Captain Phillips (Paul Greengrass, 2013)

Fairly faithfully based on the hijacking of an American cargo ship by Somali pirates in 2009, Captain Phillips is another vehicle for Tom Hanks to dominate the screen as the decent everyman in distress, whereas some depth to the background of how Somali piracy became so systemic would have been more interesting. But perhaps also too much of a divergence from the facts of what occurred.
So instead, what we get is a protracted hostage scenario with the captain being shouted at and jabbed with guns for hour upon hour by the group who have kidnapped him from his own ship, while the U.S. Navy prowl about in the background exchanging the usual military comms about how to neutralise the situation. At least the performance and character of the group leader is more multi-faceted than the norm, but the other three are pure stereotypes from the psycho to the scared kid. True to life it may be, but also rather boring.

5/10