A Hijacking is a gloomy film, not just because of its unnerving subject matter, the takeover of a Danish cargo ship in the middle of the Indian Ocean by Somali pirates, but mainly due to the overly predictable script and slow pace. Writer and director Tobias Lindholm’s film is strictly a “follow the dots” motion picture and though the acting is superb everything is foreshadowed and expected.

‘A Hijacking’ is the first of two movies we’ll see in 2013 dealing with this topic. ‘Captain Phillips’ starring Tom Hanks and directed by Paul Greengrass, is due later this fall. I’m not going out on much of a limb by theorizing Lindholm’s film will be the more delicate of the two, as it’s an underplayed and a realistic piece of high drama but way too slow and unsurprising. In the other hand I am sure I can expect more action and suspense with Paul Greengrass’s version.

Christophe Chanel