Hijack

A gripping 24-style escapist thriller. [3 - 23 Jul 2023, p.6]

Hijack makes sure the tension stays high while not taking leaps in logic. Combine the tight writing with the compelling lead performance from Idris Elba and you have a show that gets us leaning forward in our chairs, and that says a lot.

Narrative seeds are sown, allowed to ripen and harvested at just the right moment. It works like clockwork without the (plentiful) larger twists being predictable.

A lightweight but irresistible new thriller from Apple TV+.

An instantly enthralling aeroplane-set thriller which deploys its real-time format to ratchet up the tension to the max, while providing Idris Elba with one of his most satisfying roles so far.

While early episodes are a little too slow-paced, “Hijack” grows more engrossing over its run.

Created by George Kay (“Lupin”), the tightly wound seven-episode series doesn’t waste a moment. It’s a shot of pure adrenaline.

So many series on TV right now are overlong, overserious, overcomplicated and overly dull. “Hijack” is no more or less than it needs to be. It jolts you awake and takes the passivity out of TV-watching. It captures your attention. No − it hijacks it.

“Hijack” doesn’t reinvent the genre, but it’s an expert example of how to make it feel fresh and palpable.

Crisp and tense, the seven-episode Apple TV+ series overcomes its slightly claustrophobic premise in a show unlikely to ever be offered as in-flight entertainment.

It may not be first class, but Hijack is certainly not the budget airline equivalent of summer streaming fare.

The shorter season length, and the confined space in which Sam, the hijackers, and the other passengers are stuck together for the duration, works wonders in keeping the tension high, without requiring the sort of silly contortions 24 so often had to try in order to fill so much time. More importantly, Hijack has Idris Elba.

Even as “Hijack” on the whole isn’t always on the level of these two actors [Idris Elba and Neil Maskell], the moments where they have room to work together make this often turbulent series feel more like a rollicking thrill ride.

A show that’s consistently interesting but never quite as engaging as it should be, largely because of how many characters it tries to bring onto this overbooked flight.

Like many modern television shows, Hijack probably should have been a feature film, a format that’s a more natural fit for this brand of claustrophobic thriller. .... While it can be a little ungainly in its execution, though, Hijack succeeds simply by being a volume shooter.

Ultimately, Hijack has all the dramatic gravitas of a fidget spinner, but it calls itself a thriller and it is.

There’s nothing new in this seven-episode summer thriller about a commercial jet being hijacked en route to London from Dubai, but Idris Elba as a passenger out to bring everything home in one piece—as if—is a bonafide star who keeps the action humming.

When we’re in the enclosed, claustrophobic space of the plane, the tension builds as the passengers find ways to communicate, begin to hatch plots and try to discover whether the hijackers’ guns are loaded with blanks. However, when we go to the storylines on the ground, pfffft – all that tension dissipates, like a balloon deflating.

Never truly takes flight. Still, led by its commanding leading man, it remains an intermittently watchable exercise in pulpy tension that at least has the good sense to keep things fast, taut and concise.

Once more, Elba is at the forefront of an action-filled tale with glaring performance similarities to Luther. Even so, Hijack is a ride worth taking if you're a fan of out-of-the-blue twists – even if they do feel exaggerated.

If you’re into Idris playing a character who’s a talker not a fighter, he doesn’t disappoint. The series? It leaves us short of our destination.

The story loses tension and momentum as it flies into the last few episodes, stalling in much the same way the British politicians and security experts on the ground are stalling in the hopes that the plane will land before they have to comply with the hijackers’ demands. The ending includes one last surprise problem for Sam to contend with, but the final moments just don’t land.

Idris Elba is a monumentally arresting presence and he makes sure the proceedings are never dull — but I’m not sure any actor could rescue this meandering, convoluted storyline.

It lays out multiple subplots that make the story convoluted, and the episodes start to feel repetitive after a while. Elba does his best to carry the story, once again delivering some solid work, but it's not enough to save this new miniseries from being seized by mediocrity.

At least Apple TV+ got Idris Elba to play the charming protagonist. However, he can only do so much to save the show because Hijack is a ridiculous (if amusing) mess.