--- title: "Captain Phillips: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/captain-phillips/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/captain-phillips" critics_score: 79 critics_reviews: 17 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Captain Phillips (2013): what the critics said Critics' score 79 from 17 reviews: 13 positive, 4 mixed, 0 negative. Most critics welcome Captain Phillips as a tense, intelligent thriller, with praise clustering around Paul Greengrass’s documentary-style direction and Tom Hanks’s restrained performance. The reviews repeatedly credit the close camerawork and urgent pacing with making the ordeal feel immediate, while Hanks gives the physical danger emotional weight. Barkhad Abdi also draws praise, and many critics find that the attention to the pirates’ circumstances prevents a simple division into heroes and villains. The reservations come from a mixed minority rather than outright detractors, and centre on emotional distance and the handling of those circumstances. Variety admires the realism and performances but finds the film drier and less affecting than Greengrass’s earlier work. Slant Magazine considers the effort at even-handedness laboured, particularly in the early exposition. The Wrap raises a sharper objection: despite effective suspense, it finds the pirates one-dimensional and the racial politics troubling. The broad agreement on technical skill does not extend to the film’s empathy. ## Radio Times — Stella Papamichael Rating 5/5. Greengrass re-creates the events with heart-pounding urgency and conveys the growing desperation of both Phillips and the lead pirate. The film builds to a dizzying emotional crescendo, with Hanks at the peak of his powers. [Read the review](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-noebqo/captain-phillips/) ## Screen Daily Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 13 September 2013. Festival review. The film is an enthralling action-drama driven by Tom Hanks's absorbing performance as the stoical captain kidnapped by Somali pirates. Elegantly directed with a sense of epic scale alongside gritty reality, it balances the stories of the two captains effectively. [Read the review](https://www.screendaily.com/captain-phillips/5060432.article) ## Empire — Dan Jolin Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 8 May 2013. The film is a riveting, emotionally complex and hugely intelligent dramatisation of a real-life ordeal. Greengrass and Hanks excel in an even-handed, detail-heavy procedural that explores shades of victimhood on both sides rather than simple heroism-versus-villainy. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/captain-phillips-review/) ## Los Angeles Times — Kenneth Turan Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 10 October 2013. Greengrass exceeds expectations with a propulsive, realistic thriller that mixes tense action, strong acting and subtle social commentary. It reminds viewers what mainstream cinema can achieve when it balances human behavior under stress with nuts-and-bolts authenticity. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-captain-phillips-movie-review-20131011-story.html) ## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 17 October 2013. This unbearably tense hijack thriller from Paul Greengrass is based on a true story from 2009 about a Somali pirate attack on an American container ship. It gives global context to the forces driving piracy and terrorism while delivering a quasi-war movie set in peacetime. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/oct/17/captain-phillips-review) ## Evening Standard Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 23 October 2013. Festival review. This is a thrilling action film and a masterclass in what an action movie can really be, gripping throughout its 134 minutes. Greengrass seamlessly marries documentary skills with kinetic handheld camerawork and editing that follows the action zealously without CGI fakery. [Read the review](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/captain-phillips-film-review-8868253.html) ## The Telegraph Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 20 October 2013. Tom Hanks gives one of the best performances of his career in Paul Greengrass's Somali piracy drama. The film heightens a portrait of conflicting imperatives and delivers a truthful hero whose courage comes from desperation. [Read the review](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmreviews/10388339/Captain-Phillips-review.html) ## Time Out — Dave Calhoun Rating 4/5. 9 October 2013. The critic praises the film's high-stakes tension and real-world politics, highlighting Tom Hanks's affecting performance as an ordinary man in crisis. Greengrass is noted for creating claustrophobia and a masterclass in containment during the lifeboat sequences. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/captain-phillips) ## The New Yorker — Anthony Lane Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 7 October 2013. Greengrass delivers a gripping survival tale that benefits from Tom Hanks’s restrained performance as a pragmatic, unlikable everyman. The film respects the pirates’ bravado while showing Phillips shaken into childlike vulnerability. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/10/14/dangerous-waters) ## Vulture — David Edelstein Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 6 October 2013. The lifeboat section becomes a great thriller with the camera locked inside, and Hanks reaches new heights with an internal performance of mixed fear, pity, and humanity; the film understands the larger tragedy of the Somalis' situation. [Read the review](https://www.vulture.com/2013/10/movie-review-tom-hanks-in-captain-phillips.html) ## Slant Magazine — R. Kurt Osenlund Fi1m's normalised score 65/100 (inferred from the text). 29 September 2013. The film works too hard for even-handedness between the American captain and Somali pirates and relies on overt exposition early on, but improves markedly in the lifeboat and climax thanks to Hanks' empathetic, heartbreaking performance that conveys universal pain. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/captain-phillips/) ## Variety — Scott Foundas Fi1m's normalised score 65/100 (inferred from the text). 6 September 2013. Festival review. Greengrass’s kinetic docudrama impresses with its you-are-there realism and strong performances from Hanks and newcomer Barkhad Abdi but falls short emotionally compared to the director’s earlier verité works. It forms a loose trilogy with Bloody Sunday and United 93 yet feels drier and less resonant. [Read the review](https://variety.com/2013/film/reviews/film-review-captain-phillips-1200599772/) ## The Hollywood Reporter — Todd McCarthy 6 September 2013. Greengrass excels at recreating a perilous post-9/11 incident with his kinetic style, delivering an immaculately made account that pairs well with United 93 and benefits commercially from Hanks and its outcome. [Read the review](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/captain-phillips-film-review-623141/) ## The New York Times — Manohla Dargis Rating NYT Critic’s Pick. 10 October 2013. The film has vital moral immediacy and combines kinetic action with intelligence. It deepens into an unsettling look at global capitalism and American privilege. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/11/movies/captain-phillips-stars-tom-hanks-as-a-high-seas-hostage.html) ## The Playlist — The Playlist Staff Rating A. 11 October 2013. The critic calls it a gripping, immersive survival thriller elevated by strong character work and emotional stakes into a harrowing, nail-biting experience of desperation and tension. They single out the nuanced performances by Tom Hanks and Barkhad Abdi, along with Paul Greengrass's masterful real-time direction. [Read the review](https://theplaylist.net/review-paul-greengrass-harrowing-absorbing-thriller-captain-phillips-starring-tom-hanks-20131011/) ## Den of Geek — Luke Savage Rating 4/5. 17 October 2013. Greengrass delivers a smart, tense thriller that avoids clichés and flag-waving, keeping viewers immersed with the crew at sea. Hanks and newcomer Abdi shine in grounded, physically expressive performances that humanize both sides of the conflict. [Read the review](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/captain-phillips-review-2/) ## Digital Spy Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 9 October 2013. Festival review. Greengrass wrings every moment of tension from the ordeal in a masterclass of grounded, documentary-style filmmaking, with Hanks delivering a palpable, non-verbal performance that makes the stakes feel immediate and real. The film also finds surprising empathy for the pirates without turning it into a simplistic us-vs-them story. [Read the review](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/bfi-london-film-festival/review/a521324/captain-phillips-review-tom-hanks-opens-bfi-london-film-festival/) ## The Wrap — Alonso Duralde Fi1m's normalised score 60/100 (inferred from the text). 6 September 2013. The critic praises the film's taut suspense and immersive storytelling, along with Tom Hanks' unfussy performance as the resourceful captain. However, they criticize the one-dimensional, zombie-like depiction of the Somali pirates and the film's racial politics, which evoke colonialist tropes. [Read the review](https://www.thewrap.com/captain-phillips-review-taut-suspense-iffy-racial-politics/) ## Collider — Matt Goldberg Rating C. 11 October 2013. The critic finds the film a cold procedural that becomes exhausting due to its focus on action over emotion. It benefits from strong performances, particularly from newcomer Barkhad Abdi, and an intelligent depiction of the Somali pirates' circumstances. [Read the review](https://collider.com/captain-phillips-movie-review/) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/captain-phillips.md