Captain Phillips

If Tom Hanks joins Daniel Day Lewis as the only other man to have won 3 Academy Awards as a Best Actor then it would be primarily because of his performance in the last 5 minutes as Captain Phillips.  How would you play a scene where you have little or no bodily damage but are in shock / panic?  This is exactly the kind of material that is going to be used at cinema schools where acting is a course.

To see those brilliant 5 minutes you will have to wait for 125 minutes or so for Paul Greengrass (Bourne Supremacy / Bourne Ultimatum) to direct what could probably be his slowest movie to date.  The pace of Captain Phillips doesn’t come close to that of the Bourne series but the intensity exceeds any of Jason Bourne’s adventures.  You are still caught sitting on the edge of your seat waiting to know what will happen next.

In the early part of this century (and even now I am told), ships travelling along the east coast of Africa from the Middle East would deal with a word that the world had lost touch with – PIRATES – the Somalian variety especially.  While there were adequate measures taken to train and equip ships to the best possible extent, there would always be one that got away.

The Merchant Ship Alabama under the command of Captain Phillips (Tom Hanks) was one such example in April 2009.  Of course the movie is about the incidents that led to the pirates taking over The Alabama and then Captain Phillips as hostage for $10 million as ransom.  It then covers the clinical response of the US Navy along with the Seals to attempt Captain Phillips’ extraction from a lifeboat.

What makes Captain Phillips a runner for the top 10 for the year along with the story and performances is the brilliant narration from Greengrass and his team.  The story builds slowly and covers as many aspects as possible before the actual pirate attack.  There is a tremendous amount of detailing.  But what may prevent it from winning the Oscar are apparently some gaffes that only Merchant Navy personnel may grab onto.

What I loved about Captain Phillips also was the attention given to the genesis of the Somalian Pirate.  What has driven them to this in the first place.  The determination and desperation that is clearly visible in the eyes of Muse (Barkhad Abdi) – a young skinny boy of around 20 who wants to take this ransom and guess what – move to New York.  Full points to Greengrass for ensuring that all sides of the story are covered.

Captain Phillips will release on the 18^th October 2013 across all theatres.  For now, it is playing at 3 locations in Mumbai – PVR Phoenix (20:25), INOX Nariman Point (20:11) and R City Ghatkopar (19:30).  For PVR Phoenix you can add a minimum of 20 minutes to get the actual show time.  We were subjected to 29 minutes of ads and 6 minutes of trailers effectively making is a 9 pm start.  Ridiculous.

The bad news though is that there is enough of violence and the story is complex for a child but not as much for a tweenager (12-20).  Try and make it for Captain Phillips if not this weekend then the coming weekend where it opens in several other screens.  Definitely making the cut for the top 10 of the year.  May not take the coveted statue though.  8 on 10.

Watch the trailer on http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1535109/?ref_=sh_ov_vi#lb