I never want to be on a ship boarded by pirates. Not ever. In fact, I will avoid the waters off the Horn of Africa from here on out. So for the likes of me, this movie is the closest that I will get to the experience of being held hostage by a ragtag group of machine gun toting hyped up young men who want millions of dollars in exchange for letting me go. Tom Hanks is a great choice for the lead role in this movie--who would want to watch a movie about pirates taking over a ship? It doesn't sound the least bit enthertaining. But Hanks is an actor who has gotten audiences to watch all sorts of unpleasant things, from dying of AIDS to being cast away on a deserted island, so why hsould this movie be any different? Of course we will watch him get abused by pirates. He plays Captain Richard Phillips, a real life merchant marine captain who endured the story that the movie tells. He has been shepherding large vessels filled with goods around the oceans of the world for decades. He is not a rookie, but when his ship gets boarded, he keeps a cool head in an extremely challenging situation. The thing that was most amazing to me is that the crew is unarmed. Not one firearm amongst them. Some fire power might have helped them, but then again, it might not have.
In any case, while we have very little sympathy for the Somalis involved, there is a the story told about the global economy and the lives of those who have very little. These guys are owned by war lords, who are the ones who skim off all the money garnered, but the idea that rich nations are driving by with untold riches could make the locals wish for a piece of the pie. It is just that that is not what is happening. Phillips at one point says to his captor point blank, "You are not a fisherman." Tense, but well done movie. The actors who are noiminated for Oscars are well deserving of the honor.
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