While our hero has always stood strong throughout the movie, finally he shows his humanity and breaks down in tears.Īs if the filmmakers wanted to eradicate any doubt: Captain Phillips is not a superhero.Ĭlick here for the final scene in the first draft screenplay. Nurse Chief O’Brien asks him perfunctory questions such as “Can you talk? Can you tell me what’s going on? Are you okay? You don’t look okay… Are you in any pain right now?” Then, slowly, Phillips comes out of his shock … and the emotions flow. During the final scene, directed in hyper-realism, we see Phillips undergo medical examination. When Captain Phillips is saved and brought on board a navy vessel, he is in shock and goes straight to the medical bay. Because we don’t really know or care about the family, this would never have worked as well as the version we see in the film. In the course of the story, Captain Richard Phillips experiences a terrible ordeal at the helm of the Maersk Alabama cargo ship, ultimately culminating in the death of most of his hostage takers.īilly Ray’s first draft had a completely uninspiring, cliche Hollywood ending with the family reunion on the Burlington airport tarmac. (Ironically, Hanks was snubbed by the Academy while Barkhad Abdi - his character’s antagonist - did receive a nomination for best supporting actor.) ![]() As his age gives him a natural gravitas, Hanks’ style becomes somewhat more subdued, while still achieving the same dramatic effect. For me, Spielberg’s The Terminal was a turning point. I was never a big fan of Hanks in his early years - and still can’t watch Forrest Gump - but as he matured, I started appreciating his performances. Particularly our movie moment at the end of the film is purebred Oscar material. That film marries a rigid narrative structure with a hyper-realistic cinematic experience.ĭid you know Ron Howard was to direct Captain Phillips originally? He swapped director’s seats with Paul Greengrass on Rush (2013) and ended up directing Tom Hanks in what I find the actor’s best performance to date. He proved this again two years later with United 93, which he directed himself. When he adapted the events surrounding the Omagh bombing into the script for the eponymous TV movie, I realised he is also a brilliant screenwriter. Greengrass is one of only a gifted few directors who know how to use the hand-held camera style masterfully. When I first saw Paul Greengrass’ Bloody Sunday in 2002, I was blown away with the pic’s direction. The “Return With The Elixir” or aftermath scene offers tremendous potential for a strong, emotional farewell. Captain Phillips reminds us - as Billy Wilder did with Sunset Boulevard - that McKee can’t be further from the truth. ![]() McKee even suggests that such an ‘aftermath’ scene is not essential, and only there to allow the audience to recollect themselves before they appear presentably in broad daylight. How many movies do you know that surprise you with an amazing scene after the climax? I bet you’ll struggle to find a handful. It appeared to me as a solid film but not a must-see, until the final scene lifted it to an unexpected high. ![]() Captain Phillips tells the true story of the first American cargo ship to be hijacked in two hundred years.
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