‘Hijack’ Apple TV Plus Review: Come Aboard the Latest Edge-Of-Your-Seat Thriller
If you’re on board a compromised plane, you might as well have Idris Elba by your side. That much is clear after watching the edge-of-your-seat seven-episode Apple TV Plus series Hijack, which takes the concept of Liam Neeson’s Non-Stop and puts it high on steroids. It is both a nail-biter and a terrifying prospect of what could happen if well-prepared criminals decided to take over an aircraft; the series may not be considered part of the horror genre by definition, but the underlying concept certainly makes a hell of an argument.
George Kay and Jim Field Smith co-created the series, acting also as lead writer and director, respectively. Elba executive produces and stars as Sam Nelson, a high-profile negotiator who finds himself in the middle of a hostage situation inside a flight that took off in Dubai and is heading to London, and decides to put his abilities to use. It’s unclear what these are exactly, other than remaining calm while the rest of the plane loses their minds, but it doesn’t really matter either. Hijack decides to spin many of the tropes of the subgenre on its head, having Elba be a cold-minded character trying to make the best out of the situation, as opposed to what other, less daring stories would have pulled, like having him be a cop. His physicality does play a role in the series, but it’s his mind that is working at all times, which makes for such an interesting watch.
Idris Elba in “Hijack,” now streaming on Apple TV Plus.
Hijack is extremely well-crafted, filled with twists and turns that will have the audience on the edge of their seats. But most of the heavy lifting is done by its accomplished structure — every moment of the series feels earned, and the writing is very precise in the way it decides to reveal certain plot points, as well as introduce new characters and storylines. We also get to see how people follow the event from the ground, but that is done very succinctly in the beginning, as no one has any reason to suspect the plane is no longer in safe hands, and then, as the story unfolds, we get more from the people trying to handle the situation.
This can be a little jarring at the beginning, as we are introduced to quite a few characters we need to know and whose movements we have to track to make sure we understand every aspect of the story. But because we are already so invested in the people inside the plane and their own arcs, during the first two or three episodes it can feel overwhelming keeping score of who is doing what, especially as the scripts don’t really deliver much information at first. All of it has a purpose, though, and that is true for storylines that may seem like throwaways at the beginning, and also moments throughout the series that might feel slightly off.
Even though it’s seven episodes, the story is so well-conceived we never feel like we are running in circles, and it’s always finding new ways to move forward the narrative and not feel repetitive. Of course, having an always-moving plane at the center is a huge help for the writers when coming up with ways to keep the momentum going. But it goes way beyond that, because we also find ourselves attached to most of the characters inside the plane because of the very subtle and intimate moments we spend with them. They also did a good job in coming up with storylines that have a three-act structure inside each individual episode, so that they all feel satisfying in their own right, but that also play a part inside the larger narrative of the series.
Eve Myles in “Hijack,” now streaming on Apple TV Plus.
Meanwhile, some of the storylines from the people on the ground feel either necessary by the plot, but not really earned, or completely underdeveloped. As an example, Christine Adams plays the mother to Sam’s (Elba) son. There is a backstory between her and Sam that is never fully explored, and besides giving a terrible guest lecture to Physics students, we barely spend any time with her to learn how she reacts to her former partner and father to her son being in a hijacked plane that is heading towards London.
The ultimate success of these movies/TV shows also lies in how they are able to stick the landing. The last hour of Hijack feels very earned and is consistent with everything that came before. However, it does leave some plot threads wide open, and while we mostly care about what’s going on inside the aircraft, and that gets resolved quite nicely, there are larger issues at stake that are never resolved in the story, which in the end does feel a bit underwhelming. That being said, those feel like minor issues inside a much larger picture, and if you are looking for the next big thriller to tune in weekly for, or even binge-watch once it’s all available, Hijack is the answer.
The first two episodes of Hijack are currently available to stream on Apple TV Plus. New episodes coming every Wednesday.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as authors like Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
