Captain Phillips / Rated PG-13 for violence and language.

In the hunt for Oscar Statuettes CP should be available for DVD viewing before the award ceremonies on Sunday, March 2nd. The question is will it win? Do you want to see it? All in good time.

Like all well known historical events the film’s suspense is dependent on the skill of the filmmakers. Prior to viewing I was very familiar with the events of April 2009 and the ultimate outcome for the Alabama and it’s Captain. While in command of the container ship Capt. Phillips ran into trouble while trying to navigate the waters within range of Somali pirates off the east coast of Africa. Pursued and boarded by 4 pirates he did his best to cope with a situation while hoping that hope was on the way. It was. It just took a little time to get there.

Tom Hanks plays the beleaguered ships boss who is under a lot of pressure when the nasty looking guys with the guns demand money. Big money. He offers them the 30 thousand bucks on board and a well used VHS copy of The Crimson Pirate (1952). They take the cash but had no idea what to do with the tape and turn it down. As pirating goes they could have picked up some important tips from Burt Lancaster as Capt. Vallo.

Things go from bad to worse as Tom Hanks/Capt. Phillips plays all kinds of tricks on the bad guys in order to keep his crew hidden and talk the Somali’s out of stealing the sexy movie poster of Geena Davis as Morgan in Cutthroat Island (1995). Geena also showed more skill at pirating than the hapless group with the guns. TH/CP ends up on one of the life rafts with the pirates as they try to escape with the cash and demand more in order to spare his life. All 4 actors playing the pirates are outstanding. Especially the already award nominated pirate boss Barkhad Abdi. BA and his family escaped from Somalia moved to Yemen then fled there and now live in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was working as a chauffeur when cast in Captain Phillips. This role may win him multiple awards including a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Tom Hanks is hoping for another one for himself. He may well also get one although the competition is going to make this tough.

CP was directed by Paul Greengrass. PG is best known for his use of the shaky cam in the blurry and never still Green Zone (2010). Better work was done for two of the Bourne films including The Bourne Supremacy (2004) and The Bourne Ultimatum (2007). His telling of one of the stories concerning 9/11 events, United 93 (2006) made for filmmaking at its best. PG has done as good a job with Captain Phillips as could be done. If you are not familiar with the story this will be a riveting and exciting event. If you have it will be a little less riveting but beautifully made none the less.

Rated 3.4 out of 4.0 reasons to stay out of Somali waters unless you have an invisible ship.