The Big Picture

Tom Hanks excels as real-life figures in roles that showcase his dramatic progression.
Hanks disappears into roles like Richard Phillips with subtle, unpretentious humanity.
The movie
Captain Phillips
highlights the unglamorous side of heroism without idealization.

After a glorious run of iconic performances and blockbuster hits in the 1990s, Tom Hanks carried along like the consistent and lovable movie star that he has been since his first screen appearance. Hanks became such a reliable force in movies that we all started to take him for granted. He may not be the familiar face of blockbusters like he used to be with Forrest Gump and Saving Private Ryan, but Hanks has arguably progressed as a dramatic performer as he’s aged into his 60s. It was during the 2010s when Hanks cemented himself as “America’s Dad.” Starring in countless “dad” movies based around true stories in the last decade, this phase of Hanks’ career peaked with the release of Captain Phillips, which features one of his most alluring performances, but not everyone, including the Academy Awards, seems to recognize that fact.

Captain Phillips The true story of Captain Richard Phillips and the 2009 hijacking by Somali pirates of the U.S.-flagged MV Maersk Alabama, the first American cargo ship to be hijacked in two hundred years.Release Date October 11, 2013 Runtime 134 Minutes

Tom Hanks Carved Out a Niche Playing Real-Life Figures in His Later Years
Evoking anyone other than Tom Hanks, one of the most identifiable stars of the last 50 years, is a tough task for him in his later years. We might expect that the average viewer will only see the man himself on screen. In an inspired career pivot, the two-time Oscar winner has shifted to primarily portraying real-life figures, both who experienced the proverbial 15 minutes of fame and historical icons that will last through eternity. Whether it’s Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger (Sully), Ben Bradlee (The Post), or Fred Rogers (A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood), Hanks has seamlessly blended into these roles that would usually overpower the screen due to their distinct iconography. If his ostentatious turn as Colonel Tom Parker in Elvis proves anything, it’s that Hanks is not prone to phone-in performances, for better or worse.

In 2013, Hanks kicked off this trend when he took on the likeness of Richard Phillips, the merchant mariner who made headlines when he was engaged in a hostage crisis with Somali pirates who hijacked his cargo ship in April 2009. Phillips wrote about his experience in his book, A Captain’s Duty, which would inspire the Hanks-led docu-drama/thriller Captain Phillips. Directed by Paul Greengrass, the master of blending cinéma vérité visual language with gripping tension, the film is effective in capturing the mundanity of Phillips’ line of work heading into that fateful day and the overwhelming pressure of blue-collar laborers managing the dangers of international piracy. The film depicts this harrowing event on the Maersk Alabama cargo ship, starting with Richard Phillips (Hanks) aboarding the boat to his rescue by the U.S. Navy. While being taken hostage by the pirate leader, Abduwali Muse (Barkhad Abdi, in his acting debut), Phillips must acquiesce to their demands while finding a way to protect the lives of himself and his crew.

‘Captain Phillips’ Reflects on Tom Hanks’ Screen Persona

With our fundamental understanding of Tom Hanks’ screen persona–the consummate professional and eternally lovable everyday individual, the role of Richard Phillips was suited to the actor’s skill set. Phillips is presented as a salt-of-the-earth, humble, and unpretentious blue-collar laborer. Hanks carries himself with a level of humanity that refrains from mawkish earnestness–a trait that is unfairly associated with his nice-guy likeness. The idea of a major star like Hanks portraying a true everyman is usually taken with a grain of salt among the audiences, as the star can never wholly shatter their pre-conceived image for many viewers. In Captain Phillips, Hanks effortlessly truncates his immense star power. Greengrass’ documentary-like camera work, most notably deployed in his September 11th docu-drama, United 93, is fully realized thanks to his star’s uncanny ability to immerse himself as an ordinary person. Just like the film’s subject, there is no pretentiousness to Hanks’ ability to morph into this role. He becomes a mundane individual by relying on his faithful charm and sincerity.

Related From ‘Philadelphia’ to ‘Captain Phillips’: 10 Phenomenal Tom Hanks Performances That Broke Our Hearts The two-time Oscar winner is a master at pulling audience heartstrings.

The courage and fortitude of Richard Phillips, who held off the pirates long enough to be captured and prevented any hostage casualties, is unimpeachable. There’s no wonder why the American public idolized Phillips for his heroism, especially during an era when Somali pirates were a hot topic in the news. Americans are trained to be cynical about the national landscape these days, but Phillips’ story was a welcoming reassurance of American nobility in the face of danger. However, unlike the standard biopic recounting a true story, Captain Phillip’s titular subject is not recontextualized as an unflappable modern-day Superman to satisfy a wholesome dramatic arc of the film or propagate an idealistic message surrounding American exceptionalism. Earlier in the film, before the hijacking, Phillips is presented as a flawed leader of his crew due to his demanding work ethic and desire to move at a rapid pace. As viewers, Phillips’ unsentimental attitude toward his work suggests that he may compromise the safety of his crew members at the first chance, but through his hasty decision-making and valiant behavior, we are made aware of his integrity.

‘Captain Phillips’ Shows the Unglamorous Side of Heroism
Image via Sony Pictures Relasing

Crafting a nuanced portrayal of Phillips comes down to a performance that conveys the essence of the captain. Hanks, without partaking in any self-indulgent “transformation,” evokes the spirit of Phillips through the cultural lens of his heroism.Hanks’ minimalist approach to the role complements the film’s overarching celebration of the accidental hero. Furthermore, Hanks’ performance is calibrated to such a reserved level that, outside the context of the story, one might think that Phillips is a noticeably bland and uninspiring individual. Due to our exposure to him for 40 years on the big screen, audiences rally around Hanks as an all-American hero, whether as a simple man sitting at the bus stop in Forrest Gump, a wrongfully fired lawyer in Philadelphia, or a military captain leading his infantry to rescue a soldier in Saving Private Ryan. Hanks’ courageous bout with evil forces is left with a cold and unremarkable taste, which is caused by Phillips’ apprehensiveness.

After the navy rescues the hostages, Phillips is treated as a hero, but he rejects this honor. Rather, he insists that he was merely doing his job. Most heroes play this card as a signal of their humility, but with Phillips, we understand that the plight of heroism leaves a grave toll on those who experience these hardships. Phillips would prefer not to indulge in the public valorization of someone who was just trying to survive. This is a character trait that Hanks is drawn to in scripts, as Sully aggressively examines the media sensationalism that arises out of human interest stories. In the wake of the film’s release, anonymous crew members who were on board the Maersk Alabama spoke out against Captain Phillip’s skewed depiction of its subject, as he was not the valiant hero shown on screen in real life. This proves that so much of our grasp of heroic acts in the world is heavily defined by folklore shaped by outside forces. For Hanks and Paul Greengrass, they are attempting to capture heroism at its most raw, which, in turn, makes Phillips’ bravery unceremonious.

At the 86th Academy Awards, Captain Phillips received 6 nominations, including Best Adapted Screenplay for Billy Ray and Best Supporting Actor for newcomer Barkhad Abdi. If the Academy was going to honor Captain Phillips, honoring Tom Hanks’ work would have been automatic. Instead, Hanks was snubbed, as he frequently has been throughout the 21st century. Hanks capitalizes on his ideal casting of an everyday hero by presenting the dark side of what it takes to become an overnight idol. Most impressively of all, Hanks gives a refreshingly understated performance as Richard Phillips, a man who undergoes anything but relaxed circumstances. The acting branch of the Oscars historically dismisses internalized and subtle performances, as evident by their winner in this respective awards season, Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club. A failure to recognize the unheralded work by Hanks in his later years is a disservice to his layered artistry that has been taken for granted for over 20 years.

Captain Phillips is available to stream on Hulu in the U.S.

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