Keanu Reeves And Sandra Bullock’s 1994 Action Movie Gets The TV Treatment In Apple TV’s 2-Part Thriller Series

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Apple TV+’s new action show, though not officially connected to the Speed movies, clearly takes inspiration from that film’s thrilling, fast-moving plot. After Die Hard became a hit in 1988, many similar action movies appeared. These films often featured an ordinary person unexpectedly becoming a hero while battling villains who were holding people hostage in unusual places. This led to movies being described as things like “Die Hard on a submarine” (Under Siege), “Die Hard in a stadium” (Sudden Death), or even “Die Hard in the White House” (Olympus Has Fallen).

As a huge action fan, I’ve always found it interesting how the Die Hard films, despite eventually becoming more like buddy cop movies starting with Die Hard With A Vengeance in 1995, actually inspired a whole wave of copycats. One of the best examples of this is Jan de Bont’s Speed from 1994. It takes that ‘isolated heroes against impossible odds’ idea and runs with it – Keanu Reeves plays a cop and Sandra Bullock is a passenger who have to team up to keep a bus from blowing up if it drops below 50 miles per hour. It’s a brilliantly tense premise!

The straightforward idea behind the movie Speed, combined with great performances from Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock, stylish directing, and a memorable villain played by Dennis Hopper, made it an immediate success and a beloved classic. It wasn’t until thirty years later that a similar concept arrived on television with Apple TV’s Hijack, starring Idris Elba. In the series, Elba plays a seasoned negotiator who must outsmart hijackers during a seven-hour flight from Dubai to London.

Hijack Is A Small-Screen Version of 1994’s Classic Action Movie Speed

I’ve noticed a big difference between this show and Speed. While Speed kept things simple, Hijack really dives deep with a lot of different storylines. Because it’s a full TV series, they have the time to explore everything – not just Sam Nelson’s situation, but also the motives of the hijackers, what’s going on with Sam’s ex-wife Marsha and her new boyfriend, who happens to be a police officer, and even the people behind the hijackers and the special ops team trying to stop them. It’s much more complex!

The first season of Hijack features a much more complex story with more characters and unexpected plot twists than the simpler storyline of Speed, and this actually benefits the show. Because the action unfolds mostly in real time, Hijack effectively uses its seven-hour flight duration by forcing the protagonist, Nelson, to find a way out of the dangerous situation he and the other passengers are caught in.

Hijack Proves Longer Action TV Shows Can Be As Thrilling As Movies

The series Hijack challenges the idea that action movies are always more impactful than action TV shows. While movies often have larger budgets, Hijack season one has been critically praised, demonstrating that a TV series can actually deliver a more compelling experience. By having more time to develop the story, Hijack creates a richer and more engaging action narrative than a typical movie would allow.

The show Hijack has a lot of different storylines, and they needed the length of a full TV series to develop properly. If it had been shorter, viewers might not have connected with the characters or cared about what happened to them. While action movies are often explosive, action TV shows like Hijack excel at building suspense over a longer period. Ultimately, Hijack demonstrates that a story similar to Speed can work very well as a standalone TV series.

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2026-05-05 01:31