GurlyIamBeach Instant Favorite.

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Brennan Camacho Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Jenni Devyn Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Michael Ledo The film is called " A Hijacking" because "Boring Negotiations" doesn't sell. The production has won numerous awards as the film is a billed as a psychological drama/thriller, easy on the thriller part. You don't get to see the actual hijacking, or for that matter any real action. The film moved from one boring talking scene to the next. Once the ship was hijacked, the parent company for some reason entered into long drawn out negotiations rather than simply allow the insurance company to make the payment and get the crew home as they typically do.Søren Malling played the CEO who is torn between saving the crew and saving a dollar. This sets up as a metaphor for the worker's struggle against management. I would agree that the film was well done. Parental Guide: F-bomb. No sex or nudity. Urination scenes.Film uses English subtitles when English is not spoken.

eddie_baggins Reaching Western shores around the same time as a much more higher profile hijacking picture with a certain star actor, Danish director Tobias Lindholm's A Hijacking (or Kapringen in its native language) is an equally taut and affecting tale of people caught up in these horrifying scenarios and also looks at the other side with those affected by the ordeal even though they are safe on land.As is the case with many foreign films, Lindholm's feature doesn't include your typical Hollywood styled lead turn as he is more interested in the scenario than the people. It's a bold choice of direction but one that holds the story in good stead as we're never sure what just may happen to the characters or how they may react making emotional payoffs and event culminations all the more shocking and real. The films focus is really on two men in the forms of Pilou Asbaek's on board chef Mikkel and Soren Malling's shipping company CEO Peter and both these men deliver really fine performances in roles that require varying ranges of emotions and demeanour. These lead actors are well backed up by Abdihakin Asgar and Roland Moller as the pirate's translator Omar and ships engineer Jan respectively.While these actors are all on fine form it's the direction that the films story takes that transcends it to a more moving experience. While Captain Phillips was moving for other reasons, A Hijacking's focus on the negotiation between corporate suits and desperate pirates is an exceptional one that will have you mad at the playing with people's lives and joyful at small wins in equal measure and it's a real testament to Lindholm that he balances the ordeal on ship and in the offices of multi-million dollar corporations to such effective degrees.Minimalistic in many ways with barely any backstory, flashy filming techniques or even music to accompany the events taking place, A Hijacking is a very raw and real look into a frightening situation that can happen anywhere in the world. With top quality acting and a razor sharp script (Lindholm also wrote the fantastic The Hunt, so this is no one off) this is one foreign film worth tracking down and different enough from Captain Phillips to recommend another trip to the dangerous pirate infested high seas.4 fax's out of 5 For more movie reviews and opinions check out -www.jordanandeddie.wordpress.com

evanston_dad Who knew that Somali pirates would provide such rich subject matter for filmmakers in 2013? "A Hijacking" will invariably be compared to "Captain Phillips" if for no other reason than it came out in the same year and is about a cargo ship being hijacked by Somali pirates. But they're two very different movies about two different scenarios, so I'm not sure comparing them makes much sense. However, if absolutely forced to choose, I think I would pick "A Hijacking" as the film I enjoyed more."Captain Phillips" is all about the logistics of stalling to allow time for military intervention. It's at heart a straightforward action movie, with some emotional resonance late in the film to give it some ballast. "A Hijacking" is more about the emotional and psychological toll the situation takes on the film's key players, namely the cook, Mikkel, one of the hostages on board the ship, and Peter, the CEO of the company that owns the ship, on land. Peter is determined to handle the situation himself, despite warnings from the hostage negotiator not to get involved. It will get too messy and emotional, he's told, which ends up being true, and which takes a severe psychological toll on him. The same is true for the crew, Mikkel included, who must live as hostages for months never sure from one moment to the next whether or not they will survive.The company's response to the hostage crisis is baffling to American viewers. Where in the world is the presence of any kind of military authority? Why on earth would Denmark sanction this kind of bargaining with pirates? It only encourages them to repeat their behavior. The film is comical in a morbid kind of way -- by the end, the CEO and the contact man for the pirates are exchanging faxes to negotiate an agreed upon ransom while the men on the boat rot. For all of the criticism it takes for its military bluster, it's hard to argue that the American way of dealing with such a situation isn't the better one.A tense, finely-acted movie that, because of an incident that occurs very late in the film, may just take the wind out of you.Grade: A

bob the moo With the big budget film Captain Phillips arriving in the UK recently it reminded me that I had this much smaller film sitting unwatched in my queue. I don't know the details of Greengrass' film, but I presume the basic principle is the same as this film, which sees Somali pirates take over a Danish cargo ship and demand millions of US dollars for its release. The drama in this case unfolds in the boardroom of the company (focused on CEO Ludvigsen) and on the ship (focused on cook Mikkel).The film puts an emphasis on realism in how it delivers the story to the viewer; conference calls between the CEO and the pirates are filmed as conference calls (complete with time lag and echo) and the expert in maritime security that the fictional company brings in is indeed not an actor but someone who does this for a living for a shipping company. It helps that this sense of realism is so deeply embedded in the techniques because it does make the film work very well in terms of tension. This isn't Under Siege where the cook takes on the hijackers, nor is it a film where the dramatic score does the heavy lifting – if anything the film sits back and lets the people just be in this situation. As a result it is a more toned back film in regard to the delivery but it works well to make everything feel tense and unpredictable – the calls are as gripping as the scenes of imminent personal danger on the ship.The cast are a big part of this. At first I was concerned that I would not be able to get into the actors since so many were familiar faces to me from Forbrydelsen, Borgen, Game of Thrones and some other shows. As it was though I didn't struggle at all because everyone plays their characters so well that I forgot they were ever anyone else. Malling was the biggest jump for me as he is very different here than when I have seen him before, but he does it very well, letting the cracks show but never overdoing it for a specific scene. Asbaek has the toughest role as it is full of danger and emotion and he convinces throughout, sharing his frustration and fear with the viewer. Supporting roles are generally good with Salim, Moller and others doing good. I particularly liked Porter; occasionally he is a little clunky when working with the actors as a performance, but generally when he is in "the room" where he works in real life then he is a great presence and again really helps the sense of realism.Kapringen maybe doesn't have the large budget or production aims of a bigger film, but the focus on realism in the making of the film pays off to produce a story that is tense and engaging throughout. Well worth a look.