Captain Phillips Combo Pack

Category: Blu-ray's and DVD's

Tom Hanks stars in this riveting movie based on true events from 2009. Although some of the scenes were changed from what really happened, this is nevertheless a thrilling film with great performances and an edge-of-your-seat story. Captain Phillips was nominated for six Academy Awards, four Golden Globes, and many other awards.

 

For anyone who watches the news, the reality of Somali pirates is nothing new. What was news for Americans in 2009 was that the Maersk Alabama, flying the American flag, was hijacked, making it the first American cargo ship to be hijacked in the region. And the fact that the Somali’s captured the captain, Richard Phillips, was news every night on American television station. Plus, adding to all that drama, the rescue of Captain Phillips by U.S. Navy Seals capped off the almost-weeklong event.

 

Tom Hanks is remarkable as Captain Phillips, supported by a wonderful cast on both the American and the Somali sides. The intense action scenes, combined with the anxious dramatic scenes make this a film that is worth watching, even though, as stated above, some of it was altered for Hollywood, as is usually the case when a film is based on an actual story. That’s just the name of the game, but even so, this is a great film that stands on its own.

 

About half of the story takes place on board the cargo ship, then the remaining scenes are on board the lifeboat, where Phillips is kept prisoner by the Somali pirates, and some of the scenes take place on the Navy ship, as they put together a plan to rescue a fellow American. This is a movie that should leave all Americans with pride.

 

Not only does this combo pack include a Blu-ray disc and a DVD disc, there are bonus features, which are almost as amazing as the movie itself. With interviews with the real Captain Phillips, Tom Hanks, the cast and filmmakers, and newscasts from 2009, viewers get to see what it took to bring this fascination story to the screen. Maersk loaned the filmmakers the Alabama’s sister ship on which to film, and most of the scenes were filmed out in the water on that ship. No fake settings or sound stages were required. What you see is basically what you get.

 

Besides learning about the actual locations aboard the ship, viewers get to see how the effects were staged, and how the waves were created as well as other things that lent themselves to the drama of the story. This three-part bonus feature is not only informative and entertaining, but also a bit humorous as the cast describes how they had to improvise their onboard tasks to make their characters’ jobs seem more interesting than they actually are.

 

Captain Phillips is a must-see movie. It’s rated PG-13 for sustained intense sequences of menace, some violence with bloody images and for substance use.