In the movie “captain Philips” is starred by Tom Hanks as Captain Richard Philips. Mr. Phillips is the captain of the MV Maersk Alabama container ship. The movie is based on a real incident that happened in 2009 in the east coast waters. While Captain Richard was traveling through international waters, his container ship is boarded by Somali pirates. The movie is about Somali pirates hijacking a commercial freighter (Phillips, Richard, and Stephan,22) Taking over the ship, the Somali pirates hold the Captain and a few of his men who were his crew. Many of the pirates look like they are mere teenagers and this marked the first time in more than a century when an American container ship had been taken over by pirates. Hijacking the American container, lead to a protracted stand-off state between the Somali pirates and the United States Navy. This paper is a critique of the intriguing aspects of the film and the critics that arose when the movie was first release.
Captain Philips is a ship captain working for Maersk. In the initial stages of the movie, He is getting ready to sail his container ship around the waters of horn of Africa. This glance shows the mundane nature of Captain Philips. This is portrayed by his hour by hour activities routine from leaving his premises to preparing the container ship for the voyage. At the same moment, the attention of the movie is shifted to the black continent in Somalia. In Somalia, a band of professional pirates is being summoned by their bosses for not capturing more ships and cargo. The bosses are fully of furry with the pirates for their non-aggressive procedures especially in hijacking the previous ships. The bosses are demanding for results. Or else! At his point there is switch back and forth between the scenes involving Captain Philips and his crew members, and the band of professional pirates. This creates a contrasting image in the mind of the viewer of how the two involved groups live. Switching back and forth brings the actions of the seamen and the professional Somali pirates together for a gut wrenching tale. The viewer is able to have an understanding of the two confronting parties, their moral values, how they work and the dangers that are at stake of their jobs. In addition, the two contrasting scenes portray how the seamen and the Somali pirates live in their “jobs.” (Nick, 132).
Captain Phillips is aware of the dangers that are at stake for the seamen especially in the sea waters around the horn of Africa. With this in mind, the captain is a serious man who seems to be prepared for any form of eventualities that he may encounter during his sailing. It is without any shrewd of doubt that the captain Philips is aware of the eventualities that may occur on his way crossing from the sea waters of gulf of Eden to the east coast waters of the Indian Ocean. The ship captain has to be prepared hence he ensures that the crew members are aware of the only eventuality that may occur and what they are supposed to do when the Somali pirates decide to attack their ship. Captain Phillips together with his crew members is ready with the fire hoses to fight back the Somali pirates. However, the issue of credibility comes in here. It is obvious that the fire hoses that the ship uses to repel the pirates’ small boats are not to the task, despite Captain Philips confidence that by pushing the ship to its limits and making use of the fire hoses, he and his crew members will triumph over the aggressive Somali pirates. At initial contacts, Captain Philips had an upper hand of repelling the pirates by fake radio contacts and course changes. The viewer has in mind the Somali pirates had been threatened by their bosses and hence they were motivated to capture the ship to avoid their brutal punishments. The pirates successfully capture the ship a new terrifying moments overwhelm the scenes. It is so interested on how they two parties of interest play a deadly cat and mouse games inside the ship. The Somali pirates are attempting to take the captain and crew members on board. On the other hand, the ship’s crew attempts to fully disable the ship in order to camouflage and hence stay alive. However, crew’s efforts to remain safe were futile leading to capturing of Captain Philips together with the crew members.
At this flick, common sense prevails. The Somali pirates have guns and the crewmembers did not want to risk their lives too for mere cargo only. However, things take a new turn from bad to worse when the leader of the pirates (Muse), decides to kidnap Captain Philips and demand a ransom from the use government. Muse keeps the tension by threatening to kill the captain if his terms are not met. It is without doubt this flick is tautness for the viewer. At the same a third entity gushes in the scenes. It is the United States Navy. The US Navy enters the scenes and the film examines the three distinct parties of interest as the drama broadens from the perspective of Captain Philips, Crew members, Somali pirates, and United States Navy.
When the movie was releases it was welcomed with different views. Mr. Luke Buck Master supported the movie. He starts by praising the setting of the movie where he acknowledges how the Name of the starring appears in bright red letters above the title. The gluing color is also matched with the words “based on a true story” captures the attention of the viewer. The movie carries the day by casting of Hanks in the first place. Mr. Hanks is both the porter and the salesman since he is famous. He adds that the movie brings the audience to a quality film that they may not have otherwise seen. Mr. Andre Crous is another critic who supported the movie. Andre is mainly focused on the attributes of the main character. He appreciates the mundane nature of Captain Philips and the aggressiveness of Muse. He adds that the nature of the two characters keeps the dynamic between the two characters more interesting and tense. The third critic is Matt Looker who is also focused on appreciating the right choice of characters. He describes Captain Philips as a refreshingly simple tale with no discernible showboating from the real Hanks (Stephen,75).
On the other hand, several critics were against the movie. For instance, critic Jim Walsh did not support the Captain Phillip film at any time. First, he reacts with a question as whether Captain Phillips film unfairly depict Somali plight. He suggests that the film portrays the Somali youth (pirates) as individuals who are only interested by money since the film does not mention about the background of the piracy. He disputes further that was not a true based movie. Critic Ossob Mohamud insisted that movie had false portrayal. The movie gave the audience a false portrayal towards the darker people seeing them as criminals (Phillips, Richard, and Stephan 123). He also condemned underdevelopment of character among the Somali actors. He insisted that Somali characters were based on a one dimensional. Critic Elizabeth Tannen was also against the film. She concentrated on the poor character development especially the Somali actors. She insisted that they lacked past and future. Consequently, she insisted their dialogue was monosyllabic and speech pattern was felt as being unnatural and forced (McKnight, Terry, and Michael, 149).
Works cited
Air Service Journal. New York: Gardner Moffat, 1917. Print.
DeLong, Kent, and Steven Tuckey. Mogadishu!: Heroism and Tragedy. Westport, Conn: Praeger, 1994. Print.
Lake, Nick. Hostage Three. London: Bloomsbury Children's, 2013. Print.
McKnight, Terry, and Michael Hirsh. Pirate Alley: Commanding Task Force 151 Off Somalia. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2012. Print.
Schneider, Steven J. 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die. Hauppauge, N.Y: Barron's, 2011. Print.
Phillips, Richard, and Stephan Talty. A Captain's Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy Seals, and Dangerous Days at Sea. New York: Hyperion, 2010. Print.
