A Hijacking
Magnolia Pictures | Release Date: June 21, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
82
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 26 Critic Reviews
Positive:
25
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
New York PostFarran Smith NehmeJun 20, 2013
A Hijacking is Lindholm’s second feature as director; he’s also worked with such austere Danes as Thomas Vinterberg of Dogme 95 fame. What he’s learned, it seems, is how to strip away distractions, and let character become suspense, as well as destiny. Read full review
100
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternJun 20, 2013
Here's an iffy proposition. If A Hijacking was in English, or if U.S. audiences weren't finicky about reading subtitles, or if life was fair, this brilliant thriller, by the Danish filmmaker Tobias Lindholm, would be playing on multiplex screens throughout the country.
100
Time OutJoshua RothkopfJun 18, 2013
Rarely leaning on the weepy families back home, this briskly paced triumph maintains a clear focus on human costs, with hope slipping away onboard while lives hang on the burp of a fax machine. Read full review
100
The PlaylistOliver LytteltonMar 18, 2013
The film isn’t a white knuckle ride, and the pacing can be slow at times, but this is one of those cases where that’s sort of the point, and you certainly don’t begrudge it. A Hijacking is an absorbing, highly moving film. Read full review
91
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerJun 21, 2013
His (Lindholm) steadfast, unvarying gaze has its own authenticity. He’s made a thriller that thrills while also respecting our intelligence. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranJun 20, 2013
A Hijacking is as lean, focused and to the point as its title. Read full review
88
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsJul 12, 2013
Director Lindholm is a graduate of the Dogma school, and he is able to maintain tension with a documentary camera technique, virtually no music and minimal on-screen theatrics. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy BurrJun 27, 2013
A Hijacking tells a simple story whose ripples ultimately turn into tidal waves. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyJun 19, 2013
While the improvisatory movement of the camera helps create a sense of ambiguous tension in the scenes where the crew interacts with the pirates, it also undercuts several more overtly dramatic moments. However, this shortcoming of filmmaking imagination is largely redeemed by the pessimistic wallop of the movie’s ending. Read full review
80
The New York TimesA.O. ScottJun 20, 2013
In A Hijacking, his assured, intense second feature, the Danish director Tobias Lindholm turns tedium and frustration into agonizing suspense. Read full review
80
NPRElla TaylorJun 20, 2013
A Hijacking is mostly about the excruciating process of getting to "yes" when language is the least of the barriers between two very different mindsets. Read full review
80
Film.comJordan HoffmanJun 20, 2013
A Hijacking isn’t boring, but it is not an adventure film – it is a frustratingly realistic take on the unfortunate modern threat of piracy, and a bit of an emotional workout. Read full review
80
Village VoiceStephanie ZacharekJun 18, 2013
Danish director Tobias Lindholm's wiry, neatly crafted thriller A Hijacking wrests fact into the shape of believable fiction, although the movie is most remarkable for everything it doesn't show. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinJun 17, 2013
It’s an unshowy, quietly intense drama with grace notes in every scene — and a hellish punch. Read full review
80
The GuardianXan BrooksMay 14, 2013
Danish director Tobias Lindholm spins an exacting drama out of a crisis on this deft, verite-style account of Somali piracy in the Indian ocean. Full credit to A Hijacking for resisting the siren-call of Hollywood histrionics in favour of the nuts-and-bolts. Read full review
80
The TelegraphRobbie CollinMay 14, 2013
Flies buzz, sweat trickles, negotiations continue, and you feel your breath dry up. Read full review
80
Total FilmMatt GlasbyMay 14, 2013
It’s actually a ruthlessly plausible thriller, stripped clean of music and melodrama, and all the more engrossing for it. Read full review
80
EmpireAngie ErrigoMay 5, 2013
A slow burner; intense, utterly engrossing and believable. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterNeil YoungMar 18, 2013
[A Hijacking] illuminatingly and sensitively dramatizes an easily-overlooked global crime phenomenon. Read full review
80
VarietyGuy LodgeMar 18, 2013
Hostage thrillers are all-too-often shrill affairs, with clock-watching screenwriters wringing maximum melodrama from spiraling disorder. Not so Tobias Lindholm’s superb A Hijacking, which actually grows more chillingly subdued as its nightmare scenario unfolds. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleSteve DavisJun 26, 2013
When the gut-wrenching conclusion of A Hijacking comes in the form of a single, random act, it’s only then you realize how far you’ve been pulled into its emotional core. It’s a staggering moment, one for which you may not be fully prepared. It’s a moment that differentiates the merely good from the very good. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineMar 18, 2013
Tobias Lindholm's hostage-negotiation drama that wields its verité style for maximum tension. Read full review
63
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanJun 27, 2013
To refuse to call A Hijacking a thriller is not to say it isn’t thrilling, in a dryly cerebral way. Writer-director Tobias Lindholm has a point to make, and he makes it pungently. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldConnie OgleJun 27, 2013
A Hijacking is not quite as exciting as it should be, but its realistic examination of grit and folly are still more intriguing than swaggering action movie heroics. Read full review
63
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreJun 20, 2013
What we have here is a gripping story rather dryly told, a somewhat frustrating essay on Scandinavian passivity without the pathos of the similarly themed Oscar winning Danish film “In a Better World.” It’s the helplessness that gets to you. Read full review
60
Time Out LondonCath ClarkeMay 14, 2013
A Hijacking’ is gripping in the way the best Danish TV is – in its no-frills authenticity. Read full review
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