HIJACKED -- DVD review by porfle

A not-bad effort to generate AIR FORCE ONE thrills on a hoo-hah budget, HIJACKED (2012) does its best to make us believe we're flying first class even though it's strictly an economy ticket all the way.

Aside from a pretty lively shoot-out during which we say "hi" and "bye" to my man Vinnie Jones in all too short a time, the first fifteen minutes or so are just exposition to get us on that private jet where a terrorist group known as "The Tribe" will take over and try to force big-time business tycoon Bruce Lieb (Craig Fairbrass) to transfer a couple billion bucks into their bank account. 

Little do they know, though, that CIA agent Paul Ross (Randy Couture, THE EXPENDABLES) is aboard, and he's already peeved because his girlfriend Liv (Tiffany Dupont), who just went to work for Lieb, is currently giving him the cold shoulder.  So he's all set to kill, maim, and generally interfere with some bad guys, which, of course, he will eventually get to do for our viewing pleasure. 

But first, innocent people get messily blown away, a ticking time bomb is discovered, and certain good guys turn out to be working for the bad guys.  Plot turns such as this force Randy Couture to act, which really makes him mad.  Fortunately, he's not all that bad.  In fact, he kind of reminds me of a cross between Jason Statham and a bulldog, and the fact that he's not matinee-idol handsome adds a gruff realism to his character. 

His counterpart, terrorist leader Rostow Pawlak, is played by Holt McCallany (ALIEN 3, FIGHT CLUB) in a casual, unaffected style that's way better than the usual moustache-twirling villainy and adds some subtle humor to even the most hardbitten scenes.  Stuntwoman Ashley Cusato isn't bad as his right-hand woman Liesel, one of those coldblooded babes who enjoys shooting first and then shooting again later.  The rest of the performances hover between good and fair.

Director and co-writer Brandon Nutt has a pleasing directing style and the camerawork is fairly good here, so even though the film still looks low-budget, it's at the high end of low-budget.  Viewers accustomed to the sometimes cheesy SPFX of the AIRPORT movies will probably give the CGI shots of the airplane's exterior a pass for not always looking absolutely convincing. 

What's harder to overlook is the abundance of stupid moves made by the good guys, constantly giving the bad guys chances to escape, not hitting them hard enough to knock them out, or, incredibly, simply leaving them unattended with guns and knives lying around.  Co-writer Declan O'Brien (WRONG TURN 3, 4, and the upcoming 5) may be used to getting away with this kind of lazy writing in his slasher flicks, where we expect such rampant derpitude, but in an action movie it tends to hinder our suspension of disbelief. 

The DVD from Anchor Bay is in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen with Dolby 5.1 sound.  No subtitles or bonus features.

As a hardboiled action flick, HIJACKED is strictly small potatoes from the "take it or leave it" bin.  Still, with a fair amount of suspense and some pretty good action here and there, it isn't nearly as bad as it could have been in less capable hands.


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