A Hijacking (2012)

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

This is an astonishing documentary that will wring your heart while it bends your mind

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

If you're expecting Hollywood, forget it. There is no cavalry to the rescue. The film takes place inside the cramped quarters of a small Danish freighter and a cramped conference room of the parent shipping company in Denmark.The story opens with the CEO (Peter) of a Danish shipping company negotiating his way to successful deal with a Japanese firm which was nearly lost. After closing he lectures his sales director that the next time things turn sour to give him a heads-up long before crunch time. We are led to believe Peter is the master deal maker, which is why he is the CEO. Suddenly he finds his company's cargo ship has by pirated by Somali bandits in the Indian Ocean. Normally, one would think to call the authorities since pirating is an international crime not taken lightly. There are governments who've been forced to negotiate with terrorists for decades and have untold experience dealing with these psychopaths. For some reason Peter decides to do the negotiations himself and brings in an experienced consultant. I kept wondering, where is the Danish Navy or special forces? Dealing with criminals of the high seas is vastly different from negotiating with Japanese corporations. It is common sense. We see Peter counter with a very low- ball offer for the demanded ransom. The negotiations inch forward over nearly four months. Obviously the crew is anxious to go home. Only the cook is allowed to perform his regular duties on-board. A Somali pirate guards him and is armed with an AK-47. The pirates taunt the prisoners. They're constantly inserting a gun's barrel into the back of the head of some crew member. When the trigger is pulled the chamber is empty. Later, after having his job threatened by a tired board of directors because these negotiations have dragged on for so long, Peter ups the ante. Over the months, the Somali pirates have come down from their initial demand of $15 million to $8.5 million while Peter has come up from $250,000 to $900,000. In the interim we believe the Somalis may have murdered the cook to force Peter's hand. Later we find he is alive but not well, as are none of the crew. At the last minute, against the advice of the consultant, Peter makes a final offer of $2.8 million to the Somali negotiator (Omar). Upon the advice of his staff, Peter tells Omar he has $500,000 of personal savings and he is willing to offer that as well, making his case for a final offer of $3.3 million. The Somalis agree. The money is dropped to the pirates at sea. They are about to leave when one Somali pirate shoots the ship's captain in the head over the cook's necklace. There is no justice meted out to these bandits of the high seas. Crime pays and people make mistakes because they don't always use common sense. And sometimes that can cost someone his life.

'Kapringen' - or 'A Hijacking' as it is better known, this Danish thriller focuses on a ship hijacked by Somali pirates and the emotional toll on the crew members. Released within months of the very similar 'Captain Phillips', it is hard not to draw comparisons, but most comparisons are favourable. 'A Hijacking' could even be thought of as the flipside of 'Captain Phillips' as less than half the action occurs on board, with the most of it set in offices as an emotionally distanced CEO and company board members attempt to negotiate with the pirates by phone. Søren Malling is great as the CEO in question; an early scene shows us just how skilled he is at negotiating, exiting a room when those who he is bargaining with do not budge. Malling's flaw is in seeing the hijacking as another bargaining case, oblivious to how miserable his crew are as sporadic cutaways remind us. Malling also has a great quiet moment alone when he finally realises that he is pushing the negotiating too far. At first, it seems easy to criticise 'A Hijacking' for the wedding ring drama near the end and for making the pirates cardboard cutouts compared to those in 'Captain Phillips'; we never see the pirates as human beings here and their dialogue is not even subtitled, forcing us to view them at a distance. This, however, seems deliberate. The focus of this film, after all, is the unintentional callousness of drawn out negotiations and the effect of the drawn out process on the crew members. Lead actors Malling and Pilou Asbæk (as the ship's cook) have very different, almost contrasting final shots for a reason.

A too virile and dry story on the surface to be sure, so it would not be surprising to see many viewers detract attention from the drama unfolding. But behind the cold calculations and handling of the situation (what follows when a cargo ship belonging to a big Scandinavian company is hijacked by modern-day pirates), there is the intense drama of the hostages, their families, the hijackers and the negotiators. The realistic treatment of the film gives equal prominence to the almost dispassionate, sinister and calculating ways the economic system rules to the point of sparing one or two human lives to save a couple of million dollars. Very good performances, tight direction and real settings all help and contribute to the effectiveness of this motion picture.

A cargo ship is heading for harbour, when it is hijacked by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean. Amongst the men on board are the ship's cook Mikkel and the engineer Jan, who along with the rest of the crew are taken hostage. With the demand for millions of dollars, a psychological feud unfolds between the CEO of the shipping company and the Somali pirates.....One cannot help but compare this to Captain Phillips if you had seen the Tom Hanks movie first, which many did, because here in the UK, this movie had only a small release.But while Phillips is a remarkable piece of work, this movie is a more realistic interpretation of the tension that transpire from the two different cultures.On the ship, the story is told from the point of view of the cook, and this is the only major flaw of the movie, the opening sees him talking to his family via telecom, so you will instantly know he will be the focus.Surprisingly though,the film is at its most intense in the board room, with the CEO being pressured not just by his peers to get results, but having to comfort family members whilst dealing with the interpreter/leader of the pirates.When the two focus point finally cross paths on the phone, this is when the film is at its most tense, as you can almost feel the CEOs despair,a t being slightly arrogant with the pirates.A Hijacking is a well told story, using elements of hostage myths such as Stockholm syndrome and bargaining, all the while holding that gripping sense of dread and coldness right until the end.