Movie Review: Captain Phillips

Captain Phillips (2013)

The true story of Captain Richard Phillips and the 2009 hijacking by Somali pirates of the US-flagged MV Maersk Alabama, the first American cargo ship to be hijacked in two hundred years.  Short synopsis of Captain Phillips taken from IMDB.com

Ever go to watch one of those films that you have heard is really good, and when you start viewing it, you know it is good, and yet you keep getting thrown off by outside disturbances?  As an example, you put down a kid for a nap and then, since you've got a free couple of hours, you sit down to watch a classic (for the sake of argument here, let's presume it's City Slickers 2: The Legend of Curly's Gold - which many reputable critics have lauded as being better than the oft over-hyped Citizen Kane).  And just as the opening credits have run, the aforementioned kid starts to cry, so you interrupt what you are doing to take care of him/her.  You get done soothing and sit down on the sofa, and then the phone rings.  And then its something else.  By the time you usually would be cheering ecstatically as the zombies beat the cannibals in the basketball game's showdown overtime at the film's conclusion (I don't know what version of City Slickers 2 you watch...), you're only maybe half-way through, and you're stressed from the constant interruptions?

Well that doesn't quite describe the exact circumstances of my viewing of Captain Phillips on DVD, but it does convey the general idea.  I started to watch this film on a quiet afternoon after my daughter had gone down for a nap (she naps in the afternoon even though she is a bit old for them, because when I wrote this review way back when, she has to stay up late with my wife at her cosmetology classes after I went to work for the evening).  But when I started the DVD, I was also online as well, and noticed a job lead that I really needed to follow-up on. 

The real life Richard Phillips, who was portrayed by Tom Hanks in the film. / Source: nydailynews.com

Two and a half hours later, the interminable federal jobs website disgorged me from its cantankerous process, and I was free to...  get my kid out of bed and get dinner ready before the work night began.  Oh well, I thought.

Then later that evening after work, I tried again.  But ya know (and I admit, this time was my own fault), I just wasn't in the mood for a heavy movie.  So I only got a little further than I had the evening before.  The next day was busy, so I was unable to watch.  And the next evening, I made a point of sitting down after work to view Captain Phillips.  After all, I reasoned, I'd borrowed this DVD from a relative, and I didn't want to be one of those who takes a movie and has it for weeks on end (I'm mentally looking at my mother-in-law as I type that last...).

So I forced myself to watch the movie, even though I was not really prepared for it.  How did that affect the viewing, you ask?  Well all in all, it was a less than optimal situation.  I was cold, and very tired, and hungry.  You'd think I'd been off to an arctic base camp and just flown back, the way I talk.  But it just wasn't ideal.

Piracy in the Indian Ocean has been a problem for much of history, but has sprung back sharply in the 2000s.  Some attribute this growth to the reduction in armed combat vessels in the area that accompanied the draw-down of naval presence following the end of the Cold War. / Source: Seanews.com.tr

Now I know my grumblings have taken on a life of their own almost, and so I'll cut to the chase and tell my impressions of Captain Phillips.  It was a good movie.  I'm glad I watched it.  I took little notice of it when it was released in the big theaters, and due to the title I didn't even register it on my radar when it went to the local cheap seats too.  But I'd say it was well worth the DVD viewing, despite the somewhat unpleasant experience for me at the time.

The film is well made, the topic interesting, the plot well paced, the performance by the two main leads (Hanks and the Somali pirate leader - sorry for not getting his name) were impressive.  The part where the US Navy shadowed the lifeboat that Phillips and his captors were aboard did drag a bit, but this reflects how the real situation would have been.  It's not an "action movie" per-se, but a relevant piece of recent history that tells a very human tale.

OK, enough flat platitudes on the subject.  I thought the movie was good, and might have been more effusive in my praise if the memory of watching it wasn't marred by the circumstances surrounding the actual watching of it.  My wife recently noticed it sitting on the TV cabinet, waiting to be returned to the relative I borrowed it from, and quipped that she'd like to see it.  I think I will watch it with her.  It was worth seeing more than once.  A very well done film, and would have been worth a cheap seats viewing (I'd probably have been a little disappointed at full price, but not because of the film so much as because of the fact that main theater ticket prices are so high that lots of stuff can easily be relegated to second-run houses or DVD these days).

Of course, when most people think of real-life pirates, they think of the Golden Age of Piracy, which occurred primarily between the 1650s and the 1730s.  As for the pirate flags above...  my favorite would have to be either Barba Negra's devil with spear and a glass (that's pretty descriptive) or Sir Henry Morgan's Union Jack (how'd it be to practice sanctioned piracy?). / Source: pintrest

As usual, a note on the content, for those interested parties who have not already seen it.  Captain Phillips is not for little children's movie time.  There is not much swearing, but there is a bit.  The themes are quite adult (modern-day piracy is not for the faint of heart, nor truly would the subject be during the golden age of piracy except that we have romanticized the hell out of it in our day).  There is a little bit of blood (comparatively speaking) that is pretty disturbing due to the fact that it is based on real events.  The situation is traumatic, and so the PG-13 could have easily slipped into a "R" rating if the filmmaker hadn't wanted this to be something that most mature people might see.

With those things in mind, I'd recommend Captain Phillips to those who have not yet seen it (and by the time this review hits the web, anybody who hasn't probably will not bother to dig it up...  but as they say, so many reviews, so little time).  A worthwhile experience, if a somewhat unpleasant one for myself, as noted.  Thanks to the relative who lent it to me to see.  I appreciate it.

The parting comment:



Source: LOLSnaps.com

I was watching an old TV show with my wife the other day (Northern Exposure, if you were curious), and I heard this character tell this joke.  Let me see if I can do it any justice.

A man is passing by a farm when he sees a pig with a wooden leg hobbling about the farmyard.  Curiosity overcomes him and the man goes up the the house and knocks on the door.  Farmer answers.  The man asks him about the pig. 
The farmer replies, "Last year, I was attacked in the woods by a wild boar, and that pig scared it off."  The man asks, "Did the boar tear up the pig's leg then?" 
Farmer says, "No, he was fine.  But a bit later, there was a fire in the house one night, and the pig came in and woke us all up.  Saved my family." 
The man replies, "And the pig?  He got hurt in the fire?" 
"No, he was fine." the farmer says, "And then not long later, I hit a rock on my tractor and it bounced me out of the saddle and I hit my head on a  stone.  That pig dragged me to safety." 
The man is even more surprised. "Wow!  And the pig, he got his leg caught by the tractor?" 
"No," the farmer said. 
Finally the man asks in exasperation, "Then how did the pig lose his leg?" 
The farmer replies, "Well friend, you don't wanna eat a pig like that.  No sir.  At least not all at once."