Captain Philips - Paul Greengrass

expectationlost

trailer > http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/video/2013/may/08/captain-phillips-trailer-exclusive-video

In 2009, a crew of Somali pirates seized control of the US-flagged MV Maersk Alabama – the first American cargo ship to be hijacked in 200 years. This real-life story has now been adapted into a film, directed by British director Paul Greengrass (the Bourne trilogy, United 93), and starring Tom Hanks as Captain Phillips, who was in charge of the US ship. The film releases later this year

this looks excellent, the story of the hijack itself is better than fiction, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maersk_Alabama_hijacking think we can trust paul greengrass to do a good thriller and not too america f yeah.

Sad Professor

Tom Hanks fights Somalian pirates intercut with shakycam scenes of guys in suits looking at computer screens and soldiers running around. Big yawn. I'm so tired of Greengrass and his overblown quasi-documentary shtick.

The film looks inferior in every way to Tobias Lindholm's A Hijacking, which is out on the 17th (next Friday). I saw it at JDFF and it's excellent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQ5b5Jml7H0

Looper007

Sad Professor wrote: »

Tom Hanks fights Somalian pirates intercut with shakycam scenes of guys in suits looking at computer screens and soldiers running around. Big yawn. I'm so tired of Greengrass and his overblown quasi-documentary shtick.

The film looks inferior in every way to Tobias Lindholm's A Hijacking, which is out on the 17th (next Friday). I saw it at JDFF and it's excellent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQ5b5Jml7H0

Wait for the film to come out to say its inferior :rolleyes:. Trailer isn't the whole film.

Greengrass always produces great cinema and Hanks is great when given a great role. I'm looking forward to this.

expectationlost

ok for the rest of us plebs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sp6jpeDeQmE

Dozen Wicked Words

Actually hadn't heard of A Hijacking so will check that out, but Captain Phillips looks eminently watchable too. Variety is the spice of life so they say.

Soby

No thread for this?. Just at the première there. Excellent excellent film. Tom Hanks brilliant as always

ricero

Soby wrote: »

No thread for this?. Just at the première there. Excellent excellent film. Tom Hanks brilliant as always

Could it be an oscar winning performance by mr hanks ?

Bacchus

ricero wrote: »

Could it be an oscar winning performance by mr hanks ?

Well he has just been diagnosed with diabetes

/cynicism

Saw a trailer for this yesterday, hadn't heard mush about it but it looks great. Pity it's not out this weekend. There is a Gravity sized void :P in my weekend since I found out it's not out over here till November!

FlashD

Saw the trailer this week, came out of nowhere and looked good.

Hanks really comes into his own in these kind of meaty under pressure type roles and Greengrass as director was the icing. Looking forward to seeing it.

The movie name is a bit weak though which is probably why it went under my radar.

LuckyLloyd

Sad Professor wrote: »

Tom Hanks fights Somalian pirates intercut with shakycam scenes of guys in suits looking at computer screens and soldiers running around. Big yawn. I'm so tired of Greengrass and his overblown quasi-documentary shtick.

The film looks inferior in every way to Tobias Lindholm's A Hijacking, which is out on the 17th (next Friday). I saw it at JDFF and it's excellent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQ5b5Jml7H0

lol

Go see this people, well worth a look. Hanks is mesmerizing.

mike65

The real life fellow mariners of Philips are not too impressed with the portrayal of their Captain apparently.

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/oct/14/captain-phillips-tom-hanks-real-life-no-hero

Ugo Monye spacecraft experience

Saw this last night

It's decent. Greengrass does have a knack for getting the pulse racing and Hanks is very good

But it's pretty forgettable which is a shame because there was a lot more scope for a more subtle director

Greengrass touches on the reasons why these guys Pirate in the first place and in a way we can empathise with the main pirate but had he pulled up the action train more than he did there was definitely scope there to humanise the pirates further

e_e

Very well done thriller and it might be the best Hanks performance that I've ever seen.

Though there's not much substance and you get a really clunky opening setting up the themes in a pretty ham-fisted way. Fortunately the film really picks up from there on out, far more successful than the slog that was Zero Dark Thirty.

Marty McFly

Bacchus wrote: »

Well he has just been diagnosed with diabetes

/cynicism

Saw a trailer for this yesterday, hadn't heard mush about it but it looks great. Pity it's not out this weekend. There is a Gravity sized void :P in my weekend since I found out it's not out over here till November!

It out tomorrow not November , got tickets to see this on Saturday night hopefully it lives up to the reviews and buzz that seems to be surrounding Tom Hanks performance.

Marty McFly

Seen this last night and have to say I really enjoyed it mostly. Tom Hanks was brilliant, there were plenty of tense moments. Also for as much praise that Tom Hanks has got for his role of Captain Phillips a lot of praise should be aimed at Barkhad Abdi who was terrific as the Pirate Captain and was very much Hanks equal in every scene.

Only problem was that it did drag on a bit in the middle section of the film and you do feel some of it could have been cut out.

catallus

I enjoyed it mostly aswell. In the middle parts I was left scratching my head about the plot

Mainly about how come there was not one single firearm on board (Don't all large cargo liners usually have to have one trained sniper on board?) and why the hell didn't the whole crew just go to the pirates' boarding point and boink them over their heads with something hard, amongst other things

But it was a good last 30 mins,apart from

Hanks going full tard in the last three minutes

Also, those pirates were disappointing, not one parrot or eyepatch to be seen!

Stheno

I saw this Friday and really enjoyed it, brought my OH along, going to the movies is new to us, at times it was slow, but good enough to keep us engaged.

Marty McFly

catallus wrote: »

I enjoyed it mostly aswell. In the middle parts I was left scratching my head about the plot

Mainly about how come there was not one single firearm on board (Don't all large cargo liners usually have to have one trained sniper on board?) and why the hell didn't the whole crew just go to the pirates' boarding point and boink them over their heads with something hard, amongst other things

But it was a good last 30 mins,apart from

Hanks going full tard in the last three minutes

Also, those pirates were disappointing, not one parrot or eyepatch to be seen!

Nope most large container ships don't have and aren't or weren't allowed firearms on board certainly not one trained sniper, boink them over the head with something hard?? :pac::pac: Easier said than done when people have guns pointed at yea something hard puts you firmly as the underdog.

Also I thought Hanks performance at the end was top notch showing a man who had just gone through something incredibly traumatic, that' the scene were most reviewers have been praising him, also when in the cinema there was an eery silence for that scene.

johnny_ultimate

Full-throttle, full-blooded cinema. It barely lets up for its duration, and I couldn't help but get caught up in the situation unfolding. I was going to point out several setpieces that work particularly well, but really the whole film is one relentless battle and only rarely gives the audience some breathing space. Even the quieter lifeboat sections are emotionally fraught and overflowing with creeping dread.

I was surprised at how much screentime Greengrass lent the pirates: in both subtle and more pronounced ways he really gives time to their contextualise their psychological response and social background. Of course, it's a shame that some of the best developed African characters in recent Hollywood cinema are Somali pirates, but the film steps somewhat beyond the 'big bad other' representations of other cultures prevalent in American cinema (well, with the possible exception of the particularly jittery, violent Najee).

The result is that I found myself genuinely devastated when the high speed manouvere was executed - the death of these desperate, conflicted people was such a sad conclusion, and I think Phillips' shocked response was pitch perfect given the miserable events he had just witnessed.

It seemed a shame to waste Catherine Keener in such a limited role, but Greengrass made the right call resisting the temptation for family member cutaways. If anything, the awkward opening scenes could have been trimmed entirely.

I am reluctant to use the word 'documentarian' given the huge liberties allegedly taken with the story, but Greengrass certainly films the military stuff with a cold, distant precision that almost completely avoids jingoism. It's not a new trick for him, but it works well here. This is a film where any victories are terribly costly ones.

'Maybe in America' is one of Captain Phillips' most powerful, memorable lines.

As for inevitable A Hijacking comparisons? They're both worthy, significantly different takes on generally similar subject matter. They both do very interesting things and present unique perspectives, and there's no benefit dismissing one or the other as inferior. Yes, Phillips has more of a familiar action thriller template, but it's genuinely visceral and involving too, and the various shades of grey elevate it beyond mere mindless reconstruction. They're both deserving of our attention.

Bacchus

Marty McFly wrote: »

It out tomorrow not November , got tickets to see this on Saturday night hopefully it lives up to the reviews and buzz that seems to be surrounding Tom Hanks performance.

Cheers, I was referring to Gravity not being out till November though. After a few weeks of wanting to go see something decent in cinema, I'm now busy for the next few weekends and this, Thor and Gravity are all coming out :mad: May have to sacrifice Cap Phillips till it's out on DVD.

johnny_ultimate

Any thoughts on the incredibly Inception-like final music cue? Apparently Hans Zimmer receives a special thanks in the credits, but the song's resemblance to 'Time' actually sort of broke my connection with the film as I tried to figure out if it was the some song or not! Very peculiar situation, will be curious to see if the truth behind it is revealed somewhere along the line. It just about worked because it's such a powerful composition ('arrangement' or otherwise), but a fascinating oddity one way or the other.

Two tracks are here, if you're curious.

Otacon

Bacchus wrote: »

May have to sacrifice Cap Phillips till it's out on DVD.

Don't. Just don't.

Sad Professor

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Any thoughts on the incredibly Inception-like final music cue? Apparently Hans Zimmer receives a special thanks in the credits, but the song's resemblance to 'Time' actually sort of broke my connection with the film as I tried to figure out if it was the some song or not! Very peculiar situation, will be curious to see if the truth behind it is revealed somewhere along the line. It just about worked because it's such a powerful composition ('arrangement' or otherwise), but a fascinating oddity one way or the other.

Two tracks are here, if you're curious.

“Time” was obviously used on the temp track. The composer tried to copy the tone of it without being a blatant a rip-off but Greengrass wouldn’t settle for anything but the original track. "Temp track love" - happens all time. So he got Zimmer’s blessing and did a glorified remix. Zimmer would have been very understanding since he apes temp tracks all the time, it’s why he’s so in demand.

SimonTemplar

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Any thoughts on the incredibly Inception-like final music cue? Apparently Hans Zimmer receives a special thanks in the credits, but the song's resemblance to 'Time' actually sort of broke my connection with the film as I tried to figure out if it was the some song or not! Very peculiar situation, will be curious to see if the truth behind it is revealed somewhere along the line. It just about worked because it's such a powerful composition ('arrangement' or otherwise), but a fascinating oddity one way or the other.

Two tracks are here, if you're curious.

The music is by Henry Jackman who is a protege of Zimmer in his Remote Control studios.

Bacchus

Stheno wrote: »

I saw this Friday and really enjoyed it, brought my OH along, going to the movies is new to us, at times it was slow, but good enough to keep us engaged.

No matter how good a movie is, it should not be a deciding factor in your decision to get married.... thank God ye didn't go see Escape Plan

.... I'll close the door on my way out :pac:

Bullseye1

Surprisingly pleased I went to see this. Hanks gives one of his best performances in some time. Highly recommended.

Ole Rodrigo

I thought this was excellent. Great performances, expert pacing, utterly engrossing....the practical, business like scenes with the Navy were refreshing and completely free of any jingoism. I had the impression at the start when we see the Somali warlord Jeeps driving through the desert covered in sun baked dust with bits of graffiti etched on the windows, that this would be a film that paid attention to detail. Tom Hanks performance was perfectly pitched and elevated parts of the film beyond what it would have been otherwise, he deserves all the praise he has received.

The Black Oil

Yeah, I thought it was pretty well done. I was familiar enough with the story from the headlines at the time. It moved quite effectively from the situation of the pirates acting controlled and determined to something very desperate. Certainly I'd be pretty damn scared as soon as they boarded. I think it managed not to have Hanks hogging the screen the whole time (even when present), and as such, the back and forth between the pirates made things pretty balanced and interesting. The final couple of scenes are tough going, and indeed well done. I did wonder

whether the corpsman at the end was actually Navy personnel, and not an actor.

Apparently so?

fryup

surprised by all the positive comments, saw it today and was underwhelmed....the first third was good with them playing cat & mouse with the pirates...but

once capt philip and the pirates went on the lifeboat i thought it went quickly downhill..it was too claustrophobic and tedious and went on way too long..and the ending with the navy seals was typical hollywood like something out of Under Seige with steven segal

nah i thought it would be better

RhubarbCrumble

Went to see Captain Phillips today and as all the others posters here said, it was a pretty good film, but did drag slightly. I though it could have done with being maybe 20-30 minutes shorter.

Tom Hanks was good, but I thought Barkhad Abdi as Muse was absolutely excellent.

Retro Police

I was very disappointed. I went with high expectations after seeing the reviews and the praise for Hanks but it was all very underwhelming and also far too long. Hanks was nothing special (Abdi was the star of the show). A few good set-pieces but that's all I'll take away from it.

brevity

Just back from this and it's a full on tense affair. I really enjoyed when the pirates eventually get onto the ship, it was very well worked and cant have been easy to shoot.

Tom Hanks was on top form but I felt his performance only really hit home in the last 5-10 minutes. A man completely broken at what had happened to him.

The captain of the pirates was excellent also. In some ways you kinda felt sorry for the lot of them. They were so disorganized and confused.

Definitely worth a watch in my opinion.

johnny_ultimate

fryup wrote: »

it was too claustrophobic and tedious and went on way too long..and the ending with the navy seals was typical hollywood like something out of Under Seige with steven segal[/SPOILER]

I appreciated the second half of the film for almost the complete opposite reasons. The claustrophobia is a fantastic tool to help us to know the characters and the situation they're in, and in a sense the 'tedium' (not the word I'd use) is to get us right inside this cramped, hostile, unforgiving temporary home. It might not be as action packed as what came before, but the reality is these people spent a lot of time in a cramped lifeboat, and Greengrass has to portray that. It's as important to portray as the more action-packed moments. IMO he did a great job at consistently escalating the tension while making the audience squirm along with the characters.

As for the navy seals, the final moments will be accused of jingoism.

I'd suggest it's anything but. In fact, I found the whole thing emotionally powerful, where I could easily comprehend the shocked, conflicted response of Phillips. It is not an 'America, **** yeah' moment. It's the death of three desperate, confused and outnumbered humans and the arrest of another by a cold, sterile military and political machine that wants a happy ending no matter what the cost. It's a sobering, depressing ending, with the relief that Phillips has escaped sharply countered by the shocking consequences of that resolution.

catallus

Look guys, it was a good film but it had nowhere near the power and emotional depth of Under Siege.

The Black Oil

The ending

is far from the chest-thumping military stuff we've become used to. Plus, we were spared any sort of reunion with his wife.

charlie_says

Back from this a few hours ago.

The pacing along with the tension and intensity of the situation keep the entire audience riveted. The pirates attempts at getting on to the cargo ship was utterly gripping viewing.

Saying that the most interesting parts of the movie were the discussions between the pirates and Hank about their situation. I didn't like the military aspect of it and thought the guys parachuting (did they really do that?) was a bit too 007ish.

The pirate leader, Barkhad Abdi, who was excellent,

ended up going to America in chains just like his other African brothers in the past into a different type of slavery, even after he said "Maybe in America" and that he wanted to visit there, even though he hated them, was a quite shocking.

Hanks in the final scene was very believable, trying to be helpful to the medics but overcome in emotion due to surviving the ordeal and the horror of what happened.

Decent film, would agree it was a little long though but mainly because it was so frickin intense and shouty!

pixelburp

I think the accusations of US military triumphalism are faintly ridiculous to be honest; as has already been said, their presence was perfectly normal and even handed given the pretty dire circumstances everyone was in. If a viewer is so allergic to the merest suggestion of the US military being involved, even in cases where they had a legitimate reason to be, I'd go so far as to suggest the problem is with the viewer, not the film.

Anyway, as it stands I can only add my own praise for the film: it had a near-constant level of tension and high pacing that made the 2+ hours fly by, and was genuinely one of the more exciting tentpole films I've seen in a while, with the human drama rounded and believable, never losing its way or giving over to caricature and melodrama. Hanks was excellent, even if the rest of the tanker's crew had little to do, and praise also for showing the pirates themselves as human beings, not simply aggressors for our heroes to battle; it was hard not to feel a little sorry for their situation, especially when became clear to all of them they had bitten off more than they could chew.

I thought the humanity and unstated nature of it all was emphasised at the end when

a shell-shocked, confused and distraught Hanks was being treated by the Navy doctor (herself clearly knowing how to talk to him. I wonder if she was actually a genuine medic & not an actor?). The man was clearly a mess, and that vulnerability was a happy contrast to the usual cliché, which would have had Captain Phillips act stoically, calmly in the face of all that had happened. Nope, he just behaved like any of us would, and became a gibbering wreck

Dont be at yourself

Great performances, well realised characters and some great direction, but I don't think there was really enough going story-wise to hang it all from.

The Black Oil

pixelburp wrote: »

I thought the humanity and unstated nature of it all was emphasised at the end when

a shell-shocked, confused and distraught Hanks was being treated by the Navy doctor (herself clearly knowing how to talk to him. I wonder if she was actually a genuine medic & not an actor?). The man was clearly a mess, and that vulnerability was a happy contrast to the usual cliché, which would have had Captain Phillips act stoically, calmly in the face of all that had happened. Nope, he just behaved like any of us would, and became a gibbering wreck

Yeah, as I linked earlier, she's in the Navy - her performance felt very natural. Also, Chief O' Brien, possible Star Trek reference? On the jingoism thing, it's a daft accusation, really. iirc, the Seals were not named, prep time with them was minimal, no high fiving and their role in the film is quite limited, really.

upstairs for coffee

Out of interest does anyone know what the plant like substance was that the Somali's were eating in the lifeboat? Cheers

Ole Rodrigo

Its called Khat, a mild natural amphetamine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khat#Somalia

death1234567

fryup wrote: »

surprised by all the positive comments, saw it today and was underwhelmed....

Me too, it's poor. No sense of drama or suspense, and as expected

the all conquering US Navy seals where there to save the day

. USA! USA! USA!. I guess it's the fact that it's based on a "true" story.

FlashD

Excellent movie!

The tension, confusion and claustrophobia of the second half was mighty. The later stages was an excellent insight into how the Navy & Seals operate in tight hostage situations. Everyone keeping ultra calm and professional in contrast to the lunacy of the Somali pirates.

Solid performance by Hanks who is well suited to the role and one of his best in ages, Barkhad Abdi as the Somali captain also deserves recognition.

Well recommended!

Josey Wales

death1234567 wrote: »

Me too, it's poor. No sense of drama or suspense, and as expected

the all conquering US Navy seals where there to save the day

. USA! USA! USA!. I guess it's the fact that it's based on a "true" story.

How can you complain about this aspect? It is what happened in real life.

helimachoptor

death1234567 wrote: »

Me too, it's poor. No sense of drama or suspense, and as expected

the all conquering US Navy seals where there to save the day

. USA! USA! USA!. I guess it's the fact that it's based on a "true" story.

If you think that film was USA USA, wait until you see lone survivor

The Black Oil

The Navy SEALs were not named (not that they would be, but were this a Michael Bay film or Independence Day, that angle would have been played up completely with them hunting glory, pumping iron and whatever else. Here, they're mostly in the background (save for the commander). No jingoism going on as far as I could see.

IvaBigWun

There's high quality webrips of this online over the past 24 hours. Not usually my kind of genre but the lure of Hanks, Greengrass and the glowing reviews here are going to tempt me.

If its no good Im blaming all of you

Hank Scorpio

excellent film, ending was very emotional

Adamantium

Went to see this last month in London, middle of the day, that final scene

had me pretty weepy, unexpectedly, like all the tension was sucked out of the room, leaving only a vacuum and a broken Tom Hanks, complete gut punch with how detached and clinical, yet professional the medic had to be. Tom Hanks almost childlike unbearably human breakdown is savage to watch, had me literally going "jesus" under my breath, like I was in the room with him. He could not process the trauma

I could hand on heart, say that scene had the BEST acting I ever seen.

There was an eery embarassing silence, when listening closely I few other could hear a sniffs and sobs, I was socially relieved.

Incredible film

LuckyLloyd

He should get the Oscar for that scene alone let's be honest, extraordinary acting.

IvaBigWun

An underwelming film for me considering the hype, but the last 10 minutes of acting are worth the admission price alone.

Tom Hanks at 10/1 is surely the best value odds of any Oscar betting so far