Hijack

A sucker for British Crime drama, I was looking forward to this one and Idris Elba in the show was a bonus.

I quite enjoyed the show, something slightly different from everything else I've been recently watching. Idris Elba - you're either going to LOVE his acting or say, bruh he did what he usually does, what's new? The support cast however did a good job. The writing and the music for the show, however, were the highlight for me. Of course, there are cinematic liberties that you'll have to be okay with, the plot is not airtight.

Each episode builds and retains the intensity well; this show had weekly episodes and the plot made me care enough to come back and watch the next ep. Now that all of them are out, you might want to binge it and might end up liking it more than I did. Would recommend!

Hijack is an intense thriller that's told in real time over the course of 7 hours, or 7 episodes. It's a hijacking on a plane to London with an extremely successful negotiator (Idris Elba) on board who does his best to step up and save the lives of everyone on the plane including his own. This is unlike any role Elba has played before and he absolutely knocks it out of the park. I'd be surprised if he's not nominated for best actor of a limited series. The show itself may get nominated but Elba definitely deserves it. I was hooked from the very beginning. This is a show that's probably best watched binged because you're not going to want to wait week to week for an episode.

And of course, the legion of armchair airline and counter-terrorism experts are along to tell everyone how a fictional programme isn't at all like the real world. No doubt they also take issue with the latest Star Trek for not having realistic Klingons, and Dr Who because real aliens are not made out of styrofoam. And if you pay attention to the date of those reviews, you will see they were all written after the first episode airs.

I have zero issue with a fictional TV programme's realism, so long as I am entertained. And Hijack is entertaining. It's a bit far-fetched in places. But the acting is good, no surprises there with Idris Elba, the whole cast is strong. There are some tense moments, handled well. In particular, you really feel that they are on a real plane, an incredible set.

If you are able to put your armchair joystick to one side, this is definitely worth a watch.

I has been ages since i took the effort to leave a review, but this was so shockingly bad it feels like a duty to warn other people.

As a big Elba fan i was looking forward to check this, i mean what could go wrong?

Apparently good writers is what is wrong.

This show is full of stupid twist and story lines, but the absoute worst part is everybody, but absolutely everybody act and behaves like a total stupid moron.

The string of consecutive weird or stupid decisions being taken is beyond unbearable. Absolutely everybody,including the character of Elba. Its actually quite shocking an actor of his status and caliber got involved in this.

I could make an endless list of things that just didn't make any sense at all, or poor drama written with plot all over the place for the sake of plot.

But this show doesn't deserve it.

The only reason why i finished it was because of curiosity how far it will go and where it would land. And yes it was a bad trip and a bad landing from start to finish.

First of all, if you don't mind your conspiracy/hijack/action/ drama plots to have more holes than a kilogram of Swiss cheese, then you won't mind this. Personally, I find what it lacks in credibility is more than compensated by having massive viewer interaction. You could easily create a plot hole bingo with this if were binging over a night or two.

So many inaccuracies and unrealistic scenarios are saved by a stellar Brit cast, with Idris Elba and Archie Panjabi as the cool protagonists, Neil Maskell playing his archetypal cockney bad guy and sneering Simon McBurney as Mr Big and ultrasmart uber-villain - not so smart he was in prison to start with.

Despite all the shortcomings, it's an easy and enjoyable watch. Have a laugh at the caricature Brit politicians and super polite police.