There is a prologue that shows Richard Phillips-whose memoir served as Although the ship’s occupants are shown undergoing an emergency drill, no trained military are involved until the situation becomes dire enough to require a visit from Navy SEALs. No joking around with the crew or idle chitchat: this is a job. The actor submerges his natural exuberance to assume the role of a terse and weary New England-based merchant mariner who oversees a huge floating warehouse with reserved efficiency. This is a different Hanks than the affable guy-next-door that we have come to expect. Tom Hanks is one of those rare movie stars that we willingly follow into almost any unpleasant situation-even in those less-than-great thrillers based on The Da Vinci Code books-knowing that his very presence onscreen will get us through any perils that confront us in the dark. Who else would we want to observe saving a space craft from disaster in " Apollo 13," enduring the horrors of D-Day in " Saving Private Ryan" and surviving a plane crash on a deserted island in " Cast Away"? But, in this case, the filmmaker thankfully reached out to an actor who almost always provides a welcome security blanket for moviegoers. But as Greengrass has demonstrated in such past films as 2002’s " Bloody Sunday" (about the 1972 shooting of unarmed demonstrators in Northern Ireland) and 2006’s "Flight 93" (which re-enacted the events on the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania on 9/11), he is stronger with the doc part of his cinematic equation than the interaction between characters.Įmploying a little-known cast does increase verisimilitude. What unfolds in the next two hours is gripping enough that more than a few theater armrests will probably require upholstery repair. After that, it's full steam ahead and no turning back. Lean-and-hungry members of the world’s under-class-a ragtag, brazenly opportunistic band of young Somali men- stage their attack as if pulling off a smash-and-grab at a jewelry store. The action takes off within the first 20 minutes.
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