Idris Elba has once again ruled himself out as the next James Bond – but might he be the new Jack Bauer? Those are the boots he vaguely fills in real-time thriller Hijack (Apple TV +, from Wednesday, June 28th).
Bauer was, of course, the take-no-prisoners star of 24. And Hijack is both the spiritual successor to that show and its apotheosis. The high-watermark of post-September 11th hokum, 24 pitched Bauer against a succession of stereotyped Middle Eastern terrorists. Hijack is set in a similar part of the world, with Elba a first-class traveller jetting from Dubai to London who must live by his wits when the flight is taken hostage.
Happily, the show goes out of its way to avoid negative archetypes of people from the Gulf. What a shame, then, that it leans back into other stereotypes by making the intolerant and violent white passengers skulking at the back of the plane ... Irish.
Specifically, they appear to be a pair of Dubliners returning from a golfing holiday (one played by Dublin actor Paul Hickey, who has a place in Irish comedy history, having played Fr O’Shea in Father Ted). As the hijackers take over, the duo, who are badly organised and easily angered, apparently plan to attack anyone “Arab”.
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Everyone on the plane with an English accent is thoughtful and measured. That includes our hero Elba. He talks down the two crazed Irishmen, who have red faces and spout dialogue such as “if they’re Arab or anything like that we’ll take them on”.
This isn’t the first time a serieshas revealed itself to have a streak of Hibernophobia. See, too, Amazon’s Rings of Power, which bravely brought colour-blind casting to Middle-earth while giving us a new race of primordial leprechaun-hobbits.
It may turn Irish viewers off. That’s a shame because Hijack is clean-burning and taut, and an excellent showcase for Elba. In addition to conjuring with 24, it harks back to the golden era of disaster movies. There is a strong whiff of Airplane! – itself a spoof of the Airport films – as we are introduced to the characters while they wedge their luggage into the overhead bins.
Sam (Elba) has a gift for his estranged wife (whom we see wafting around the vast fitted kitchen with her new beau). There are also parents with squabbling kids, a vicar and his nervous wife, and the aforementioned Angry Irishman One and Two. Plus, the hijackers, led by a furious woman with a ponytail and assisted by a geezer who seems to have wafted in from a Guy Ritchie movie.
The other influence is Die Hard. As the terrorists do their worst, and the violent Irish golfers fume, Sam gets to work outfoxing the villains. It’s all stonkingly predictable, and the baddies are never a plausible threat. But with Elba at the controls, this flight through familiar airspace nonetheless jets forward at full speed.
