Captain Phillips

Captain Phillips was one of the best movies I've seen in a LONG time!  And being based on a true story just makes it that much more powerful.  When I think of "pirates" I usually think of peg legs and eye patches and Jack Sparrow - this one was not a fairy tale!  All of the actors were great and made the entire experience feel so REAL to me.  I thought Tom Hanks really brought the role of Captain Phillips to life and Barkhad Abdi as Muse made me want to understand why the pirates were doing what they were doing.  You could tell that Phillips wanted to understand, too.  They don't have many options and that's why they do it.  That's what they know to get by - being a pirate and overtaking ships.  Whether it's right or not, that's their way of life, even though you could tell they weren't all comfortable with doing so.  It felt strange seeing Tom Hanks being the victim and getting roughed up and being in such a submissive role, but he never lost his cool and was able to keep calm and thinking clearly through the whole ordeal.  It was intense and it was action-packed without overdoing it.  This film was over 2 hours long, but there wasn't much I would cut from it, either - the opposite of a lot of movies lately!  I'm sure I'll be watching it again.