Hijack

Amidst this year’s releases of Plane and Dear Edward, flight mishaps and aerial chaos seem to be the plot trend that’s overtaking everyone’s screens. Idris Elba tries his hand at the current cliché with Hijack. Onboard a seven-hour flight from Dubai to London, Sam (Elba) just wants to get back home to his wife and son, but a group of miscreants takes over with guns. Motives unknown, they force their way into the cockpit, take control of the flight and instill fear into the passengers. Unbeknown to those inside the plane, forces on the ground in both Dubai and London are beginning to uncover the sinister events on flight KA29.

One of the most entertaining elements of Hijack is the unusual ways in which characters communicate throughout the series – from chatting through TV flight games and passing notes to writing on toilet paper. This really raises the stakes and adds to the tension of each interaction. It’s paired up with cinematography that incorporates some creative camera angles and movement, taking up every inch of space available within the confines of the plane, looking through windows and mirrors and gaps between seats. The effect evokes within viewers a similar level of suffocation that the passengers must feel, trapped thousands of feet in the air with people who can kill them in a blink of an eye.

There are seven episodes altogether, and each one counts down an hour in the plane. It’s a clever structural choice that goes along with the series’s storytelling theme. While the length can drag quite a bit, every step on the way to escape and safety is an essential piece of the bigger picture. There are much larger games at play than the plane hijacking, with people in Dubai and London facing battles of their own in connection to the flight. Overall, while the pace can be slow and frustrating, the outcome is the exciting kind where viewers can look forward to each weekly release.

Hijack’s most important takeaways are the lessons learned and the development of different dynamics, especially as passengers with initial disagreements come together with the same hope of surviving; there are enemies who turn into friends, and lives lost along the way. Every little nod the camera makes at tiny objects – from wedding rings to fallen books, and splatters of blood on the floor – is an emotional blow that impacts both the viewers and the people onboard.

Mae Trumata

Hijack is released on Apple TV+ on 28^th June 2023.

Watch the trailer for Hijack here: