Captain Phillips (DVD REVIEW)
Captain Phillips
DVD Review
by Kam Williams
Six-Time
Oscar-Nominated Thriller Released on DVD
On April 9, 2009, the Maersk Alabama,
an American container ship headed for Mombasa,
Kenya, was
hijacked on the high seas in an area that had become very popular with Somali
pirates preying on international commerce. Despite having recently practiced
evasive maneuvers in the event of just such an attack, the vessel’s 20-man
crew’s flare gun and fire hoses proved no match for the fearless, heavily-armed
quartet high on an herbal stimulant called chat.
After climbing aboard, the
drug-emboldened buccaneers abandoned the idea of commandeering the cumbersome,
500+ foot-long craft carrying 17,000 metric tons of cargo, since all they were
really after was a multimillion-dollar ransom. Instead, they opted to take
Captain Richard Phillips (Tom Hanks) hostage on one of his own lifeboats as a
very valuable bargaining chip.
However, when their demands fell on
deaf ears, a standoff ensued in the middle of the ocean. Soon, a destroyer
stationed near the Gulf of Aden, the USS
Bainbridge, was dispatched to the scene, and its Captain, Frank Castellano (Yul
Vasquez), feigned negotiating while simultaneously securing permission from
President Obama to hatch a daring rescue plan.
Nominated
for a half-dozen Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Supporting
Actor (Barkhad “I’m the captain now!” Abdi), Captain Phillips is certain to
invite comparison to the somewhat similarly-plotted Zero Dark Thirty, given how
both recount a real-life mission mounted by a crack team of Navy SEALs. The
difference, however, is that this adventure amounts to little more than a
high-anxiety orgy of worry unfolding from the perspective of the imperiled
kidnap victim, while the relatively-cerebral Zero Dark Thirty devoted most of
its attention to delineating the intricate details involved in the complicated
manhunt for Osama bin Laden.
Curiously, this movie repeatedly
makes the presumably politically-correct point of reminding us that these
madmen are not Muslim terrorists, but without offering much of a hint as to
their motivations besides money. Nevertheless, Tom Hanks does bring his A-game
here, even if he’s cooped-up in close quarters acting opposite a B-support cast
(Barkhad Abdi, Mahat M. Ali, Barkhad Abdi and Faysal Ahmed) for the bulk of the picture.
Unfortunately, his one-note
abductors are painted as soulless, primitive natives right out of a typical
Tarzan flick. Sure, the bloodlust payoff is bigger when the bad guys are the
frightening embodiment of pure evil with no redeeming qualities. Yet, this
production would’ve benefited immeasurably from just a little development of
the villains’ characters.
Shades
of Cast Away (2000), with Tom Hanks being tortured by sadists as opposed to
talking to a volleyball for over an hour while waiting for the cavalry to
arrive.
Very Good
(3 stars)
PG-13 for intense violence, sustained terror, bloody images
and drug abuse In English and
Somali with subtitles
Running time: 134 minutes
Distributor: Sony
Pictures Home Entertainment
DVD Extras:
Commentary with director Paul Greengrass; and Capturing Captain Phillips—in
depth behind-the-scenes featurettes on the making of the film.
To see a trailer for Captain
Phillips, visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Wc1l1DW6IE
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