Tune In Or Tune Out: 'Hijack' Gets The Job Done

Apple TV’s 7-part miniseries, Hijack, starring Idris Elba, gets the job done. The series centers around – you guessed it – the hijacking of a plane on a seven-hour flight from Dubai to London as authorities on the ground scramble for answers and Sam Nelson (Elba), a professional business negotiator, tries to use his skills to get everyone home in one piece.

And, with seven, approximately hour-long episodes covering a seven-hour flight, the whole thing is in real-time, keeping the narrative grounded, yet moving at a quick pace. The showrunners have had practice with thrillers in tight parameters; writer George Kay and director Jim Field Smith (who also executive produce through their company Idiotlamp) were also behind Netflix’s Criminal series (Criminal: France, Germany, Spain, and the UK; 2019-2020) in which each episode presents a stand-alone crime thriller/psychological drama that takes place only in or around an interrogation room. Their experience shows as the audience is quickly thrust into conflict and suspense and intercutting between the plane and the ground keeps things moving.

Meet Sam Nelson

Idris Elba (who also executive produces) is great as always in his role as Sam Nelson. He plays it cool, keeps it grounded, and never lets the audience know just what his character is plotting. As Nelson begins to play both sides – telling the hijackers he’ll help them if that means getting back to his family, but also sending discrete messages to his fellow passengers – the audience is put on their toes, never knowing just what Nelson is planning, if what he’s saying is true. This makes the reveals, the effects of each little plan, all the more satisfying to see, and there are some really clever moves in the show.

However, while Elba is definitely highlighted for marketing purposes, there are a lot of storylines and characters in the mix. There’s Nelson’s son and ex-wife, his ex-wife’s new detective boyfriend, the rest of the police department, the air traffic controllers, the airport security, the pilot, the other passengers, the hijackers – it’s truly an ensemble show. And the show does a good job of humanizing each character and making you remember them. You see one air traffic controller as a mom dropping her kid off at school, making up excuses as she shows up at work late again, but also as a no-nonsense woman who’s good at her job and thus the first one to push that something’s up with the plane. You even learn about the hijackers’ relationships, their families, and their fears.

And it’s not just Nelson vs. the hijackers or even Nelson and the authorities vs. the hijackers – the passengers, each depicted as a truly individual character – have their own skill sets and ideas to contribute as well. While it’s frustrating to see the passengers’ overzealous discussions/attempts of fighting back in the beginning, against Nelson’s advice (maybe they’ve been watching too many hijack shows), they get smarter as the show progresses, start working together as a team, and it’s quite fun to watch. Having the ground characters and plot lines also really keeps things constantly moving as the events of the show play out in real-time.

Was it Tune In or Tune Out?

Hijack stays nicely grounded for its genre and at the same time has some good “Oh $#!@” moments. The reveals and results of all of Nelson’s surreptitious little plots land nicely, laying down the groundwork of small, grounded actions before the payoff – either finally seeing what that was about, or knowing what he was trying to do, sitting in the suspense of if he’ll get caught, and finally seeing it work (or not). There’s good groundwork and foreshadowing throughout, for example, seeing a flash of a character’s criminal record as the police go through the manifest for suspects, and later seeing him on the plane, wondering just what he’ll do. Intercutting between the ground and the air is used pretty masterfully, as well, with even mundane, unrelated lines from those on the ground signaling what new, shocking turn is about to go down on the plane. There is action as well; it’s not constant, it’s not a bloodbath or over the top, but the show uses it when it needs to. And, while the plot is a bit slow or meandering at times in the first half, things really pick up and start coming together in the second.

There are a few spots, though, where the show could grab your attention better, and draw you in further. While the ensemble angle is interesting, it might benefit from a bit of streamlining. Interesting characters could use more time, and there could be more distinct heroes to root for, if the hijackers are to be humanized, they could stand a bit more fleshing out. Elba also gets a bit buried beneath all the other characters, and without any stand-outs for him to play off of, he doesn’t shine as brightly as he might. On the other side of that same coin, whatever character development and interpersonal conflict there is in the show falls a bit flat against the sheer scope of the narrative and the high stakes of the hijacking. While, for example, having Nelson be driven to go home by his ex-wife to find a new man does add some character motivation, any scenes of his son complaining about his mom’s new relationship end up feeling small when cut together with a plane being hijacked. There are also a few instances of affairs or fateful, previous connections between characters that feel trite, contrived, and unnecessary when the rest of the script is building intrigue just fine. The Big Bad (spoiler alert, there is more to the hijacking than just the hijackers) is also a bit overblown and a bit of a tone shift from the groundedness of the rest of the series.

Who will like it?

While not every single part of the series is perfect, and while Hijack doesn’t take its genre to mind-blowing new heights, it gets the job done. There’s suspense, there are clever plays, and there’s a deft blending of an ensemble of characters and plot lines running in the air and on the ground. And, perhaps most importantly, the end of each episode gets you to want to watch the next one (and not in an annoying, baity kind of way). If you’re sitting at home and find yourself in the mood for a thriller that won’t get you too freaked out, watch it.

Hijack stars Idris Elba, Max Beesley, Neil Maskell, Eve Myles, Archie Panjabi, and Ben Miles. It is written by George Kay, directed by Jim Field Smith and Mo Ali, and produced by 60Forty Films, Archery Pictures, Green Door Pictures, and Idiotlamp Productions. As of August 2nd, all seven episodes of Hijack are streamable on Apple TV+.