Review of Hijack

Hijack (1998)
5/10
Does TV always give you that adrenaline rush!
24 March 2009
Warning: Spoilers
**Some Spoilers** Being obsessed in capturing outlaw militia leader David Anderson, Brent Huff, ATF man Eddie Lyman, Jeff Fahey, got himself suspended for overreacting, to say the least, in a raid on Anderson's secret hide out.

It's when Eddie's girlfriend Valerie Miller (Beth Toussaint), as his press secretary, went on a train trip taking anti-gun campaigning Seanator Douglas Wilson, Eddie Hudson, down to Southern California that he, having nothing better to do, decided to tag along. Wilson plans to plead his case to the American public for unrestricted Federal gun-control laws in the congress which he hopes to get passed. It also so happens that Anderson has plans for the Senator and his staff that call for not only the use of guns, in all shapes sizes, but also the use of a suitcase nuclear bomb to blow up a good part of the Golden State!

The action, when it finally starts, is fast and furious with Eddie taking on not only Anderson and his gang of militia men but his own ATF who are anything but happy with him being on the train, and unauthorized at that, and jeopardizing all those aboard including Senator Wilson.

Despite Anderson and Co. being the bad guys in the movie he at least had an excuse for not liking federal enforcement agencies like the ATF in that they were responsible for the death, in a wild shoot out, of both his wife and young daughter. It was also ironic that Senator Wilson who's so fanatically anti-gun also had his wife and daughter gunned down, like Anderson, in a drive by shooting but had the exact opposite opinion on firearms that Anderson had! That was until the opportunity presented itself for Senator Wilson to get his hands on an assault weapon and then start blasting away!

As the movie went on it became very obvious to everyone, but the militia men, that Anderson was insane with some kind of a death wish and was not only planning to murder his hostages but himself and his gang of terrorists as well! This had Anderson knock off more of his fellow militia men, who didn't have a clue in what he was planning for them, then even Eddie and the ATF did!

By the numbers thriller with really no surprises to offer it's audience but lots of mindless shootouts and explosions as well as a major train wreck. The only surprises in the movie was the nuclear bomb that Anderson planned to detonate on board the runaway train. Being the size of a can of aerosol hairspray I wondered if it, when activated, could have even blown up doll house much less a major town or city. And what was even more ridicules about the so-called nuclear bomb is that it took nothing more then Valerie pulling out a single wire, or plug, to totally disarm the thing!
2 out of 2 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Recently Viewed