Captain Phillips

There aren't many better directors around than Paul Greengrass when it comes to scenes of tension on the big screen. From the crunching moments of his two Bourne films to the whole of United 93, he knows how to induce sweaty palms in the cinema going public. His last film was the confused Green Zone, but he's back in blistering form here with his take on the real life hijacking by Somali pirates of the Maersk Alabama container ship in 2009. Tom Hanks stars as Captain Richard Phillips, the man at the helm as the group of pirates storm his ship and what follows is a game of cat and mouse (though mainly with the pirates holding the upper hand) as Phillips and his crew attempt to negotiate with their uninvited guests and come to a resolution that means no blood is spilt. On seeing the trailer my concern was where could the film go once the pirates get on board. If you don't know what happens next I won't spoil it, but Greengrass keeps tightening the screw until the hard to breath denouement. Virtually everything about this film is of the highest quality. Hanks puts in his best work for a long time and his portrayal of someone going into shock during his medical examination at the end of the film is some of the best couple of minutes he's ever put on screen. Even better is the astonishing performances from the unknown group of actors who make up the pirates, led by a mesmerising turn by Barkhad Abdi as Muse, the groups leader. Despite being a gun-toting mercenary, Abdi's performance is so strong he elicits sympathy from the audience and the moment when Phillips asks him that there must be more to life than what he does, Muse's wistful response of "Maybe in America...maybe in America..." isn't a justification of Muse's actions, but a comment that for some people you can only play with the hand you've been dealt. This is actually one of the films main triumphs as instead of painting the pirates as one dimensional, Greengrass focuses as much on them (the initial selection of the men who are picked to go on the mission is akin to picking a football team in the playground) as he does the ships crew. Telling the story from both sides gives the audience two different strands of involvement, though the similarities between the groups (panic when plans fail, arguments throughout the chain of command) are subtly ironic. Greengrass' direction is back to his best, utilising his trademark shaky camera work to capture the chaos of the situation, but also creating a real sense of claustrophobia with his up close framing during the calmer moments. One great moment where this is shown is when the pirates finally leap from their skiffs and board the boat for the first time. Even though you know what will happen the suspense is still wrought tight and the look of sudden terror and helplessness that crosses Hank's face as he realises that life now suddenly hangs in the balance is a moment of pure human cinema. Negatives comments have come from sources that claim that Phillips actions in the film don't tell the true story, but the studio haven't hidden from the fact that Billy Ray's screenplay is based on Phillips' own account of events in his book about the incident. Regardless of the truth (as with most of these things, I expect the reality in somewhere in between) this is an exhilarating piece of cinema. Rating: 9/10.