I went to see the movie Captain Phillips this weekend.  One word review:  wow!  But let me drag it out a bit longer.

When I first saw the trailer for this movie I vaguely remembered the actual incident.  I knew the captain had been kidnapped by Somali pirates.  I thought I knew he survived.  And that was about it.  So when I saw the trailer I decided I wanted to watch the movie.  The only hesitancy I experienced was the fact it starred Tom Hanks.  Mr. Hanks and I had a falling out a few years ago when I discovered after years of contributing to his livelihood, he didn’t respect me.  But that’s a story for another blog.  It always makes my niece Lyn roll her eyes.

In short, I decided to go see the movie hoping my nine bucks would contribute more to the actual Captain Phillips than to Mr. Hanks.  Lyn just double rolled her eyes.  She really should be careful about that – she could hurt herself.

I went to the movie with my dad, my sister MZ, and Lyn.

First, I drooled through the new Thor trailer (gotta admit them Hemsworth boys have some good genes) and a quick question to Lyn about the preview.  “Does she die?” I asked about Natalie Portman’s character.

Lyn looked at me.  “I don’t know,” she said slowly.  After all, why would she know?  The movie hasn’t been released yet.  I just want some assurance the girl ain’t gonna die.  I mean, it’s not fair that Tony Stark is the only Marvel superhero that gets the girl.

But I digress.

The movie started and I noticed right off the bat I was not going to like the filming style.  You know, the ‘in-the-moment’ shaky hand.  Ugh, this is a movie not the news clips.

This was one of the most intense, on-the-edge-of-my-seat movies I have ever seen.  The reason it was so intense?  Because it’s a true story.  Hollywood couldn’t write or fix it to force a happy ending.  You get what you get.  And let me say again, wow!

The reason the story is so good is because there are so many heroes in the world.  Actual, real life heroes.  From the captain, to his crew, to the Navy and the Navy SEALS there were so many heroes in this incident.  And that is just reassuring to see.

The third reason I liked this movie is because it teaches a valuable lesson.  The pirates were able to board the ship because one of the hoses pointed in the wrong direction.  In other words, there was a chink in the armor.  There’s a lesson in that and I will probably share it with my young women.

It is based on a book.  If you’re interested, it is called, “A Captain’s Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS, and Dangerous Days at Sea” by  Richard Phillips with Stephen Talty.  I really wish I was into reading because I want to read the book especially since it is authored by Captain Phillips himself.  This story captivated me and I’d like to know more of the details because while the script followed the book somewhat it was still Hollywoodized.

In the end, do I recommend seeing this movie?  Heck yeah!  Go see it or watch it on video.  Even if Mr. Hanks is in it (no movie is perfect).

Other movie reviews:

Did you hear about this movie? by ck

Three movies in five days by ck

GI Joe a go or a no? by ck

I totally blab about Warm Bodies by ck

I’m no Ebert by ck

RIPD? by ck