Movie Review: Captain Phillips
Captain Phillips is an American movie that came out in 2013. It is a true story about how Captain Phillips and his crew get held up by a group of pirates from Somalia. Captain Phillips is played by Tom Hanks, who does an amazing job portraying the dramatic and intense story. The pirate leader, Muse, is played by Barkhad Abdi. Abdi also gives an amazing and soul-shuttering performance throughout the entirety of the movie.
Captain Phillips and his 20-man crew are on the United States Container Ship heading to the horn of Africa when the Somali Pirates first arrive to take over their ship. Attempts to fight them off worked. After the crew is safe and the pirates are gone, tensions rise between Phillips and his crew. The men are mad and don’t want to be there. One man from the crew keeps insisting that the pirates will come back. The next morning, the pirates come back, and the crew does their best to fight them off. Sadly, it does not go as planned and the pirates are able to get aboard the ship. They head straight for the bridge of the ship where Phillip and two of his crew men are. Muse, the leader of the Somali Pirates, makes himself known as a strong and scary man. After much bickering and clear threats of danger, Phillips begins to lead the pirates to search the ship. Muse is persistent and wants to find the rest of the crew. After many unforeseen events, and some crazy twists and turns, Phillips and his crew captured Muse, they had won, or so they thought. In a brief second everything turns bad and Captain Phillips is taken hostage onto the American Lifeboat with the four Somali pirates. During his time on the lifeboat, he is treated very badly by the pirates. At one point he even tries to escape the pirates by jumping into the ocean. Although the pirates are treating him badly, Muse keeps telling him that everything will be okay, that he doesn’t want to hurt Phillips, he just wants his money.
Soon after Phillips is taken hostage, the U.S. Navy comes to save him. The Navy tries multiple different tactics to get Phillips safely out of the lifeboat. During this time the Navy is following the lifeboat on their way to Somalia.
After multiple negotiations the Navy is able to get Muse aboard their ship to talk about a deal. This leaves Phillips alone on the lifeboat with the other three pirates. Finally, Phillips hits his breaking point when the Navy has yet to rescue him. Just seconds after his breaking point the Navy snipes and executes all three pirates at the same time saving Phillips.
Although the ending of the movie was predictable, the acting and storyline throughout the rest of the story made this movie so thrilling and gut wrenching that you don’t want to look away from the screen. In my opinion Captain Phillips is a movie that is definitely worth the watch.
