Review: 'Hijack' gets the best in Idris Elba, a dynamic screen presence

By Peter Travers

Summer is made for the pulse-pounding, nail-biting suspense that pumps through "Hijack," the terrific, twisty Apple TV+ series that keeps your palms sweating for seven hour-long episodes.

That's about the same time it takes for a hijacked commercial flight to make it from Dubai to London, in hope of arriving in one piece and with no casualties among the 200 passengers. As if.

This fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants spellbinder grabs you hard. But it wouldn't work without a bonafide star at its center. And "Hijack" gets the best in Idris Elba, a dynamic screen presence since his days as Stringer Bell on "The Wire" through his quartet of Emmy nominations for "Luther" and movie roles as diverse as Nelson Mandela and Bloodsport in "The Suicide Squad."

Apple TV+

Jude Cudjoe and Christine Adams in a scene from "Hijack."

Elba also moonlights as a singer and DJ -- performing under the moniker DJ Big Driis -- while dodging rumors that he'll be the next James Bond. Hell, he should be. Whatever Elba does you can't take your eyes off him. That makes him perfect in "Hijack" as business negotiator Sam Nelson, a reluctantly divorced dad forced to negotiate with terrorists to save his life and the lives of his fellow passengers.

To keep viewers on edge, "Hijack" plays out in real time. Panic is the operative word at 30,000 feet. Intercutting these airborne shudders with scenes on the ground involving police and politicians tends to dilute the claustrophobic tension, but you'll be hanging on for dear life.

Written by George Kay and directed by Jim Field Smith, "Hijack" casts Elba against type as a peacemaker who'll do anything to save people. That includes tricking the team of five hijackers, led by Stuart (a sneakily terrifying Neil Maskell), to think that he's on their side. Ha!

The hijacking seems to be the usual drill: Release two hardened criminals from prison or we'll start killing passengers. Didn't Liam Neeson already try this in 2014's "Non-Stop?" He did. But the writers cleverly switch things up with a slab at global corporate toxicity. How? I'll never tell.

It's up to the ground crew to figure things out. Archie Panjabi, Emmy winner for "The Good Wife," is a no-bull standout as a counterterrorism expert, as is Eve Myles as a British air traffic controller with enough quiet authority to take on all obnoxious bureaucrats.

Apple TV+

Idris Elba in a scene from "Hijack."

I could have done without the personal complications involving Sam's son (Jude Cudjoe) and his resentment of his mother (Christine Adams) for leaving his dad for a white cop (Max Beesley), whose participation becomes essential to the drama in the air. Oh, please.

Elba doesn't need soap opera to rivet our attention. It's fun watching him inject well-timed comic relief at the expense of passengers who just won't listen! And tremendously exciting seeing him zigzag through the plane with physical grace and internal grit as he outwits terrorists, swats away annoying interference and rallies everyone to think before they act.

When the time comes, Sam surreptitiously passes a note around the plane that reads: "Get ready to shake things up." You'll be shaken all right. This ticking clock of a thriller-diller means business. And it keeps springing surprises you don't see coming. Fasten your seatbelts.