Hijack 1971

Who knew? Before Captain "Sully" made his miracle emergency landing on the Hudson Bay, in New York in 2009, a Korean pilot accomplished an equally harrowing feat on the other side of the globe decades earlier. I caught this movie by accident and didn't know what to expect. Was very pleasantly surprised. The all-Korean cast did a great job of conveying the true story of a hijacked plane that was ordered to fly to communist North Korea, re-routing the frightened passengers off their scheduled flight to Seoul. The story begins with a rookie, first officer who has been outcast among his fellow pilots for refuting to follow orders earlier when a plane had been hijacked to North Korea, and he was ordered to shoot one of the plane's engines to disable the plane and stop it from reaching the communist border. Those passengers were hijacked to North Korea in 1969, detained for months and released to South Korea where they were ostracized and treated as spies in their own communities. The pilots, and crew of that plane were never returned to South Korea because they had special skills and training. Although the rookie first officer has completed his training, he has never been allowed to do a solo landing due to the other pilots' dislike and mistrust of him. On this day in January 1971, the captain tells him he wants him to do the landing and he is very pleased that he will finally get an opportunity. However, he does not know that this will be a very memorable day for a number of reasons. A bitter young man has made his way on the plane with several bombs that he uses to blow a hole in the plane and threaten the frightened passengers. The hijacker demands that the pilot and first officer take him to North Korea. Over the course of the movie, we see some amazing flying stunts as the rookie officer tries to outmaneuver the vicious hijacker who unleashes his violence on both the passengers, crew and first officer and captain. At the same time, the Air Force has launched two fighter planes and ordered them to shoot the planes engines to disable it from crossing the border. North Korea has also launched its fighter jets. This movie pulls all of the right strings. It is action packed, and I certainly shed a tear or two when I realized it was a true story. Definitely stay for the closing shots and credits. Very moving.

Hijack 1971 is a tightly executed thriller based on a real-life hijacking, told with sharp focus and simmering tension. While the setup is familiar, the film avoids melodrama and unnecessary flash, delivering a suspenseful narrative within the claustrophobic setting of a plane. Its controlled pacing and stripped-down style build to a strong emotional payoff. A fine example of economical storytelling, Hijack 1971 stands out as one of the more effective and disciplined thrillers in recent Korean cinema.

Inspired by the Korean Air F27 hijacking unfold on the 23 january 1971, the movie defenitely keep a tension during most of the acts.

The casting is on the spot and the performances are quite good.

However, as specified at the beginning of the movie, this is freely inspired by the event and lots of sequences are made only for dramatic purposes. The problem with that is the numerous irrational reactions of the passengers wich will probably make you wonder why people are reacting like that.

But the real major problem of this movie, in my opinion, and I noticed that this is often the case with movies produce by Sony, is the CGI.

All the planes shots looks way to fake, especially when you have in mind the Top Gun Maverick shots in mind. I saw more realistic videos from people who play Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 maxout in 8K with mods.

Not an awful movie, but could have been way better.

What to say other than this is a solid movie with a solid plot and solid CGI and solid acting. However, for a Korean film, I thought it fell short in comparison to some of the greats. I mean, not every movie would be great, but Koreans are exceptional with the balance of comedy and tragedy. Many Korean movies really move the emotions, having you laugh in tears in the beginning and sobbing uncontrollably in the end.

The reason a lot of Korean films are losing their strength is because they're trying too hard to copy Hollywood. This film would be one of those and so the story seems generic and the dialogues just move the story along without making any real impact. As such the movie doesn't leave much of an impression.

I think a better writer could've made this movie great by going back to what they do best, comedy and tragedy.

6/10.

This movie made me write my first IMDb review, it's THAT GOOD yall.

I really didn't expect anything coming to see it at the cinema. It's honestly one of the best Korean movies I've seen in my entire life. The acting is out of this world, the movie is very immersive & thrilling, beside the main character's', I got to see the side characters's emotions as well which is very rare. It's so well executed and the fact that it's based on a true story blew my mind. I don't know what else to say, just go see it. Best plane hijacking movie ever. Also it's emotional, and it hits deep, prepare to feel the characters' pains as well.