More Shallow Than Expected

Rating: 5/10 (23 November 2016)

Let me preface this by saying that I am normally a fan of biopics, and even more a fan of Tom Hanks, so this movie was intriguing, especially because of the generally good reviews it has gotten.
However, I found this film to be rather flat, to be put quite simply. The dialogue at times felt mechanical, and as the story went on I realized that I didn't feel any substantial connection to the characters, as little effort is given to build any- including Captain Phillips, whose backstory was presented altogether poorly. Instead, the film jumped fairly quickly into the action, which would be fine, except that with the length of the movie, it drags on towards the end without giving the viewer any real reason to keep his or her interest. At the conclusion, I felt, meh. Not much of anything, just that it was over.
As I usually do, afterwards I read into the backstory of the film, to find some reasoning as to explain why I thought it could have been better developed. I learned that not only is the true Captain Phillips misrepresented in the movie as a hero, but that there is a much more interesting dynamic when it comes to the backstory of the Somalian pirates. In the movie we are only given a few confusing scenes (without subtitles, so fairly vague) where the pirates leave their village to be picked for the expedition, and throughout the story they are not really made out to be endearing, nor unlikable either. The viewer is left unsure what to think about their fate.
In real life, the plight of Somalians is that of foreign ships illegally taking advantage of their shipping lanes and fish, which dissipated their fish populations. As they have relied on fishing as nearly their only means for living, this led many to self-regulate the waters as their seemingly only other option, escalating into piracy. Whether this is morally justifiable or not, I can't say, but I dislike that this film fed the audience a definitive answer without even providing the full context. If the movie had developed this aspect more fully, I feel that it would have made for a much more compelling tale, as it would have done better to connect the audience to the Somalians rather than acting as just another Hollywood film with the undertone that American lives are more important than all others.
I would also have preferred a better developed Captain Phillips character. Obviously after reading articles, I would have liked to have him portrayed truer to his questionable real-life self, but it's the media business so I can settle for their idealized version; but only if they develop a reason to like him, which I still wasn't given. I just felt myself waiting for the movie to give me a reason to cheer for him, but like the entire role of characters, was given an altogether two dimensional character instead.
The story in its full context is incredibly interesting, but the movie decided to tell the basic press clippings version, and for that I am left disappointed.