Hijacking – Seven Hours at High Altitude: seven episodes of seven hours each. It’s a pity that the most interesting comes at the end of the sixth…
Idris Elba, Luther’s interpreter, never missed the mark on television. Until now.
Plot of Hijack – Seven Hours at High Altitude
Sam Nelson (Elba) returns home to London aboard flight KA29 from Dubai. Shortly after takeoff, the plane is hijacked by a group of terrorists. Sam gets in the way by using his skills as a negotiator to try and achieve his only goal: getting home safely to his family.
With the complicity of pilot Commander Robin Allen (Ben Miles, “The Crown”), Sam appears to enact a plan of rebellion to regain control of the plane, but surprisingly, we see him help the hijackers so no one gets hurt. Sam’s intentions are unclear, as are the intentions of the hijackers, who have important connections on earth and intend to ask for the release of some prisoners. But will it really be the target of the hijacking?
Overview: Why Hijack Doesn’t Work
No voltage
The idea was potentially explosive. The means – between the effects, the cast and the attention to detail in the set design and costumes – are all here: at the production level of Hijack, there is nothing to envy the film. high budget. However, the deployment of tools is significantly wasted.
The real, big problem with this 7-episode series is that lack of tension. The surprise that was supposed to be the real strength of the story only holds up at times. There is an alternation violence intimidating – especially in ground scenes involving Dubai airport staff – and dead times that leave the viewer confused.
It also creates rhythm swingingSo unbalanced make even most turns inefficient. When it comes to hijacking a plane with a potential act of international terrorism, tension should be the writers’ priority. Here they seem to be practicing, always finding the best way to defuse the tension as soon as it starts to build up…
Turns, I said predictable – except for the one that closes the sixth episode, giving life season finale what really works, until the really forced ending of John McClane (Bruce Willis’s character in the Die Hard saga) – and soon you lose interest in what’s happening on board in favor of events on land.
It’s because it’s time for storytelling on the plane. expand incommensurable: it may be seven hours of flight, but three episodes were enough. That’s why retreats from the earth become more interesting, and the time we are forced to spend on board with passengers becomes excessive.
Characters starting with the main character
Sam’s character ambiguous: He seems to be on the good side, leading an uprising – an increasingly realistic option after 9/11 – and then playing into the hands of the hijackers. Its purpose is clearly selfish: to return home alive to loved ones. And this, too, could have turned out well: having the acting talent of Idris Elba at his disposal, everything could have turned out as it should.
But it’s not: ambiguity surplus and the sympathy of the public is entirely at stake. There was no need to cover the character with heroism, but a little more willingness to do the right thing will play in favor of the protagonist. If you can’t Tune with someone who provides you point of view about events, you run the risk of very little empathy even for the dangerous situation in which the passengers find themselves.
Sam’s unrequited connection with his ex-wife, little shown affection for his son, all the speech that refers to “his family”, contrast with the vision of other members of the same family. As a result, Sam looks like a classic selfish workaholic. chasing affection only after you’ve already lost them.
Not to mention the limited space reserved for Archie Punjabi (former Kalinda from The Good Wife), another actress loved by the public and relegated to a too marginal role.
In addition, the characters on board they are almost all annoying. From the rude mother who to the end represents that category of travelers who consider themselves more important and more right than the rest, spoiling the trip for everyone, to prejudices about the nationality of passengers, often disassembled, but generally adjusted to too stereotypical personalities.
You know, a selfish mommy who gives everyone trouble is much more realistic than everyone else trying to do something to save the day. And that means screenplaysigned by George Kay and Jim Field Smith (Deer, Lupine) presents some serious shortcomings.
Also in terms of character psychology we face imbalances of a certain weight: character improve from the entire series a woman at the helm, Alice (Eva Miles, Torchwood) who will liaise with Sam on board. She is also a mother, apparently unmarried, but “witty” uses this to justify her delays. For this we sympathize with her. Her character is up against the other most successful of the series, the obnoxious mother. Two characters mirror which show us that the relationship with others is the only thing that really matters.
What makes the hijackers inadequate, starting with their boss on board. The criminals on the ground, those who control the game, and their true purpose are much more credible. It’s a pity the rest is gone…
conclusions
A little more attention would be enough to distribute storytelling, dividing itself between the plane and London, the plane and Dubai, the passengers and their families on the ground.
The main disadvantage of Hijack, as already noted, is that wasting funds and resources, and an actor who could do much more, but whose hands are tied not by the situation experienced by his character, but by the superficiality of the script.
The psychological view of the story, which should play on tension, is everything. Here it is not only absent, it is also poorly distributed, on the wrong characters.
It’s a pity. But also a lot of boredom, a vision of a series with a lot of potential. Almost everything has not been implemented.