You all know the story… Richard Phillips was captain of the Maersk Alabam when the ship was boarded by Somali pirates back in 2009. They held him hostage on a lifeboat for five days before the Navy SEALS came to the man’s rescue. That’s pretty much all of it. But you can always count on director Paul Greengrass to go a little further than just stating the facts. Just like he did in United 93, Greengrass digs deeper and with the help of Tom Hanks (who really is at the top of his game here), they give new meaning to the word tension.

Director James Wan and writer Leigh Whannell team up once more for a story about possession with this sequel to Insidious. I liked the first Insidious movie… it was mostly scary, which is what you want a horror movie to be. It was a shame though that the ending was incredibly lame with daddy Josh Lambert (Patrick Wilson) wandering off in another dimension known as ‘the Further’ to rescue his son. Insidious Chapter 2 picks up hours after where its predecessor left off with Josh and his wife Renai (Rose Byrne) having successfully rescued Dalton.

Navas (Albert Ammann) and Ari (Adriana Ugarte) are a couple of thieves who always work the same way. First, Ari seduces the victim and once she has made her way into their house, she lets in Navas and his colleague, who then rob the place clean. They are looking for one last big score before skipping town and have their eyes set on Mikel (Alex Gonzalez), who owns a jewelry store along with his fiancée Julia (Maria Castro).

Luke (Jake Johnson) and Kate (Olivia Wilde) are good friends who work together in a brewery. The two of them have a blast at work, where they get to spend their days flirting and drinking beer. It looks like they are made for one another but both of them are in a relationship. Luke is even about to get married with his girlfriend Jill. Things change dramatically however when the two couples go off on a weekend together.

Ariane Feldner (Sandrine Kiberlain) is an uptight and very single court judge who is due for a promotion. Following a drunken New Year’s Eve Party, she is also due for something else nine months later but she doesn’t realize this until six months have passed. Having no recollection of the party, she does not know who the father could be but she suspects her leering collegue Godfrey (Philippe Uchan).