You have to hand it to Tom Hanks. The two-time Oscar winning actor is not going to let a simple thing like losing his best friend/volleyball, Wilson, in a tragic boating accident, keep him away from the open seas. Maybe he’ll change his mind after some Somali pirates take him hostage though.
Ah, who are we kidding. This is Tom Hanks. He once rescued Matt Damon from Hitler’s forces, saved a space shuttle and ran across America. Those pirates don’t know who they’re messing with, as you can see in this new trailer for Captain Phillips.
Columbia Pictures’ action-thriller “Captain Phillips” stars two-time Oscar® winner Tom Hanks in 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. The film is directed by Oscar® nominee Paul Greengrass, from a screenplay by Billy Ray and based upon the book, “A Captain’s Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALs, and Dangerous Days at Sea,” by Richard Phillips with Stephan Talty.
Director Paul Greengrass seems to be bringing his signature style of realism and dramatic tension, and Hanks looks to be giving us another solid performance in a long career of solid performances.
I have a feeling that what’s going to make or break this film though is Greengrass’ decision to bring in first time actors like Barkhad Abdi, who plays the Somali pirate who takes Hanks’ Captain Phillips hostage. It seems like a lot is going to hinge on the rapport between the two men, if Abdi’s pirate isn’t taken seriously due to his inability to sell the character to audiences as either truly menacing or sympathetic (the trailer shows shades of both) it will destroy a lot of the film’s suspense.
Judging from the trailer, that doesn’t appear to be a problem, but we’ll have to see in the full film.
Captain Phillips will be boarding cinemas on October 11, 2013.
Last Updated: August 12, 2013
James Francis
August 13, 2013 at 08:09
Looks interesting, if only for the topic.