'Captain Phillips': A Riveting Action Thriller Recreating the 2009 Hijacking of the Maersk Alabama by Somali Pirates

Captain Phillips (2013) is a riveting action thriller, based on the true story of the 2009 hijacking of the Maersk Alabama by Somali pirates. The film stars Tom Hanks as the titular merchant mariner as he commands an unarmed container vessel out of the Port of Salalah in Oman, bound for Mombasa, Kenya.

While navigating the Guardafui Channel off the Horn of Africa, Phillips and his crew are attacked and taken hostage by a quartet of heavily armed pirates. Led by Abduwali Muse (Barkhad Abdi), the pirates, under orders from their superiors, demand millions of U.S. dollars from A.P. Moller-Maersk Group, owner of the Maersk Alabama. After their initial plan fails, Phillips is eventually taken hostage alongside the pirates in one of the ship's lifeboats, leaving them all desperately scrambling for escape and survival.

Directed by English filmmaker Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Supremacy, Flight 93), Captain Phillips is at once a technical masterwork and a deeply humane depiction of real-life conflict. Greengrass and screenwriter Billy Ray sidestep histrionics to deliver a balanced depiction of historic events, bolstered by world-class performances by Hanks and Abdi. The result is a gripping and markedly realistic battle of wits between opposing leaders, escalating into a tense and claustrophobic fight for life in the unforgiving waters of the Indian Ocean.

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