What Critics Are Saying About The Somali Pirate Film, Captain Phillips

One of the year’s most anticipated films, Captain Phillips, premiered last week at IMAX XX Century. A Week after the release is a great time to judge the film.

Captain Phillips tells the story of Maersk Alabama, the Mombasa-bound ship that went into history as the first American vessel to be hijacked in 200 years.

The film stars Tom Hanks (Saving Private Ryan, Big, Green Mile) and newcomer Barkhad Abdi. Captain Phillips is directed by Paul Greengrass (Bourne Identity, United 93, Bloody Sunday). The movie has achieved universal acclaim, currently holding 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

“One of the pirates, a young fellow named Muse, is played by Barkhad Abdi, who has the ravaged, bone-hungry face of a starving child all grown up. That face haunts the movie, and so does Abdi’s extraordinary acting. Muse is ruthless, forlorn, street-smart, naive (he wants millions of dollars, even though there’s only $30,000 on the ship), and even compassionate, all at the same time.” — Owen Gleiberman, EW

“Director Paul Greengrass creates an aura of urgency so compelling, so rooted in detail, that we temporarily forget what we know and hold our breaths for two-plus hours of tightening suspense.” — Ty Burr, Boston Globe

“Hanks gives one of his very best and subtlest everyman performances. His captain is modest and sturdy; he’s the sterling good neighbor who finds himself risking his own life to save others–in this instance, his 20-man crew.” — Karen Durbin, Elle

“The film rips right along and never relinquishes its grip. The format of the last-minute heroics goes back to the earliest Westerns and could well be accused of patness or being cliched–other than for the fact that it’s what happened.” — Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter

“Hanks’ transparency is something brilliant. His face is so easy to read that we not only get his emotions but the complexity of his thinking.” — Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

“Captain Phillips is a Tom Hanks movie. It is also a Paul Greengrass movie, and the cinematic tumult director Greengrass adroitly captures and sustains in the service of a narrative has a way of keeping his stars unmoored–in a good way–while trumping conventional Hollywood notions of a star vehicle.” — Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

“Like United 93, Captain Phillips doesn’t take political sides. Greengrass approaches the story from the center out, showing instead of telling and focusing on the humanity of its protagonists instead of their ideals. The movie allows us to interpret everyone’s actions instead of telling us what to think and how to feel about them.” — Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald

“The story begins as one kind of Greengrass film, about an ordinary joe, and then hardens into the other kind, equipped with unswayable snipers and stone-jawed commanders whose idea of a windy rhetorical speech is ‘Execute.’” — Anthony Lane, New Yorker

“The result is so propulsive that you may find yourself looking at your watch not out of boredom but because you’re not sure how much more tension you can stand.” — Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

Check out the film’s (and others’) schedule at IMAX below.

Friday
7:00 AM Captain Phillips 2D 300Ksh
9:30 AM Gravity 3D 400Ksh
11:20 AM Hunger Games 2 2D 500Ksh
2:00 PM Under the Sea 3D 400Ksh
3:00 PM Hubble 3D 400Ksh
4:00 PM Thor 2 3D Adults 800Ksh/Students 500Ksh
6:20 PM Captain Phillips 2D Adults 800Ksh/Students 500Ksh
9:00 PM Thor 2 3D Adults 800Ksh/Students 500Ksh
11:20 PM Hunger Games 2 2D Adults 800Ksh/Students 500Ksh
2:00 AM Captain Phillips 2D 400Ksh

Saturday
7:00 AM Hunger Games 2 2D 300Ksh
9:40 AM Thor 2 3D 400Ksh
12:00 PM Captain Phillips 2D 500Ksh
2:30 PM Thor 2 3D Adults 800Ksh/Students 500Ksh
4:50 PM Hunger Games 2 2D Adults 800Ksh/Students 500Ksh
7:30 PM Thor 2 3D Adults 800Ksh/Students 500Ksh
9:50 PM Captain Phillips 2D Adults 800Ksh/Students 500Ksh
12:20 AM Hunger Games 2 2D 500Ksh
3:00 AM Captain Phillips 2D 400Ksh

Sunday
7:00 AM Hubble 3D 300Ksh
8:00 AM Captain Phillips 2D 400Ksh
10:30 AM Hunger Games 2 2D 500Ksh
1:15 PM Under the Sea 3D 400Ksh
2:15 PM Thor 2 3D Adults 800Ksh/Students 500Ksh
4:40 PM Captain Phillips 2D Adults 800Ksh/Students 500Ksh
7:10 PM Thor 2 3D Adults 800Ksh/Students 500Ksh
9:30 PM Hunger Games 2 2D 500Ksh
12:15 AM Captain Phillips 2D 400Ksh