The worst series of the week: ‘Hijack’, not even Idris Elba’s sex appeal saves it

2023-08-17 00:03:05

Updated Thursday, August 17, 2023 – 00:03

It is a seven-episode thriller raised with if it developed in real time

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for a few weeks, Margot Robbie enters her work meetings with another energy. After the bombing of Barbie, which already exceeds one billion dollars at the box office, the Australian actress and producer is received in the offices as what she finally is: a very profitable star. Robbie’s career was bright and colorful, but something was missing: a real success, a goose that laid the golden eggs, a blockbuster.

Idris Elba it doesn’t have any of that either. However, it does not seem that the British actor, already in his fifties, has problems when it comes to leading one project after another. To date, there is no film or series that can attribute its success to the presence of Elba.. What’s more: as a protagonist he is what we could call a jinxed actor. In addition, and unlike Margot Robbie, his works have not aroused much critical enthusiasm. Some of the most ridiculous productions of recent years had him on the payroll. And on promotional posters. And the first in line to collect. It is estimated that Idris Elba’s personal fortune is similar to that of Margot Robbie. The closest Elba has come to the Barbie phenomenon is being part of Suicide Squad, where he shared filming with Robbie. The film was a resounding failure.

But oh you got it starring in a pintona series for Apple TV+. Hijack is a seven-episode thriller framed as if it were taking place in real time. In this series created by George Kay y Jim Field Smith, Elba is one of the passengers on a Dubai-London flight hijacked in the middle of the journey. Well, one of the passengers is not: is THE passenger. It could not be otherwise. Idris Elba is already one of those stars that we do not conceive of in a secondary role, although as a protagonist he has rarely worked. The guy has been living off the income from The Wire, The Big C and Luther for years, three fictions that have made liquid gold out of him. In both

police dramas, Elba put his charisma at the service of drama and intensity; in Laura Linney’s series, her status as an indisputable sex symbol was exploited. She chooses to think that Linney had a lot to do with the decision to cast Elba as her romantic interest in the series. She is what she has to be an executive producer. It’s what anyone would do. Many things can be discussed with Idris Elba, but his sexual drive is not one of them..

When, as in the embarrassing Turn Up Charlie, he has tried to disable it, the results have been disturbing. When, as in The Office, others are playing that game, the viewer enters the rag and gets the joke: the only thing that Idrissa Akuna Elba knows how to do really well is to make the staff horny. But something tells me that these types of comments are not usually made in work meetings where he enters with an idea and leaves with a contract. I wouldn’t dare say the same of Margot Robbie. I have had Idris Elba several times in front of me and I attest: you fall under his spell and the bandit sells you whatever he wants. On Netflix they probably say the same. And now, on Apple TV+.