Captain Phillips Reviews

A riveting picture, but one that seems like a safe choice for Greengrass, presented in a way that's familiar to those already intimate with his work.

Full Review | Original Score: B

Greengrass and screenwriter Billy Ray put us on the side of Phillips, his crew, the American negotiators, the Navy, and the SEALS. But we understand the greater tragedy of Muse and the Somalis' lives.

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True stories this remarkable are rare, and movies about them that work this well are even rarer.

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In another director's hands, this script might have come across as didactic. ... But Ray's words play effective counterpoint to Greengrass' visceral approach.

Full Review | Original Score: 9/10

Once again, never a dull moment with Tom Hanks. And, once again, a history lesson through thrilling drama. I went home appreciating all that's been done here.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5

Whether you like the movie ... is almost irrelevant. It gets going so fast, and with such force, that there's too much else to think about.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5

Not so much a movie you watch as a movie you survive.

Full Review | Original Score: 8.8/10

The grueling 2009 kidnapping ordeal suffered by U.S. cargo-ship captain Richard Phillips comes to tangible life in Paul Greengrass's nonstop nail-biter. Nerves will be rattled.

Full Review | Original Score: A-

With its twists and turns and at 99 minutes, A Hijacking outsmarts the 132-minute long Captain Phillips.

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A solid portrait of a middle-aged caption of a hijacked cargo ship man who possesses the right stuff for surviving a hellish four-day ordeal.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5

Paul Greengrass has the rare gift of working with action-thriller material and making something cohesive, layered and complex from it.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5

The white-knuckled immediacy Greengrass delivers to every scene is transportive, dropping you like a passenger, gagged and bound, into this extremely volatile situation. The fear, panic and emotional pain every character endures is utterly tangible.

Full Review | Original Score: A

Arguably Greengrass' best film, and almost certainly his most urgent.

Full Review | Original Score: 8.9/10

[Hanks'] performance in the third act might be a career best.

Full Review | Original Score: 9/10

Paul Greengrass has created another gripping thriller with clear intentions to create as realistic a portrayal of actual events as possible.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10

An enthralling and beautifully made action-drama driven by an absorbing lead performance from Tom Hanks ...

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This is a epic uber tense triumph!

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5

Paul Greengrass and Tom Hanks team up for a pulsating account of the kidnapping of the captain of an American cargo ship by Somali pirates.

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The filmmakers are as interested in the human element as they are in the true events they're recounting. It's too bad that they couldn't have made their real-life bad guys as multi-dimensional as their hero.

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At every step, Hanks excels at showing what's really going on in the character's mind while maintaining his facade of almost folksy calm. It isn't one of the actor's rangiest roles, but it culminates in an eruption of emotional fireworks ...

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