The true story of Captain Phillips, who's ship gets hijacked by somalian pirates around the horn of Africa. Richard Philllips is captain of the American container ship MV Maersk Alabama. The company he works for have scheduled him into a shipping route from Port of Salalah through the Gulf of Aden to Mombasa, and round the Horn of Africa.
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Richard Philllips gets ready for work and gets driven to the airport by his wife. They talk about their kids and how they will miss each other.
We see pirates in a Somali village selecting their crews and preparing to hijack a vessel.
Richard arrives at the port and finds that the ship crew have not secured every deck and that none of them are taking their jobs seriously.
They set sail and, wary of any pirate activity, the captain orders practice drills. The crew are sloppy and we see the ships few defencive water canons.
The pirates have a larger boat that they use to find their prey. Two teams sleep on this boat, and tensions are high between them.
Phillips is performing another drill, when the two Somali pirates team come at him in their skiffs. The captain tries to outrun the skiffs but decides that he can't, since they are too fast, so he tries to trick them. He sends out a fake distress call to a fake warship scaring one of the teams off, but the other keeps coming. Luckily the pirates engine gives out before they reach him, but as Captain Phillips says "They'll be back".
At night the pirates argue. The leader of the team who stayed calls the other a coward, they fight and he eventually kills the cowardly pirate. The victor takes control of the others and says they will attack the Alabama again.
The next day the pirate return and attach a ladder on a exposed part of the deck. The Crew of the Alabama try to stop them with hoses but it doesn't work and the first mate is shot. The engineer takes everyone he can to hide in the hold, but the chief of navigations and Captain Phillips are exposed on deck when the pirates seize control.
The Pirates demand the contents of the cargo haulers thinking that they have TV's and cars inside, but Philips says that it is only food aid for starving Africans. He tries to give the pirates $30,000 from the ships safe but they reject it saying that they want the crew to come out of hiding and show them the goods they are transporting.
The pirates force Phillips to give them a ship wide tour so they can find the hidden crew. Philips is smart and lets the crew know they are coming and they manage to cut open one of the pirates feet.
The crew take the injured pirate and the pirate captain hostage then negotiate with the two pirates outside to give them back their men and a life boat in exchange for captain Philllips and the chief navigator unharmed.
The agree, but at the last minute they push Phillips into the lifeboat and launch it.
The pirate all argue as they are tired and hungry inside the lifeboat. Phillips tries to befriend them but they beat him till he shuts up.
Eventually a U.S. Navy ship intercepts the lifeboat and demands that the pirates surrender the American citizen that they have captured.
Phillips tries to convince the pirates to negotiate with the Navy but they won't, so he tries to escape and dives out of the boat. One of the pirates dives after him and brings him back in.
A navy seal ambassador come over to the lifeboat to check that Phillips is alive and ask for his return. The pirates threaten to shoot Phillips, so the ambassador leaves but before he does Phillips gives him his seat number.
Knowing the seat number the Navy are able to employ a tactical strike on the ship and shoot all of the pirates then rescue captain phillips.
Best part of story, including ending:
I thought that the tensions ran too high for too long in the film. It was overly dramatic at times.
Best scene in story:
I really enjoyed the first chance, because even though it was just two very slow moving boat it actually seemed very tense.
Opinion about the main character:
Captain phillips was a very relatable character because Tom Hanks was able to embody him so well.
Richard Phillips has been given command to sail the Maersk container ship. His mission is to go from Oman to Mombasa in Africa. He is worried about pirates so he carries out practice drills. During one of the drills, real pirates emerge and begin chasing the ship. Captain Phillips successfully outruns by creating rough waters and forcing the pirate's engine to lose power. The next day, the pirates return and take over the ship led by pirate Muse. Captain Phillips is immediately captured. Muse's plan is to ransom the crew and ship in return for millions from the ship's company. One of Captain Phillip's crew members cuts the power to the ship. In darkness, Phillip's crew overpowers and captures Muse. They offer Muse to the other pirates in exchange for Captain Phillips. The pirates put Captain Phillips on a life boat and send him away. Captain Phillips and Navy Seal members must return and save the ship.
Best part of story, including ending:
What I liked about this story was the heroic acts by the crew.
Best scene in story:
My favorite scene was when Captain Phillips returns to the ship because he shows a lot of determination.
Opinion about the main character:
What I liked most about Captain Phillips was his bravery and will to stop the pirates.
