I’ll admit, when I saw the ads for Captain Phillips (imdb | rotten tomatoes) I thought it was going to be lame. Mediocre. A studio cashing in on a rah-rah story of Navy SEALS saving a hijacked ship captain, with Tom Hanks getting the paycheck. But then it was scoring great reviews, and I realized it was directed by Paul Greengrass. Then it was getting nominated for Golden Globes and Oscars.

So last night we watched it, and yeah…it was really good. I mean, the whole thing was good, but the last fifteen minutes were about as tense and impactful as anything I’ve seen in a movie recently. The film by which I measure all tension crescendos is United 93, also directed by Greengrass, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Tom Hanks was his usual amazing self and, frankly, those final minutes gave him a chance to flex in a way I haven’t seen in years. And all four actors playing the Somali pirates, but especially Barkhad Abdi, were tremendous.

Highly recommended.

.:.

Cover photo by Cliff, used under Creative Commons license