Gripping but long

Rating: 7/10 (10 November 2015)

The movie is definitely unique and hence interesting. I would have liked the story to have given more screen time to characters other than Capt. Philips and the hijackers. But the plot was quite intelligent and believable.
Overall, the movie kept me on the edge of my seat biting my fingernails! However, perhaps in the pursuit of realism of military action and of prolonged hostage situations, there were definitely a few times during the movie when I wondered whether it needed to be so long.
The runtime should have been cut down by about 20 minutes - then this would have got an 8 or 9 from me.