Everything gon' be okay when you see Captain Phillips

For those who know the story of the MV Maesrk Alabama hijacking, the plot of Captain Phillips will be all too familiar.  You will know where the story is going, and will eagerly be awaiting the end, which will drop all the tension that the film has built up.   What will not be familiar is the acting in the film that can build that tension so quickly, and maintain it for the entire movie.  That is that strong point of the film.

Those who think that good acting can only come from big names like Christopher Walken, Leonardo DiCaprio, and everyone's favorite, Morgan Freeman, will be amazed by the skills of Somali actors  Barkhard Abdi, Barkhard Abdirahman, Faysel Ahmed, and Mahat M. Ali.  The acting of these four pirates completely overshadows that of Tom Hanks, except near the end, where the tension drops and Tom Hanks expertly acts out an emotional breakdown.

Their constant interactions with each other are the sections of the film which make it worth watching.  They can turn from Barkhard Abdi's (Muse) continued catchphrase, "Everything gon' be okay, Irish,"  to Barkhard Abdirahman's (Elmi) psychotic shouting in a second.

Caught in the middle of this is Tom Hanks, capturing the role of yet another of his Average Joe caught in an extraordinary situation roles, Captain Richard Phillips.  The only drawback in his acting is his abysmal Boston accent, which does diminish over the course of the film.  Whether this is purposeful, or I was just too focused on other things during the movie is unknown.

These five phenomenal actors, combined with an excellent film score, and claustrophobic camerawork make Captain Phillips' viewers on the edge of their seats for the whole 134 minutes.

I give it a nine out of Ten.

Left to right
Barkhard Abdirhaman
Barkhard Abdi
Mahat M. Ali
Faysel Ahmed
Tom Hanks