another thing that gives proceedings a very real feel.

Finally, about Tom Hanks. It’s great to see him in a really good movie after quite a while. But, someone said something about an Oscar, which feels like an overstatement. Yes, he has done a good job, but the role really doesn’t demand much off him. The only time when he really tugs at your heart is when he finally breaks down during the medical examination, that scene does show his call; but Oscar, don’t think so. Watch Captain Phillips for a tense drama. Not much action here, but definitely gripping. The outcome is not too unpredictable, but the methods are. This one will definitely not leave you disappointed unless your definition of action is a lot of bullets, bombs, explosions and jumps off cliffs.

One more word – the movie is more about the rescue operation than Captain Phillips. Couldn’t the makers have found a better title, or did they just want to show that Tom Hanks has a central role?