Tom Hanks (second from right) as captured sailor Richard Phillips inCaptain Phillips. (AP/Columbia Pictures)

Captain Phillips is a biopic based on a memoir written by merchant mariner Captain Richard Phillips, who was taken hostage by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean during the hijacking of the Maersk Alabama container ship in 2009.

From the opening minutes, the film gradually and precisely establishes a looming anxiety, one sweat drop after the other, and when it finally grabs the audience, it never lets go.

Directed by Paul Greengrass, known for his signature pressure-building intensity in films like Sunday Bloody Sunday (2002) and United 93 (2006), Captain Phillips and the lead performance by Tom Hanks have been met with very positive reviews.

Hanks plays middle-aged captain Richard Phillips, who is about to command a hazardous journey around the Horn of Africa. The early scenes definitely provide the dullest moments of the film; they are the hand covering the face at the beginning of a game of '€œpeek-a-boo'€.

Phillips packs his bags for the trip and then tells his wife that he is concerned about their child'€™s performance in school and about his insouciant crew.

Across the ocean, in a poverty-ridden Somali coastal village, a local warlord demands that fisherman Abduwali Muse (Barkhad Abdi) and his band hijack a foreign vessel for ransom.

Shortly after boarding the ship, Phillips worries about reports of escalating piracy in the waters his vessel will soon enter. He orders his crew to follow security procedures and perform an impromptu pirate attack drill.

The ship is large, carrying millions of dollars worth of goods along with many able-bodied crew members. Unfortunately, regulation bans the ship from carrying arms. Muse'€™s boat on the other hand is small and leaky, manned by only himself and three other young fishermen. They are armed with semi-automatic rifles and have nothing to lose.

After a failed first attempt, Muse and his band hijack the container ship and capture Phillips at gunpoint. Muse'€™s plan is to hold the entire crew hostage for a multi-million-dollar ransom.

Phillips had already followed procedure by ordering his crew to hide in the engine room, leaving only him and two other sailors to face the hijackers on the ship'€™s bridge.

Muse, however, is determined to root out the crew and get his money. A game of cat-and-mouse ensues between the hijackers and the crew that after a serious of consequential turns and a few ill-fated decisions sees Phillips on a life boat with the four pirates heading for Africa.

Captain Phillips absorbs its audience in the unlucky captain'€™s physically and psychologically taxing struggle to survive the ordeal. The pace is fast, and the tension high.

Cinematographer Barry Ackroyd explored every angle, literally, to bring depth and perspective to each scene.

Hanks'€™ performance, however, is definitely the movie'€™s prize gem. The two-time Oscar winner for Best Actor showcases his talent by bringing alive the besieged Phillips in gut-wrenching crisis. The film is without doubt among his finest works.

Captain Phillips
(134 minutes, Columbia Pictures)
Director: Paul Greengrass
Screenwriter: Billy Ray
Cast: Tom Hanks, Barkhad Abdi, Catherine Keener, Barkhad Abdirahman, Faysal Ahmed, Mahat M. Ali, Michael Chernus, David Warshofsky, Yul Vazquez, Max Martini
Producers: Michael De Luca, Dana Brunetti, Scott Rudin, Kevin Spacey

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