$30,000?

What am I?

Do I look like a beggar?

– Pirate captain Muse sneers at Captain Phillips’ offer to take $30,000 from the ship’s safe and disappear in the new Hollywood film Captain Phillips

I seem to be enjoying a remarkable run of luck these days with Hollywood movies.

Although in two minds whether the drive would be worth it, SI still braved the heavy rain on the East Coast today to watch Captain Phillips (Tom Hanks, Barkhad Abdi).

Great Entertainment

Boy, am I thrilled to inform you that this piracy on the high seas movie turned out to be absolutely riveting in its hold over the audience (the hall was only about 60% full but I blame it on the heavy rain).

Pleased as punch! 😉

Even the usual White trash bozos noisily dipping into their big popcorn buckets were quiet today in the movie hall.

So gripping, so thrilling, so engaging is Captain Phillips!

Based on a real life story, Captain Phillips (directed by Paul Greengrass) is the exhilarating story of a pirate attack on the commercial freighter Maersk Alabama while carrying 2,400 tons of cargo and some humanitarian aid from Salalah (Oman) to Mombasa (Kenya).

Except for Tom Hanks, the other main characters (the four pirates) are no one you’ll recognize, all first-timers.

The four guys playing the pirates are Somali refugees from Minneapolis.

And these four characters are so superb in their first film that it’ll blow you away!

Made me wonder.

Are good actors born or are they merely putty in a good director’s hands?

More than anything, the sheer audacity of four young, dirt-poor Somalis in a dilapidated skiff with a crappy engine overpowering a massive freighter with a vast crew is not merely an awesome sight but makes for a gripping story.

Engaging as the moments on the ship are, they’re only the hors d’oeuvre for what follows in the orange lifeboat that Captain Phillips is spirited away in.

Visually Arresting

The photography on the large ship, of the vast blue sea and in the small orange lifeboat in the latter half is so remarkable it’ll leave you spellbound!

It makes our Bollywood and Kollywood cinematographers look like amateurs – Bachchas! 🙁

Besides the top notch acting and Billy Ray’s solid screenplay, I was extremely impressed with the visual appeal of Captain Phillips.

Awards?

A lot of the American ignorati consider Hollywood veteran Tom Hanks a shoo-in for the Oscar for his performance in and as Captain Phillips.

But my Oscar vote for Best Supporting Actor goes to the young Barkhad Abdi for his brilliant performance as the young Somali pirate captain Muse.

A Somali refugee living in Minneapolis, Barkhad Abdi has delivered an unbelievable performance in his first film.

Yes, schmuck. I said, Barkhad Abdi’s first film.

I swear tears cascaded down my face when Abdi’s character Muse rejects Captain Phillips’ suggestion toward the end to give up in the face of overwhelming U.S. warship superiority:

I come too far, Irish (his nickname for Captain Phillips). I can’t go back.

That was one of the high points of the film for SI!

I so liked the movie’s soundtrack that I’ve already purchased two tracks (Second Attack and Two in the Water) from Apple iTunes.

As I pen this review, Two in the Water is playing in the background on my iMac for the n+1th time!

SearchIndia.com strongly recommends Captain Phillips to all lovers of good cinema.

Captain Phillips is playing in theatres across America.

Don’t miss it!

  Tom Hanks