Captain Phillips was a thrilling Hollywood interpretation of the capture of Captain Richard Phillips by Somalian pirates in April 2009.

The movie opens up with Phillips (played by actor Tom Hanks) going through his normal everyday life duties in his home in Vermont. He has been called to be the captain of a cargo ship going around the horn of Africa. His wife is taking him to the airport, and even in a simple car ride scene, I still felt tense just knowing what was coming later in the film.

Phillips, once on the Maersk Alabama and sailing, gets several foreshadowing warnings about pirate attacks on boats off the coast of Somalia, directly where they are sailing the ship. To take extra precautions, Phillips orders several security drills to take place just to be safe. Ironically, right after a drill is over, two boats are seen speeding in the direction of the ship. After a long process to try and delay the pirates, one boat of four armed Somalian pirates eventually find their way on the ship and go straight to the captains corridors, where they threaten Phillips and make him direct them to his crew. They eventually get what they want; money, but they’re not satisfied. They make Phillips come with them in the small Maersk Alabama lifeboat. The journey in the lifeboat is a tense one. It is a race against the U.S. Navy which is coming to the rescue, the speed of the life boat to get Phillips back to Somalia, and the health of the 5 members aboard as they’re water and food supply diminishes, along with their patience with each other.

At the beginning of the film, during shots of Phillips preparing his ship and the beginning of his journey, there is footage of the Somalian village that the pirates come from. They are hassled by members outside the village who visit, saying that they shouldn’t be sitting around;  that there is money to be made and ships to be captured. During these scenes, you are allowed an interesting view into the culture and nature of piracy. It’s often not the actual pirates who receive the benefits from their duties, but the bosses who work them so hard. One of the pirates was a teenage boy who was still masked by innocence. Throughout the film, I found myself feeling compassion and sympathy towards the young pirate, as did Phillips, who was in awe about his age and actions, and was probably reflecting on his own teenage son.

If action movies are your thing and you are thinking about seeing Captain Phillips, then I suggest something else. It was a very good movie; however in scenes where you would think there’d be lots of action and things going, it was just tense looks and conversations. I think this movie would be well received by people who enjoy documentary type films. The true story factor makes it very appealing, and you are still curious to see what the outcome is, even though most know the background story of what actually happens.