Genre: Drama thriller
Director: Tobias Lindholm
Plot: A Danish ship is hijacked by Somali pirates, who proceed to negotiate for ransom money with the ship's owner back in Copenhagen.
The gist: On the surface this looks similar to Tom Hanks' Captain Phillips but it clearly isn't. Unlike that film, this is a slow burn drama with tense moments.
A Hijacking focuses on two men: Mikkel, the cook on board the Danish vessel Rosen, who is desperate to get home to his family, and Peter, the CEO of the company that owns the Rosen, who takes it upon himself to negotiate for his crew's release despite objections from a professional in pirate negotiations.
While Captain Phillips is a swiftly paced thriller, A Hijacking is the opposite. We watch the situation play out for a duration of four months as Mikkel tries his best to survive in between tense and friendly moments with the pirates, and Peter attempts to negotiate with the pirates amidst pressure from the crew's families and the company board.
The good: Pilou Asbaek gives a great performance as Mikkel, the everyman cook who simply wants his ordeal to be over and go home. Soren Malling is solid as well in the role of Peter, who seems like a cold professional at the beginning but starts to crack as negotiations start to break down.
The bad: The pace can be languid at times. The moment the pirates boarded the ship was not shown, which I found to be rather odd.
Verdict: A Hijacking is a fine thriller with several tense moments, showing that negotiations are most difficult when it involves human lives. (7/10)
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