TheRetroCritic

Having not seen a Tom Hanks film that wasn't a Toy Story sequel since Angels & Demons (yes, I missed Cloud Atlas , I know), I went into Captain Phillips  (the movie, that is...) looking forward to see the actor back in action. Besides, the solid trailer promised a tense sea-set thriller. Based on a true story, the film follows Captain Richard Phillips (Hanks) as he is tasked with taking a cargo ship through the Persian Gulf. Unfortunately, Somali pirates show up with the intent of hijacking the ship. After several attempts at keeping them from entering the ship and taking hostages, they do finally come aboard and Muse (Barkhad Abdi), the leader, uses Phillips to try and find the rest of the crew. That doesn't go quite according to plan so the pirates end up taking Phillips hostage on a lifeboat instead. After a low-key opening in which we see Phillips and his wife (played by Catherine Keener) wake up early in the morning and drive to the airport, we are shown how t