![]() The film does manage to revive the accomplished actor's diminished credibility. The domestic gross is comparable to and slightly better than those of fellow 2010s Sony award-contending dramas The Social Network and Zero Dark Thirty, though neither of those boasted star power on the order of even the present-day Hanks. Likewise, Toy Story 3 wouldn't have been the same without him, but how many tickets were purchased explicitly to hear him voice Woody once more? Prior to this, Hanks' three most recent on-camera appearances have all bombed, finishing around the $30 million mark domestically.Īlthough Captain Phillips probably would have been a huge hit during Hanks' heyday of the '90s through the early 2000s, it's done plenty well in the 2010s, grossing over $105 million domestically and another $110 M overseas. Though he undoubtedly deserves some credit for reeling in moviegoers to The Da Vinci Code, the scandalous material was the real draw there. While Tom Hanks is generally considered one of the most popular movie stars of our time, a look at the figures suggests his everyman appeal to the American public started to dip around the middle of last decade. Even if you think a sad ending would make this an unusual film subject, such an outcome seems possible without full knowledge of the particulars. The stakes aren't as high, the wounds aren't so large, and the story isn't as familiar as the one told in United 93, giving this film less weight but greater unpredictability. Greengrass' knack for gripping action is on fine display and the entire conflict feels about as well-researched as his 9/11 film was. Still, it's clearly a harrowing experience and merely the first of many that Captain Phillips will personally face. The crew has a couple of miles and a few minutes of notice to prepare for the invasion, and the ship isn't entirely helpless against such small fishing vessels. The pirates' approach unfolds with more tension and suspense than any horror movie idea. Navy and Navy SEALs plotting to rescue the kidnapped captain. While the Alabama follows the lifeboat, authorities eventually get involved, with the U.S. They do so with Captain Phillips as their willing hostage, believing he can fetch a ransom to make the experience worth their while. The generally easygoing and scarcely defined crew puts up as much a fight as they can in hiding and it's enough to send the hijackers away on the ship's covered lifeboat. Phillips agrees to give the intruders a tour of the ship, secretly tipping off his crew as much as he can. Muse figures it will take millions to satisfy his bosses and that the Alabama should be able to yield that kind of money. But that is not a plan that Abduwali Muse (Barkhad Abdi), the foursome's bony, English-speaking leader is willing to accept. Phillips is happy to hand over the $30,000 cash inside the ship's safe and send the pirates on their way. While much of his crew finds places to safely hide, Phillips does the talking to the four armed young Somali men who are able to hook a ladder onto the side of the ship and climb aboard. But the other one eventually catches up and after making the necessary calls, there's not much more Phillips can do but cooperate and hope for the best. The Alabama is able to lose the ships and one turns away altogether. Though they've prepared for such a scenario, Phillips and his crew are understandably unsettled by their radar's indication of two skiffs rapidly approaching their vast container ship. The trip requires passing through some waters off the coast of Northern Africa where the threat of piracy is real enough to warrant cautionary e-mails and Phillips running his crew of twenty through a drill. When he boards the Maersk Alabama in the spring of 2009, he is prepared to transport its contents efficiently and according to plan. But he takes his work as a cargo ship captain seriously. ![]() Hanks is Rich Phillips, a Vermont man who isn't crazy that his work regularly pulls him away from his nurse wife (Catherine Keener) and now collegiate children. That doesn't do anything to diminish the authentic feel that pervades this sea adventure. Made between two improbably highly-regarded Jason Bourne sequels, Greengrass deliberately opted for a no-name cast, here he fills the title role with one of the biggest names in Hollywood over the past quarter-century: Tom Hanks. Whereas on that Academy Award-nominated 2006 film, In Captain Phillips, director Paul Greengrass applies the fact-driven docudrama approach he took on United 93 to a more intimate, less earth-shattering hijacking.
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