The skies are particularly unfriendly in the Apple TV+ thriller Hijack, a gripping 24-style exercise in escapism that seems an oddly unnerving choice for the height of summer’s travel season. For those staying grounded, however, this is a white-knuckle winner.
Unfolding on a seven-hour flight from Dubai to London over seven episodes, this roller coaster of ticking-clock suspense stars Luther’s Idris Elba in more muted but no less confrontational form as corporate negotiator Sam Nelson. His reasoning skills, and sometimes his fists, get a workout when Kingdom Flight 29 is overtaken by desperate hijackers who don’t always seem in control of their actions.
Sam sizes the situation up as the second episode begins: “If it’s all going wrong in the first hour, imagine what can happen in the next six.” Indeed.
While Sam tries to keep this airborne powder keg from exploding — not easy when the terrified and unruly passengers are as volatile and unpredictable as the hijackers — things aren’t any calmer on terra firma. Eve Myles (Torchwood) is terrific as a frazzled but pragmatic air-traffic controller trying to convince her bosses of the danger above, while a counterterrorism agent (crisp Archie Panjabi) labors to avoid international showdowns whenever the renegade flight crosses a border and invades another suspicious country’s air space.
It’s in the claustrophobic quarters and narrow aisles of Flight 29 where Hijack excels, with new crises and escalating cliffhangers making the classic Airport and its sequels look like training exercises. Best to suspend disbelief that the bad guys don’t just gag Sam for the duration of the trip after his first few intrusions. And there’s at least one too many melodramatic twists in a finale that might cause even 24’s Jack Bauer to roll his seen-it-all eyes.
But if shows like Netflix’s Bodyguard are your idea of a guilty pleasure, fasten your seat belt. There’s turbulence ahead.
Hijack, Series Premiere (two episodes), Wednesday, June 28, Apple TV+
