Hello Write Readers,
Let’s keep moving down our list. We’ve arrived at: movies involving Tom Hanks for 500. There’s a lot more to Captain Phillips than Tom Hanks, but really folks. Tom Hanks. How long has he been doing this? How long has he been making nominatable movies? In his entire career, Tom Hanks has been nominated for 78 total awards, and has won 70 out of 78 of them. Can you even imagine? He has only ever lost a nomination eight times. EIGHT TIMES out of SEVENTY. This man is a genius, and I’m not even his biggest fan.
Captain Phillips, starring Tom Hanks and Barkhad Abdi, is a wonderful film based on a true story, and directed by Paul Greengrass. The film’s inspiration came from the 2009 hijacking of the Maersk Alabama, an incident in which Captain Richard Phillips was taken hostage by pirates in the Indian Ocean. The true story was then turned into a book, A Captain’s Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALs, and Dangerous Days at Sea. And THEN the book was made into a screenplay by Billy Ray, and put to film. The long journey resulted in a fantastic movie about a man, Captain Phillips (Tom Hanks), who is captaining a container ship making its way around the horn of Africa, when Somali pirates attempt to take the ship. After a few attempts, the pirates make their way on board. A bunch of stuff happens that is very exciting and scary, and Captain Phillips is taken hostage. The Navy SEALs are called in (as you might suspect from the book title) and attempt to remove the good captain from his captors led by Abduwali Muse (Barkhad Abdi). Captain Phillips is nominated for Best Picture, and Barkhad Abdi is up for Best Supporting Actor, and for good reason.
I will be honest; I have been more excited to see other movies. Tom Hanks makes lots of films about beating the odds, and when I saw the trailer, I thought, “Oh, that sounds like Cast Away, or The Terminal, or every other movie he’s been in.” And it is definitely predictable casting, and predictable acting. Predictable acting isn’t bad acting – no one could accuse Tom Hanks of not being a superb actor. But truly, when I saw this preview, I thought, “Of course this is a Tom Hanks movie.” And having seen other Tom Hanks movies (which I enjoyed), I briefly considered passing on this one. But I’m really glad I didn’t. Captain Phillips is compelling, and terrifying, as only a threat upon the life of an honorable and heroic person can be. Tom Hanks is Tom Hanks in this film, which is to say, wonderful. While I wasn’t a big fan of the opening of the film (featuring a boring and banal conversation with his wife which felt stale and foreshadowing in not a good way), once the pirates came in, Mr. Hanks became Mr. Hanks. And while I loved many moments in this performance, my favorite was at the end, which I won’t spoil. But let’s just say Hanks was authentic and real in a situation I would assume most people have never been in. I don’t know what methods Hanks employed in order to bring himself to this place, but it was raw and beautiful, and a true depiction of the human experience after the fight or flight hormones have drained away.
I have great news. For those of you who may or may not have shared an eye roll with me when you saw the preview (as I’ve already admitted, I misjudged this seemingly cliché Tom Hanks movie), Tom Hanks isn’t the best part of this film. The best part of the film is the man who is up for Best Supporting Actor – Barkhad Abdi. This phenomenal actor is the most sympathetic Somali pirate you can imagine. We see Muse’s call to action, how he is sent out on the boat to go and earn some money for his little village. We see the way he treats his crew in order to garner respect and ensure he doesn’t get shot. And suddenly, somewhere in between the beginning and the end, he stops being an evil villain who is trying to extort money out of an American captain. He becomes human. He becomes a human who is following orders. He becomes a human who doesn’t have the same opportunity that a young American man might have. Muse becomes sympathetic. And a sympathetic villain is the best kind of villain. Even though I know he was willing to hurt and kill American citizens, I found myself hoping there might be some leniency in the system for people who are forced into terrible situations by terrible people and do what they must to survive. (Clearly had I been in that situation I see that clemency isn’t the word I’d be thinking about.) I absolutely adored almost every word uttered from the mouth of my new favorite actor, and I can’t wait to see Abdi in other roles. He did a brilliant job.
There are a lot of phenomenal films in this race. I don’t know who is going to take home Best Picture, and from all of the movies I’ve seen, honestly Captain Phillips feels a little weak to me. But it’s still worth seeing, especially for young people (high school aged at least) who might benefit from a little “grey” perspective, rather than the black and white legal system we often live in. If you enjoy Tom Hanks, you’ll surely love this remake of all of the films he’s ever made, and if you don’t enjoy Tom Hanks, there are other things to love. It’s a solid film.
Live, Love, Learn,
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