Theatrical Release: Captain Phillips

People really need to think harder about posters before they make them. "From the director of 'The Borne Ultimatum'"? Really? Of course it is true, but this is not the Paul Greengrass of the second two Borne films or "Green Zone." No, this is the Greengrass of "Bloody Sunday" and "United 93." This is the Greengrass that brings us harrowing docudramas (shaky cam, included) that tell us something about people under pressure to survive. So why not sell the product in a way that's indicative of what we (the consumers) are getting into. Yes? Anyway, now that I've gotten that off my chest!

The other crazy-visceral, suspenseful, engrossing, unrelenting survivor story of this year (the other being "Gravity," of course), "Captain Phillips" by Paul Greengrass, is not only all that but highly, highly emotionally taxing as well. I can't really say the same for "Gravity" (though, damn, that movie was one hell of a thrill ride). This is why I now place it a notch above "Gravity" on my top movies of 2013 list. That slaps it at second place, a notch below "Upstream Color." Tom Hanks so deserves recognition for his role as Captain Phillips. His sad eyes! When the Somalian pirates latch their ladder to his ship, and the camera cuts to his face, we can see the hope melt away. About the ending, in particular: I will pay you money if you don't shed a tear. My god! It's as if we, like Phillips, had are adrenaline on high for so long that when he's saved we can finally break down with him. And boy, does Hanks really beg us to do so with such a talent for inducing empathy.

   

It should also be noted how Greengrass decided to tell the story. Really the story is two stories, both weighted equally. Both are about humans. Not bad guys (okay, maybe there's one really bad guy that I really, really wanted to die, but...) versus good guys. The Somalian pirates are given a back story concerning just how dire their living conditions are and concerning how they have few options to make such conditions better. In addition during the "meat" of the movie, though we do not empathize with the pirates (our empathy is completely with Hanks and crew), we can sympathize with them, in part, because they are mostly painted as complex human beings. How Greengrass manages to skirt this line despite the fact that the pirates have intentions that many of us will probably (hopefully) never have and despite the fact that really only one pirate seems to be pure evil, is beyond me. But he does it well, and the film is ten times better for it. The line uttered by Somalian overnight star, Barkhad Abdi, to Hank's Phillips, something like, "I've come to far. I can't just give up." is incredible in the way it makes the viewer see the pirate in a new light without forcing us to put on his shoes (which I doubt any of us would want from a director).

This is by far one of the most gripping movies I've seen in recent time. I wholeheartedly recommend watching it on the big screen. Its final sequence will haunt you long after you leave the theater. Finally, I should add that I do not care at all about the parting this film takes from actual events. It's a movie. And as a movie it succeeds extremely well. As I said at the end of my "Gravity" review: Don't be smug. Have an experience you'll hopefully never actually have. And don't rain on others' parade when they enjoy something that's not completely accurate and not a documentary. If it is facts you're interested in, why watch fiction? It's not Greengrass's job to inform you about what actually happened. It's his job to make you experience something and, perhaps, learn something about humanity at large rather than a particular event. Boom.