Captain Phillips Review
RYAN: This movie is such a big, excellent film; one of the best of the year, so it warrants an extra big review. So joining me now are Chuck and Tiffany. This movie blew me out of the water, pun intended. It’s amazing and well crafted in every sense. But Tom Hanks’ performance – WOW! It ranks up there, among his Oscar-winning turns in Philadelphia and Forrest Gump, which defines much of this movie’s greatness. Now with Captain Phillips, you can’t separate it from his outstanding body of work.
CHUCK: It’s amazing how he just gets better and better in his craft. He’s so meticulous in his performance yet so everyman.
RYAN: There’s no pretense.
TIFFANY: There’s a reason Tom Hanks is my favorite actor; he and Robin Williams. In this movie, he proves why he’s one of the most legitimate actors of all time.
RYAN: He is. He’s almost like the male Meryl Streep. He’s so consistently good. It usually takes only one moment in a movie to earn an Oscar nom and while Tom is consistent in the whole film, he actually has two or three moments that just gut you with Oscar-worthiness.
CHUCK: And they come out of nowhere. You’re following the story and then even with just a look, he creates a moment.
RYAN: You almost feel like you are him in the movie because each step of the way, this character does things that you just think, in comparison, you’d never have been able to do.
TIFFANY: Yeah, you can almost follow his train of thought. He says so much just with his eyes. Like even without dialogue, in the movie Castaway, he honed those skills and can portray everything he’s thinking in his head without saying a word.
CHUCK: You never question that he is this character. He loses himself into the role.
RYAN: He really does throw his heart and soul into it completely. I also love that the movie is so suspenseful, intense and edge of your seat in a way that’s almost like a good horror movie; that sense of when you’re hiding under the bed, hoping the monster won’t come in the room and find you… you have that feeling in this movie.
TIFFANY: Every muscle in my body is tense. Through the whole film, I’m actually sore and physically exhausted from watching it.
CHUCK: I could see you rocking back and forth during this.
RYAN: Let’s be honest, part of that was because she was holding her pee.
TIFFANY: [laughs’ It’s true! And I heard five people in the bathroom say, “I just held that for forty-five minutes!”
RYAN: I was also holding but this is the kind of movie where you can’t run to the bathroom in the last third of the film.
CHUCK: No! Going back to the direction, it’s a testament to the solid level of Paul Greengrass. There wasn’t one wasted moment.
RYAN: That’s true. In a two hour and fifteen minute movie, it has you in the palm of its hand the whole time. What about our BFF Chris Mulkey as one of Tom’s shipmates?
TIFFANY: Love Chris Mulkey. I was eagerly anticipating seeing him and his first line. All of the crew members were so believable. There’s not a weak link in the cast. They’re all everyday guys. They look like your uncle, your neighbor…
RYAN: What I loved especially about Chris was he had such urgency in his lines and he helped build the feeling of intensity and suspense because what his character is feeling is exactly what I think I’d feel in that situation. He brought another level of humanity to the film.
CHUCK: The casting of the pirates was incredible. They’re all Somali-born men who had no prior acting experience.
RYAN: Right. It’s very bold casting people with zero experience, but Paul clearly had the right instincts. These are Somali men who’ve been living in Minneapolis since childhood. But that captain could get a best supporting nom.
TIFFANY: Absolutely.
CHUCK: Such a terrifying and real portrayal.
RYAN: These are the kinds of movies that scare me more than horror films – because not only can it happen – it did happened. It’s insanely terrifying.
CHUCK: Can we just talk about the hot Navy SEALS?
TIFFANY: They were huge! So buff!
RYAN: Yeah about three-quarters of the way through the film, there is major man-candy, men in the Navy, ripping off their shirts for apparently no reason, and all I could think in that moment was, “thank you.”
CHUCK: [laughs’
TIFFANY: [laughs’ God bless America.
RYAN: [laughs’ Amen.
TIFFANY: Do you think there was a dry eye in the theater?
RYAN: No way. That climax is wrenching. Tom’s performances is so top notch.
CHUCK: I was balling my eyes out.
TIFFANY: Water works. The acting is so real. You can’t help but be overcome with emotion.
RYAN: I was welled-up with tears and fighting them back for a great portion at the end. Tom’s perf is just such a tour de force.
TIFFANY: I remember reading about the Somali culture and how eye contact is viewed as a threat. So in this movie, when it was happening, it made it all the more dramatic and real.
RYAN: The details really are outstanding. Even though this is based on a true story and you know the outcome, the intensity still doesn’t wane.
CHUCK: It’s like Titanic. You know the ship is gonna sink but you have hope and want to see how it all happens.
RYAN: Right. Still an effective movie. ‘Tis the season and this is an awards contender, but we have a couple months yet to see this movie’s competition. There’s just nothing better than walking out of a movie and feeling so elated because it was that good. This movie has us all fired up because it’s such phenomenal entertainment.
