'CAPTAIN PHILLIPS'

'CAPTAIN PHILLIPS' (PG-13) (4 STARS) (HIGHEST RATING)

Written by Billy Ray based on the novel "A Captain's Duty:Somali Pirates, Navy Seals and Dangerous Days at Sea" by Richard Phillips and Stephen Tally.
Directed by Paul Greengrass
Actors: Tom Hanks, Barkhad Abdi, Barkhad Abdirahman, Catherine Keener, Chris Mulkey.

Tom Hanks is one of the most likeable actors we have today because we can relate to almost any character he plays in any movie. This helps a lot when watching the stomach churning, tense, extremely well acted and enthralling "Captain Phillips". This is a hard movie to embrace and love but with Hanks you will be feeling a lot of emotion by the end of this movie. Paul Greengrass has directed another movie like this before with the powerful "United 93". With that white knuckler and now this movie, Greengrass is now one of our finest directors of thrillers. "United 93" never let you off the hook and never made it easy to embrace the story. "Captain Phillips" makes you identify with it's hero because of Hank's everyman, down to earth quality.

"Captain Phillips" is mostly a cat and mouse battle of wits, a tense thriller and an action movie. It is the best action movie of 2013 so far. Greengrass directed "The Bourne Identity", he knows how to make a highly charged, effective action movie. "Captain Phillips" tells the amazing story of Richard Phillips, a cargo ship captain who is on a trip to the coast of Somali. At first Richard is a tough boss towards his crew and demanding but not any more than a usual boss at any job. When Somali pirates invade his ship and demand money or they will kill the whole crew, Richard has to save his hide and protect his crew. When this incident starts we see that Richard has feelings and that he cares about his crew and is not so cold.

"Captain Phillips" will not waste any time setting up character development. It will jump right into business and it will reveal what kind of a man Phillips is by every problem he has to overcome dealing with these pirates. We will also learn more about the chief pirate who is in charge of this invasion. I didn't expect the depths that this story would reveal with it's antagonist Muse, an outstanding performance by Barkhad Abdi. He is a desperate man whose poverty and social situation has forced him to try something like hold a ship and it's crew hostage for money. The movie will become a fascinating battle of wits between Muse and Phillips. Muse can't turn back now even when the Navy Seals become involved and Muse pretty much has run out of options.

That desperation from Muse and Phillip's steely resolve will make "Captain Phillips" an amazing story of struggle between two different men. Muse's team of attackers will also be deeply written and their ambivalent feelings towards this mission is as important as Muse's and Phillip's feelings. Tom Hanks, in my opinion, gives my favorite Tom Hank's performance and in the many tense scenes Hanks never overplays his hand and in the explosively emotional finale Hanks will reach deeper than he has in any movie since "Philadelphia". Barkhad Abdi, as Muse, gives a powerful, natural debut performance that matches Hank's subtly effective acting with Abdi's anger and explosiveness.

"Captain Phillips" never has a dull moment and never rests for a minute. The movie is beautifully shot, edited, directed and performed. It starts off as the best thriller and action movie of the year and then winds up as a morality tale with deep emotional power by the end. Hanks has to be a shoo in for an Oscar nomination and I wouldn't be surprised if Abdi doesn't get noticed also. Paul Greengrass has directed another tense masterpiece that never makes a wrong move and never lets you breathe. There are edge of your seat scenes of intensity and action, surprising emotion and finally a compelling story that also makes you think. As the end credits rolled I had to sit for a few minutes and I couldn't move. I didn't expect that from what I thought would just be a simple thriller. "Captain Phillips" is easily one of the best movies of the year.