Apple TV’s Hijack is the best thriller of the year and a ’90s throwback

The 90s are still alive in the skies above Europe, at least with the new Apple TV Plus series. hijack. This twisty international thriller follows a group of passengers trying to survive a hijack on his seven-hour flight from Dubai to London. It’s exactly the sort of mid-budget excitement that would have made him one of the most popular films in the world 30 years ago, but has all but disappeared since then. Thankfully, after five episodes, hijack It’s proof that good old thrillers aren’t completely dead.

hijackA group of resourceful passengers are led by self-proclaimed leader Sam Nelson (Idris Elba), a closer who specializes in closing deals with huge international corporations. As the nature of the hijacking unfolds, Nelson springs into action, coaxing and negotiating with the perpetrators to ensure everyone on the plane reaches the ground safely. He’s also where his ’90s vibe on this show really kicks in.

Like all the best Jack Ryan and all the (ish) male protagonists of all time, Sam is neither a former Special Forces nor a covert spy. He’s not a terrible action hero or a Krav Maga-learned super-genius. He just happens to have a job that involves high-pressure deals, and he’s very good at it. So when he’s in crisis, he turns the whole hijacking into his one big business deal. Because I know I can win.

The character also leverages Elba’s incredible strengths, delivering compelling dialogue in a way that will never let the other characters forget that he works primarily for his own good. Early in the show, Sam tries to convince mastermind hijacker Stuart (Neil Maskell) that he doesn’t want to hijack a plane, but that he wants to help him survive. The camera continues to feed on Stuart’s face as he gradually becomes overwhelmed by Sam’s logic and the pressure of the situation, leaving him to rely on his uneasy trust.

It’s a brilliant dynamic the show employs well, especially in the fifth episode, when things get a little violent in the end and Stuart needs to be calmed down. No matter who Sam is talking to, he’s smarter than everyone else, and we both know that. This fact empowers Sam, but unnerves everyone else. When talking to him, the hijacker and other passengers are constantly doing mental math to figure out how they’re being duped or if Sam is just telling the slightly poisonous truth.

Not only does it give us the heroes we deserve to root for, hijack is very good at putting the exciting parts of a thriller in the order they should be. Questions that seem like common sense are almost always addressed by characters, and everyone takes logical steps to solve the problem at hand. If you see a loophole or a clear next step, chances are someone else on the plane has spotted it and is about to say it out loud. This is the kind of clever scripting and audience trust that I find rare in modern thrillers, too often leaving big logical gaps to maintain tension or over-explaining every moment so the camera leaves the solution to make the audience feel clever.

Image: Apple TV Plus

Maintaining this balance of tension and cleverness for 90 minutes is an insurmountable challenge for most films. hijack We managed to spread it elegantly over seven episodes. The show creates a natural pull for action and suspense, carefully crafting each episode to its own memorable climax that is thrilling without feeling indebted to his one-hour airtime, which is the standard of modern dramatic television. Of course, sometimes each episode lasts his hour, but most of the time, the show is kept to a light and fun 45 minutes.

all hijack It feels like it was pulled from another era in the best possible way. From the tense tension to the hero trying to get out of trouble with his mouth instead of his fist, it feels like ’90s thrillers are back on TV, not movies.

hijack is currently streaming on Apple TV Plus, with five of the season’s seven episodes already released.