Captain Phillips is based on the true story of a merchant marine (Tom Hanks I think accurately referred to them as ‘the truckers of the sea’) who sees his ship hijacked by Somali pirates, then kidnapped and held for ransom by those same pirates before finally being rescued by the U.S. Navy.  Tom Hanks stars in the title role in a film made by one of my favorite working directors, Paul Greengrass.  The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum, and in my opinion the best 9/11 movie that’s been made, United 93; the man is a great director when it comes to thrillers and staging tense situations.  This film gives you a good dose of both.

The film marks the acting debut of Barkhad Abdi as the leader of the Somali pirates.  The young brother looked extremely intimidating, but I thought the film did a fair enough job of giving a little dimension to the pirates and not making them all one dimensional characters.  In less capable hands, that could have gone really badly (looking at you, The News).

Still a little early in my opinion to say if Tom Hanks is a lock for another Oscar nomination, but he’s in the conversation.  He definitely carried this film.