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CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Dan Baker on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on March 21st, 2024, reviewing the new streaming series “Manhunt” – based on the bestseller by James L. Swanson – currently streaming on Apple TV+.
Film Review: Tom Hanks Guides Intense ‘Captain Phillips’
Submitted by BrianTT on October 10, 2013 - 4:45pm
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Continue reading for Brian Tallerico’s full “Captain Phillips” review.
“Captain Phillips” stars Tom Hanks and Barkhad Abdi. It was written by Billy Ray and directed by Paul Greengrass. It opens on October 11, 2013.
Captain Phillips
Photo credit: Sony Pictures
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CHICAGO – Captain Richard Phillips (Tom Hanks) leaves his wife Andrea (Catherine Keener) for yet another journey captaining a cargo ship off the coast of Africa. Shortly thereafter, a Somali boy named Muse (Barkhad Abdi) heads into the same waters on a collision course with the Maersk Alabama. “Captain Phillips” captures the intensity of what happens when desperation meets commerce and it does with the relentless style director Paul Greengrass brought to critical and commercial hits like “United 93” and “The Bourne Supremacy.” Led by Tom Hanks’ best performance in over a decade (which is perfectly matched by newcomer Abdi), “Captain Phillips” is a harrowing crowdpleaser, the kind of film that sends viewers back into the real world a little exhausted but satisfied.
 Rating: 3.5/5.0 |
If you sense a little bit of hesitation to levy the same praise at “Captain Phillips” as some other critics in words like “crowdpleaser” and “satisfied,” you’re not mistaken. “Captain Phillips” is a film that’s well worth seeing. It’s well-made, well-acted, and well-executed. And yet it never rises above its intensity for this viewer. In fact, as the film crests the 90-mark mark and still has more than 40 to go and Mr. Greengrass turns up the score and amplifies the degree of camera shaking, I actually found myself less interested in where this journey was going. As stomach-churning as it was, I’ve seen “United 93” more than once to admire the filmmaking craft within it. “Captain Phillips” is a trip worth taking that I know I’ll probably never take again.
| Read Brian Tallerico’s full review of “Captain Phillips” in our reviews section. |
Screenwriter Billy Ray lays down an undercurrent of the ever-changing times with an awkward conversation between Phillips and his wife on the way to the airport about how their son will have difficulty finding work. Of course, Phillips Jr. has it easier than the Somali village in which young men vie to be chosen to be the lucky ones to steal, threaten, and maybe even kill. Fending off the defenses drilled into the crew of the Alabama, a group of young Somali men led by the gaunt, terrifying Muse actually make it to the bridge and a battle of wills begins between Phillips and the men holding him at gunpoint.
Continue reading for Brian Tallerico’s full “Captain Phillips” review.Captain Phillips
Photo credit: Sony Pictures
