I'm a bit behind schedule here as we screened this last week and soon I need to get to work on my notes for Once.
Anyway the film was excellent, and even though I knew that Captain Phillips would survive (not only was he played by Tom Hanks but he's also written a book - a bit of a spoiler really) there were whole sections when I kept forgetting to breath.
Here are my notes:
In 2009 Somali
pirates attacked an American container ship, the Maersk Alabama, that Captain Richard Philips (Tom Hanks) is
piloting on a 10 day around the Horn of Africa and into bandit country. With the pirates holding the crew hostage
and negotiations going nowhere the US Navy plans to mount a rescue attempt.
Anyway the film was excellent, and even though I knew that Captain Phillips would survive (not only was he played by Tom Hanks but he's also written a book - a bit of a spoiler really) there were whole sections when I kept forgetting to breath.
Here are my notes:
Captain
Phillips
USA 2013 134
minutes
Director: Paul
Greengrass
Starring: Tom Hanks, Barkhad Abdi
and Catherine Keener
Awards and Nominations
- Nominated
for six Oscars including Best Film, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best
Supporting Actor (Barkhad Abdi).
- Won
BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor (Barkhad Abdi) and nominated for Best
Adapted Screenplay.
- A
further 12 wins and 64 nominations.
“[Greengrass] has
shown us once again that mainstream cinema can be both visceral and
intelligent, grabbing the audience by the throat without ever cutting off the
oxygen supply to their brains.”
Mark
Kermode
The film is based on
the book A Captain’s Duty that
Richard Phillips wrote after his ordeal, with Sony Pictures quickly optioning
the film rights. Tom Hanks joined the
project after reading a draft of the screenplay from Billy Ray with Paul
Greengrass subsequently joining as director.
Initially Ron Howard had intended to direct the film with Paul Greengrass
scheduled to direct Rush, but the two
directors swapped projects with significant rewards for both.
In his career Paul
Greengrass has specialised in the dramatisation of real life events as well as
his use of hand-held cameras. He began
his career making films for World in Action before directing The Murder of Stephen Lawrence and Bloody Sunday for TV before making his
cinema debut with The Bourne Supremacy
(2004) with Matt Damon in the leading role.
He followed this with United 93
(2006) a film about the September 11 hijackings and after The
Bourne -Ultimatum (2007) made Green
Zone (2010) about the Iraq War and once again starring Matt Damon.
On its release Captain Phillips received widespread
critical acclaim both as a film and for the performances of the main
actors. In The Observer Mark Kermode claims that Tom Hanks gives the
performance of his life Tom Hanks and comments on the “electrifying presence”
of newcomer Barkhad Abdi.
Here's the trailer:
