Captain Phillips

On a Scale of 1 to 10, with 10 Being the Best

5

Courtesy of Buzzfeed

Plot: A boat is headed around Africa to deliver food and supplies to poor people. Along the way, the cargo ship is followed and boarded by Somali pirates. The movie is based off of true events but apparently many of the items that happened were left out, which makes sense when the incident took five days and the movie is two hours long.

Characters/Actors of Note:

Tom Hanks as Captain Phillips: Mr. Hanks actually looks like the real Captain Phillips and I thought the portrayal was nicely done. Mr. Hanks could be stern and also feeling which I thought was a great balance. It was not overdone as I was expecting, good job. 

Barkhad Abdi as Muse: As the lead pirate of the story, I thought that Mr. Adbi did a wonderful job. I was impressed how he showed the desperate motives of Muse without harping on them. The balance he gave as a leader and as a worker for the Somali bad guys was also well done. This was his first film and was impressed. The one issue I had is that Muse was supposed to be 18 when this event occurred and I think Mr. Adbi was a bit old to be playing him.

Music: The music in the film was so stressful! I felt my heart beat out of my chest for a majority of the film and just wanted to take a break. It was mostly brass which made me think that Hans Zimmer did the music for the film. I was surprised to see that it was Henry Jackman. (It is noted in the credits that Hans Zimmer did help and I bet he was the one that offered the brass idea.)

Camera Work/Cinematography: The director tried to make this movie seem like a documentary with the camera shaking and quick cuts to other people. I personally hated that very much. It was hard to get into the film when I felt like I was being thrown all over the place. Two big thumbs down in this aspect.

RECAP:

The movie is pretty close to the actual events and the acting was well done. I did not like the music or the camera work as they both were huge distractions. They gave more anxiety to the situation which I am not sure was needed. The story itself was frightening enough and did not need the extra push. I would recommend the film only if you want to learn more about the story, otherwise prepare for a lot of stress.  

Courtesy of christianmediamagazine.com

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