12
FILM
guestlist.net
Issue 56 / 2013
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS
Last year, Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty did what many thought to
be impossible.
October 18th
Last year, Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark
Thirty did what many thought to be impossible. A riveting account of the decade-long
search for Osama Bin Laden, director Bigelow nimbly side-stepped threats of excessive patriotism or awkward flag-waving, instead delivering a taut and confident thriller
that excelled most when filtering the action
through its protagonist's personal motivations. Although there was obviously more
at stake than Jessica Chastain's CIA officer
achieving justice for those she may have lost
along the way, this was always a given, and
could afford to be relegated to the background. After all, it's the human connection that ultimately makes for electrifying
cinema. This month's Captain Philips shares
more than just a hint of Thirty's DNA, with
director Paul Greengrass applying a similarly tasteful approach to a true story, this time
to the 2009 hijacking of American container
ship, the Maersk Alabama.
Just in case the title didn't tip you off, this is
very much the story of Captain Philips (Tom
Hanks), a curt, efficient and ever so slightly
jaded sailor who was taken hostage by the
four invading Somali pirates. It was his remarkable sense of determination and resilience that allowed Philips to play a huge role
in the story's outcome, all of which is demonstrated here with the precisely the kind of
realism we've come to expect from Greengrass (the man behind both The Bourne Supremacy and Ultimatum).
Like Zero Dark Thirty, there's a thrilling payoff when the Navy do finally arrive after the
two hour mark. It's a wonderful, cathartic
moment, but the film's real magic lies in the
interaction between Hanks and newcomer
Barkhad Abdi. As Muse, the skeletal, enigmatic pirate spearheading the operation,
Abdi displays a wonderfully intense screen
presence. He's a great match for Hanks, who
does his best work in years in a brilliantly
observed performance. Even when taken as
a true story, Philip's evolution from sea dog
to sea lion beggars belief, but in the hands
of Hanks, it's a thoroughly convincing metamorphosis.
Greengrass makes great use of the ship's
interior to create a claustrophobic atmosphere, but he's just as adept at large-scale
action sequences, as his Bourne pedigree
should attest to. Like Bigelow's thriller, Captain Philips comes complete with an ending
that should come as a surprise to no one,
although Greengrass ensures the audience
is too swept up in the drama to care. Expect
Oscars by the boatload.
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