The best thriller of the year is a TV show about Idris Elba on an airplane
The ’90s are still alive and well in the skies above Europe, at least in the new Apple TV Plus series Hijack. The twisty international thriller follows a group of passengers trying to survive a hijacking on a seven-hour flight from Dubai to London. It’s exactly the kind of mid-budget excitement that would have made for one of the most popular movies in the world 30 years ago, but has largely disappeared since. Thankfully, after five episodes, Hijack is proof that the good old-fashioned thriller hasn’t died out completely.
Hijack’s band of resourceful passengers are led by the self-appointed leader Sam Nelson (Idris Elba), a closer who specializes in finishing off business deals for massive international companies. As the realities of their hijacking become clear, Nelson jumps into action, trying to pacify and negotiate with the culprits and ensure everyone on the plane makes it to the ground safely. He’s also where the show’s ’90s flair really gets started.
Like all the best Jack Ryans and regular(ish) guy protagonists before him, Sam is not ex-special forces or secretly a spy. He isn’t a badass action hero or a super genius who’s also studied Krav Maga. He just happens to do a job that involves high-pressure deal-making, and he’s very good at it. So when he finds himself in a crisis, he turns the whole hijacking into one big business negotiation, because that’s something he knows he can win.
The character also taps into an incredible strength of Elba’s, delivering convincing dialogue in a way that never lets other characters forget he’s primarily working for his own interests. Early in the show, Sam tries to convince the lead hijacker, Stuart (Neil Maskell), that he wants to help, not because he wants to hijack the
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