Captain Phillips, the latest film to cover the tragic events surrounding the 2009 hijacking of the American container ship Maersk Alabama off the coast of Somalia, has Paul Greengrass all over it.
The one-time documentarian who applied his kinetic style to two films in the Jason Bourne action series and recreated similarly heartbreaking real-life events in United 93, is clearly in his natural element during life’s most furious moments. He brings storytelling order to anarchy and chaos better than anyone currently in the industry, and Captain Phillips just may be his best film to date.
While the events surrounding the Alabama’s kidnapping are certainly some of the most chaotic and complex our country has experienced in the last couple of decades, the story Greengrass tells doesn’t begin that way. In fact, the script, written by Billy Ray from the book A Captain’s Duty by Richard Phillips with Stephan Talty, isn’t so much about the hijacking as it is a psychological examination of the tense relationship between Maersk Alabama’s commanding officer, Captain Richard Phillips (Tom Hanks) and the Somali pirate captain, Muse (Barkhad Abdi), who takes him hostage.
As the story begins, we meet Phillips preparing to leave his lovely home in the rolling hills of Vermont before flying to Oman where he’ll pilot the cargo-laden Alabama through the pirate-infested waters surrounding the Horn of Africa. He speaks to his worried wife (Catherine Keener) of the dangers of increasing pirate activity in the area. They consider the hazard, but are convinced to take the job due to the occupational threat of younger, bolder seamen waiting in the wings for better career opportunities.
The setting quickly jumps to a poverty-stricken coastal Somali village where bone-thin former fisherman Muse, under the deadly threat of powerful warlords, is mustering up a rag-tag crew of sailors with aims of overtaking any high-value ship that happens to pass too close to the Somali shore.
The confrontation between Phillips and the desperate Somali pirates who eventually take the captain hostage, reveals a vast rift between the haves and the haves-nots - those who are part of the global economy, and those who are left on the outside looking in. We’re never asked to sympathize with the pirates but we are made to understand their desperation. We learn that these impoverished village fishermen eventually turned to hijacking after high-tech fishing armadas all but depleted fish stocks off the Somali coast. When Phillips points out that there must be other, more lucrative paths to commercial success than piracy, Muse replies, “Maybe in America.” The point is made.
Surprisingly, newcomer Abdi goes toe-to-toe with the seasoned Hanks in a convincing display of acting one-upmanship. His Muse - eyes hollow from the stimulating effects of chewing Khat - sports a hauntingly desperate quality that’s hard to imagine coming from a performer just recently plucked from a Minneapolis casting call. He humanizes the pirates while simultaneously ramping up the menace as the hijacking turns from bad to worse.
There’s an ominous pall that hangs over Captain Phillips, forged partly from our knowledge of the real-life incident’s violent outcome and partly from Greengrass’s authentic recreation. His signature frantic editing, hand-held shaky-cam, and desaturated color palette put us directly in the wheelhouse of this high seas adventure where serious danger lurks behind every wave.
Controversy continues to swirl around questions pertaining to the accuracy of the film’s depiction of real events that unfolded during those few days. Sure, the truth is stretched, and some of the events are outright fabrications. Movies do that. But while everything may not play out in Greengrass’s film as it did in real life, it all feels real. And that’s all that matters.
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sustained intense sequences of menace, some violence with bloody images, and for substance use.
Runtime: 134 mins
Director: Paul Greengrass
Writer: Billy ray
Cast: Tom Hanks, Barkhad Abdi, Barkhad Abdirahman
Genre: Adventure | Crime | Drama
Tagline: Out here survival is everything
Memorable Movie Quote: "Maybe in America"
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Official Site: www.captainphillipsmovie.com/site
Release Date: October 11, 2013
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: January 21, 2014
Synopsis: Captain Phillips is director Paul Greengrass's multi-layered examination of the 2009 hijacking of the U.S. container ship Maersk Alabama by a crew of Somali pirates. It is – through Greengrass's distinctive lens – simultaneously a pulse-pounding thriller and a complex portrait of the myriad effects of globalization. The film focuses on the relationship between the Alabama's commanding officer, Captain Richard Phillips (two time Academy Award® winner Tom Hanks), and his Somali counterpart, Muse (Barkhad Abdi). Set on an incontrovertible collision course off the coast of Somalia, both men will find themselves paying the human toll for economic forces outside of their control.
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Blu-ray Details:
Available on Blu-ray - January 21, 2014
Screen Formats: 2.40:1
Subtitles: English, English SDH, Spanish; French
Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1; French: Dolby Digital 5.1; Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
Discs: 50GB Blu-ray Disc; Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD); UV digital copy; Digital copy; DVD copy
Region Encoding: A
Sony is known for their stellar transfer and Captain Phillips is right up there with them as one of the newly “mastered in 4K” line of transfers. With a stunning 2.40:1 AVC encode the disc looks near flawless. The colors are rich and saturate the decks of the ships with bright orange and blue and green cargo containers and the blue of the ocean is truly breathtaking. The detail level is simply exceptional with the finest detail being easy to spot, whether it be the individual grey and brown hairs in Tom Hank’s beard of the sweat droplets running down the pirates faces as they gasp for air in the sweltering life boat. With a flawless 5.1 DTS-HD MA track that just envelopes the user from the get go, this release is an explosive must-own.
Supplements:
Commentary:
- Clocking in at 135 minutes, the feature length commentary track from director Paul Greengrass is ripe with information. This is a must hear track. Unfortunately, the mild controversy surrounding the film is not addressed.
Special Features:
Special features on the combo pack include a series of behind the scenes featurettes that take a look at how they captured this story and brought it to life. The very thorough documentary (in three parts) covers everything from cast and crew to on-set stuff as well as the story.
- Capturing Captain Phillips:
- Embarkation (21 min)
- Full Ahead (25 min)
- Stand Fast (14 min)
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