The crew of Global Airways Flight 502 to Minneapolis have made a horrifying discovery - a note on a bathroom mirror claims there is a bomb on the plane.
When they dismiss the initial note as a hoax, a second note reaffirms the danger, and threatens that the bomb will be detonated unless they change course for a location of the bomber’s choosing...
I took a break from the Airports for a movie that feels like a missing sequel. It even starts a (then) future star of the franchise, Charlton Heston.
Released in 1972, Skyjacked was the definition of a hot button movie - inspired by the large number of aerial hijackings that had accompanied the expansion of commercial air travel in the sixties.
It also marked Heston’s move into the disaster genre - he would go on to star in 1974’s Airport 1975 and Earthquake.
Unlike the Airports, Skyjacked is more of a suspense thriller than a disaster movie - the bomb threat is the catalyst for a locked room mystery (or locked cabin, in this case), as the flight crew tries to figure out who the culprit is, and whether the threat is real.
Shot on an actual plane, Skyjacked never feels like it is restricted by its location. Directed by action specialist John Guillermin (The Bridge at Remagen, The Towering Inferno), Skyjacked gives the film an escalating sense of claustrophobia as the threat escalates and the bomber reveals themselves.
The acting is fine, although (spoilers) James Brolin is a little too external and mannered as the bomber, a Vietnam veteran with delusions of becoming a hero of the Soviet Union.
It is no hidden masterpiece, but it is far more dynamic and tense than the films I watched around it. Skyjacked is good - no qualifiers.
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