CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (2013) – My rating: 8/10

What can I say about Tom Hanks.  He’s a brilliant actor who made me believe he was really captain of the Maersk Alabama.  This movie was intense and mystifying.  I was so impressed with the actors who played the Simian  pirates.  Their story was heart felt and scary.  Based on a true story, this was the first American cargo ship to be hijacked in two hundred years.  Before the attack, Captain Phillips demanded the anti-piracy plan, now used by all ships per the International Maritime Organization, be implemented.  Should pirates get too close, the crew should cut the lights and power and lock themselves below deck.  I can only imagine what it felt like to be held at gun point and locked in an engine room of 130 degrees.  The pirates were offered $30 thousand dollars from the ship’s safe but they felt that was useless bounty.  The Maersk crew was in hiding and the pirates insisted that they were going to find them and use all as hostages.  Nothing worked out as planed.  Tom Hanks ended up on a Maersk Lifeboat with the pirates.  Meanwhile, in real life, I understand that Maersk Line and the Waterman Steamship Corp. is being sued for almost $50 million, alleging “willful, wanton and conscious disregard for their safety.”  Their lives were in danger by sailing too close to the Simian boarder with the knowledge that pirates were on the prowl.  See this movie and determine for yourself.