Reel Reviews

Captain Phillips -- Predictability is not always a bad thing. Knowing the outcome, as with this story, actually helps get the viewer through a pretty intense film. Even so, this movie is loaded with surprises that help make it an engrossing experience: the surprising vulnerability of a giant cargo ship; the filmmakers’ treatment of the Somalis (who are not portrayed as cardboard cutouts, but have depth, humanity, and real character here); the hints that this problem (piracy) may be the unexpected by-product of other problems (including environmental degradation, specifically our collapsing fisheries). Lots of stuff to think about here, but that comes afterward, when all the gripping, gut-wrenching stuff has reached its denouement. Posted 4/27/14.