Films about the hijacking of airplanes with civilians on board are a difficult subject not only for cinematography. Where is the moral line that separates a dashingly twisted plot from compassion for innocent hostages?
Most of these movies are created not to enjoy spectacular shootouts, cool special effects and just a good time, but to make us think. Is there a point to terrorist attacks? What do terrorists gain by massacring ordinary people? And how many more victims are needed to end this undeclared war?
Neerja
- IMDB Rating – 7.6
- Genre: Biography, Drama, Thriller, Crime
- Production: India / 2016
- Budget: $2,900,000
- Worldwide Box Office: $17,618,280
- Director: Ram Madwani
- Starring: Sonam Kapoor, Shabana Azmi, Yogendra Tikku, Abrar Zahoor, Jim Sarbh, Ali Baldiwala, Vikrant Singta, Parth Akerkar, Madhu Anand Chandhok
September 5, 1986. A civilian Boeing traveling from Mumbai to New York made an intermediate landing in the Pakistani city of Karachi. During the layover, the aircraft was infiltrated by four militants who were members of Abu Nidal, one of the most dangerous international terrorist organizations.
A senior flight attendant, 22-year-old Nirja Bhanot, warned the crew of the hijacking and the pilots managed to leave the plane in time. But 359 people ended up in the hands of members of a criminal gang.
Indian drama movie based on real events. Thanks to the competent actions of senior flight attendant Nirja Bhanot, a large number of hostages were saved. Unfortunately, the girl herself was killed.
United 93
- IMDB Rating – 7.6
- Genre: Action, Thriller, Drama, History
- Production: USA, UK, France / 2006
- Budget: $15,000,000
- Worldwide Box Office: $76,286,096
- Director: Paul Greengrass
- Starring: Christian Clemenson, Cheyenne Jackson, David Alan Bash, Peter Herman, Corey Johnson, Daniel Sauli, Trish Gates, Richard Beckins, Michael J. Reynolds, Khalid Abdallah.
United Airlines Flight 93, a routine intracontinental flight from Newark to San Francisco, was the last of four hijacked by al-Qaeda terrorists on September 11, 2001. Minutes after takeoff, the crew received word of a suicide attack on the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center. But they were no longer able to do anything.
Four militants put red armbands on their heads and, threatening to detonate a bomb, took possession of the Boeing. The perpetrators’ target was the Capitol or the White House. But the Islamic fanatics did not foresee one thing – the passengers of the plane decided to resist.
The grim semi-documentary is based on true events. During the hijacking, the passengers actively resisted the gunmen, but were unable to regain control of the airliner. During the struggle, the Boeing crashed into a field in Pennsylvania, becoming the only flight on which the members of the criminal gang did not reach their goal.
Non-Stop
- IMDB Rating – 6.9
- Genre: Detective, thriller, action movie
- Production: UK, France, USA, Canada / 2014
- Budget: $50,000,000
- Worldwide Box Office: $222,809,600
- Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
- Starring: Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore, Scoot McNary, Michelle Dockery, Nate Parker, Corey Stoll, Lupita Nyong’o, Omar Metwally, Jason Butler Harner, Lynas Roach
Air Marshal Bill Marks is aboard an airbus on a transatlantic flight. Right during the flight, his phone receives messages that every 20 minutes people will die in the airliner. Only 150 million dollars can save civilians.
But it turned out that the money must be transferred to an account opened in the name of… Bill Marks. Now, to prove his innocence, Marshal must find and neutralize the intruder.
The U.S. Federal Air Marshal Service was formed in 1961. To prevent incidents during flights, air marshals must be incognito on civilian flights. Before the attacks of September 11, 2001, the service had only 33 employees. After the attacks, the number of marshals was increased, presumably to 4,000 people.
Flightplan
- IMDB Rating – 6.3
- Genre: Thriller, Drama, Detective
- Production: USA / 2005
- Budget: $55,000,000
- Worldwide Box Office: $223,387,299
- Director: Robert Schwentke
- Starring: Jodie Foster, Peter Sarsgaard, Sean Bean, Kate Beehan, Michael Irby, Assaf Cohen, Erika Christensen, Shane Edelman, Mary Gallagher, Haley Ramm.
After the death of her husband, American Kylie Pratt returns to New York with her 6-year-old daughter Julia. During the flight, Kylie’s daughter disappears. The woman turns to the captain of the airliner, but it turns out that the documents Julia Pratt on the flight was not registered.
Air Marshal Gene Carson decides to keep an eye on the distraught woman. Knowing thoroughly the arrangement of the airbus, Kylie manages to escape from the marshal. At the same time it becomes known that there is a bomb on board.
The American union of flight attendants called for a boycott of the adventure thriller. Private members of flight crews, whose main task is to be responsible for the safety of passengers, felt that the filmmakers had unfairly portrayed them as rude and helpless.
Hijack
- IMDB Rating – 3.8
- Genre: Action, Thriller
- Production: India / 2008
- Director: Kunal Shivdasani
- Starring: Shiney Ahuja, Mona Embigaonkar, Ananya Chadha, Gananai Chadha, Ishita, Mukesh Chhabra, Ujjwal Chopra, Esha Deol, Ashwin Dhar, Bomi E. Dotiwala
Vikram Madan works as a simple aviation technician at the Chandigarh airport. Fighting criminals is not part of his job description. But by a fateful coincidence, a civilian flight carrying his young daughter is hijacked by terrorists. Vikram then decides to confront the armed militants.
The Indian city of Chandigarh has been called the “Switzerland of India” or the “City of Beauty”. Chandigarh was built from scratch in five years by the famous architects Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret. The city is considered one of the cleanest and most livable cities in India.
Mogadischu
- IMDB Rating – 7.2
- Genre: Drama, Crime
- Production: Germany, France / 2008
- Budget: €6,700,000
- Director: Roland Zuzo Richter
- Starring: Thomas Kretschmann, Nadja Uhl, Saïd Taghmaoui, Herbert Knaup, Jürgen Tarrach, Christian Berkel, Simon Verhoeven, Tobias Licht, Cornelia Schmaus.
Artistic reproduction of one of the most tragic pages in the history of modern Germany – the German Autumn of 1977. The FRG is shaken by terrorist acts, which one after another are organized by members of the left-wing radical group RAF. On October 13, 1977, Palestinian associates of the RAF decided to support their “colleagues” and hijacked the German aircraft “Landshut”.
The dramatic film is based on true events of the fall of 1977. Militants from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine held the German boeing “Landshut” for four and a half days. The attackers demanded the release from prison of 10 RAF members and two Palestinian terrorists, as well as 15 million dollars.
Terror – Ihr Urteil
- IMDB Rating – 7.3
- Genre: Drama
- Production: Germany / 2016
- Director: Lars Kraume
- Starring: Burghart Klaussner, Martina Gedeck, Florian David Fitz, Lars Eidinger, Jördis Triebel, Rainer Bock
Who and how can determine how much a human life is worth? This is the question facing the audience of the German movie.
164 passengers on a civilian flight have been hijacked by radical Islamists. Suicide bombers plan to steer the plane into a stadium filled with 70,000 unsuspecting spectators. Military pilot Lars Koch disobeys his superiors’ orders and shoots down the civilian plane hijacked by the attackers.
The German drama film has two endings: in one Koch is found guilty and in the other he is acquitted. 87% of the audience voted in favor of the pilot’s acquittal.
Chor Nikal Ke Bhaga
- IMDB Rating – 7.5
- Genre: Thriller, Drama, Crime
- Production: India / 2023
- Director: Ajay Singh
- Starring: Yami Gautam, Sunny Kaushal, Sharad Kelkar, Indraneil Sengupta, Barun Chanda, Krunal Pandit, Ajit Singh Palwat, Sunil Palwal, Ghanshyam Lalsa, Robin Das.
Ankita and Neha, who are in love, are about to get married. But the guy has huge debts to his former employer. By coincidence, the flight on which Neha works as a stewardess is to fly a diamond courier. To pay off their debts, the couple decides to steal from the courier.
But things don’t go according to plan. The airliner with 150 people on board turns out to be at the mercy of terrorists.
One of Netflix’s new airplane hijacking movies is shot in several genres at once. The movie starts out as a comedy and quickly turns into a dramatic thriller.
Zameen
- IMDB Rating – 5.4
- Genre: Action, Thriller, Adventure
- Production: India / 2003
- Director: Rohit Shetty
- Starring: Ajay Devgan, Abhishek Bachchan, Bipasha Basu, Mukesh Tiwari, Pankaj Dhir, Mohan Joshi, Manish Khanna, Amrita Arora, Ram Awana, Arun Bali.
In a complex operation, an Indian special forces team led by Lt. Col. Ranveer Singh Ranawat arrests terrorist leader Baba Zaheer Khan. To free their leader, the militants hijack an airbus traveling from Mumbai to Kathmandu.
On board the aircraft is Nandini, wife of Mumbai officer Jaideep Rai. Under the circumstances, the Indian army and police have to cooperate. Ranveer and Jaideep devise a plan to free the hostages.
The first airplane hijacking occurred in Peru in 1931. Rebels took possession of an American airplane in order to scatter leaflets calling for revolution over Lima. But they failed to do so because the pilot simply refused to take the plane into the air.
Kandahar
- IMDB Rating – 6.6
- Genre: Action, Drama, History
- Production: Russia/ 2009
- Budget: $7,000,000
- Worldwide Box Office: $15,274,292
- Director: Andrei Kavun
- Starring: Alexander Baluev, Vladimir Mashkov, Andrei Panin, Alexander Golubev, Bogdan Benyuk, Alexander Robak, Imomberdy Mingbaev, Ramil Sabitov, Samad Mansurov, Yuri Belyaev.
1995. A Russian IL-76 transport ship is carrying a cargo of ammunition for the official authorities of Afghanistan. In the skies above Kandahar, the transport is forcibly landed for inspection by militants of the Taliban Islamist movement.
The crew, consisting of Russians, is captured. The Russian pilots believe that they will soon be free through the efforts of diplomats. But their captivity lasted 378 days.
One of the best dramatic Russian films about the hijacking of an airplane by Islamists is based on the diary entries of the crew commander Alexander Sharpatov, which he kept while in captivity.
Flight 93
- IMDB Rating – 6.3
- Genre: Action, Thriller, History
- Production: Canada, USA / 2006
- Director: Peter Markle
- Starring: Jeffrey Nordling, Brennan Elliott, Kendall Cross, Ty Olsson, Monnae Michell, Colin Glazer, April Telek, Laura Mennell, Dominic Raines, Gwynyth Walsh.
September 11, 2001 changed more than just America. It was a day that changed the world. United Airlines Flight 93 never made it to San Francisco. The plane crashed 100 kilometers from Pittsburgh. The terrorists were repulsed by ordinary people – passengers on the plane. Flight 93 was the only one of the four hijacked airliners on which the suicide bombers could not reach their goal.
Analysis of the flight recorders showed that the passengers of the flight had almost achieved their goal. They succeeded in killing one of the Islamic fanatics and broke into the cockpit using a delivery cart as a battering ram.
Ok! Madam
- IMDB Rating – 6.6
- Genre: Comedy, Action
- Production: Korea South / 2020
- Budget: $7,500,000
- Worldwide Box Office: $9,927,566
- Director: Lee Cheol-ha
- Starring: Eom Jong-hwa, Park Sung-woon, Lee Sang-young, Bae Jong-nam, Lee Sung-bin, Jung Soo-bin, Yoo Ha-joon, Park Ji-il, Choi Jin-ho, Kim Bom-nae
Mi-young, a bun seller, and her husband, Seok-hwan, are struggling to make ends meet. They don’t have enough money for basic necessities, not to mention vacations and travel. But one day, Mi-young is lucky enough to win a trip to Hawaii.
The happy family takes their seats on the airbus in anticipation of a wonderful vacation. But the unexpected happens. The airplane is hijacked by criminals. But Mi-young is ready to do anything to make her long-awaited vacation happen.
Since 2016, some airlines have allowed flight attendants to use stun guns to deal with particularly aggressive passengers.
L’assaut
- IMDB Rating – 6.1
- Genre: Action, Thriller, History
- Production: France / 2010
- Worldwide Box Office: $4,342,738
- Director: Julien Leclerc
- Starring: Vincent Elbaz, Gregory Deranger, Mélanie Bernier, Aymen Saidi, Chams-Eddine Damani, Mohid Obid, Janice Bouziani, Marie Guillard, Natourelle Le Ruyet, Philippe Bas.
1994. Algeria, tormented by civil war. Four armed members of the Armed Islamic Group hijack scheduled flight AF8969, which is scheduled to fly from Algiers to Paris. After the shooting of three people, the plane is allowed to take off.
But it turns out that there is only enough fuel on board to get to Marseille. After refueling, the French authorities begin to suspect that the terrorists will direct the airliner to some object. This cannot be allowed to happen. An assault is launched.
The dramatic film is based on the real events that took place on December 24, 1994. Attackers were going to blow up an airplane over the Eiffel Tower. During the assault, all four suicide bombers were killed.
Blood Red Sky
- IMDB Rating – 6.1
- Genre: Horror, Thriller, Action
- Production: Germany, USA / 2021
- Budget: €15,000,000
- Worldwide Box Office: $401,834
- Director: Peter Torwart
- Starring: Peri Baumeister, Karl Anton Koch, Alexander Scher, Kais Setty, Gordon Brown, Dominic Purcell, Graham McTavish, Kai Ivo Baulitz, Roland Møller, Chidi Ajufo.
A young woman named Nadia, along with her son Elias, flies to New York to be cured of a rare disease. During the flight, a group of criminals, which includes the co-pilot, hijack the airliner.
But this time the intruders have no luck. They did not suspect that Nadia is a real vampire. In order to get rid of this scourge, Nadia flies across the Atlantic.
Creepy German horror from Netflix about an airplane hijacking and vampires on board. After the success of the thriller with subscribers, the filmmakers thought about filming a sequel.
7500
- IMDB Rating – 6.3
- Genre: Action, Thriller, Drama
- Production: Germany, Austria, USA / 2019
- Director: Patrick Vollrath
- Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Omid Memar, Eileen Tetzel, Carlo Kitzlinger, Muratan Muslu, Aurelie Tepo, Paul Wallin, Hisham Sebiai, Cornel Nussbaum, Passenger Hariki
During a routine flight of an Airbus A319 traveling from Berlin to Paris, a group of Islamist terrorists attempt to gain control of the aircraft. The crew commander, German pilot Michael, is fatally wounded. But the co-pilot, American Tobias, manages to barricade himself in the cockpit.
The ground security forces forbid Tobias to open the door, and the intruders threaten to kill the hostages one by one if he refuses.
Special codes have been developed to notify ground services of events occurring on board. For example, code 7700 means equipment failure, and code 7500 means hijacking or attempted hijacking of an aircraft.
Porfirio
- IMDB Rating – 6.5
- Genre: Drama, comedy
- Production: Colombia, Argentina, Uruguay, Spain / 2011
- Director: Alejandro Landes
- Starring: Porfirio Ramirez, Jarlinson Ramirez, Jor Jasblidi Santos
Fifteen years ago, a simple Colombian man, Porfirio Ramirez, accidentally witnessed a shootout between police officers and bandits, and as a result became disabled. All these years, the man tried unsuccessfully to get help from the state. To get attention, Ramirez hijacked an airplane with his son and demanded a meeting with Colombian President Alvaro Velez.
The main role in the dramatic movie is played by the disabled hijacker himself, Porfirio Ramirez. After Ramirez surrendered to the authorities, he was sentenced to eight years of house arrest, but never received any compensation from the state.
Bellbottom
- IMDB Rating – 6.1
- Genre: Biography, Thriller
- Production: UK, India / 2021
- Worldwide Box Office: $702,388
- Director: Ranjit Tiwari
- Starring: Huma Qureshi, Akshay Kumar, Zain Khan Durrani, Vaani Kapoor, Lara Datta, Adi Chugh, Adil Hussain, Kavi Raz, Denzil Smith, Taz Singh
1980s India. The country is experiencing a series of airplane hijackings initiated by Pakistani separatists.
Another airliner hijacked by terrorists lands in Amritsar. This is the seventh attack. The best government agent nicknamed Bellbottom gets involved in the case. Now it is on his actions depends on the fate of two hundred hostages on board the aircraft.
The first airplane hijacking in the USSR was carried out by father and son Brazinskas. On October 15, 1970, 45-year-old Pranas Brazinskas and 13-year-old Algirdas Brazinskas hijacked a Soviet AN-24 flying from Batumi to Sukhumi. During the attack, a flight attendant was killed and crew members were seriously wounded. The hijackers sent the plane to Turkey, where they were arrested and sentenced to minor prison terms. The Brazinskas subsequently resided in the United States.
IB 71
- IMDB Rating – 7.2
- Genre: Action, Thriller
- Production: India / 2023
- Worldwide Box Office: $26,330
- Director: Sankalp Reddy, Lee Whitaker
- Starring: Anupam Kher, Vidyut Jamwal, Dalip Tahil, Nisar Khan, Vishal Jetha, Bijay Anand, Mir Sarwar, Sahidur Rahaman
This story brings together three nations and 30 agents, and describes the events of 10 days and one top-secret operation during the 1971 Indo-Pakistani war. The Indian Intelligence Bureau receives crucial information about an impending attack on the country by Pakistan, backed by China. Analysts conclude that the only chance to prevent the attack is for Pakistan to close Indian airspace to Pakistan.
But how to do that? IB agent Jeev Jamwal suggests organizing a fake hijacking of an airliner, and using two members of an extremist group fighting for the liberation of Kashmir as a blind man.
The makers of one of India’s new spy films about an airplane hijacking claim it is based on real events. The armed conflict between India and Pakistan began since the countries’ independence and continues to this day. The main stumbling block between the parties is the disputed territory of Kashmir.
Mdzevlebi
- IMDB Rating – 6.1
- Genre: Drama, Thriller, Biography, History
- Production: Georgia, Poland, Russia / 2017
- Worldwide Box Office: $363,259
- Director: Rezo Gigineishvili
- Starring: Irakli Kvirikadze, Tinatin Dalakishvili, Giga Datiashvili, Giorgi Grdzelidze, Giorgi Tabidze, Giorgi Khurtsilava, Vakhtang Chachanidze, Ekaterina Kalatozishvili, Beka Lemonjava, Merab Ninidze.
November 1983. A group of young people, representatives of the “golden” youth of Georgia, decides to hijack an airplane in order to experience the charms of Western civilization. The hijacking is scheduled for the day after Anna and Niko’s wedding.
To sneak weapons on board, the couple invites a casual acquaintance to the wedding – an airport employee. The girl organizes the newlyweds passage on the TU-136 without inspection. Having taken the stewardess as a hostage, the intruders proceed to active actions. But is not too high a price they have set for imaginary freedom?
A dramatic movie produced in Georgia is based on real events. Two of the seven criminals were killed during the assault, one died during the investigation, and three more were executed. The only woman involved in the crime was sentenced to 14 years in prison. Teimuraz Chikhladze, a clergyman, was recognized as the mastermind of the hijacking, who also received a death sentence.
All the Old Knives
- IMDB Rating – 6.1
- Genre: Thriller, Melodrama
- Production: USA / 2022
- Director: Janus Metz
- Starring: Chris Pine, Thandiwe Newton, Goksin Erdemli, Kasia Madera, Laurence Fishburne, Jonathan Pryce, Ahd Kamel, Jonjo O’Neal, Abdul Alsharif, David Dawson.
Two former lovers and CIA agents, Henry Pelham and Celia Harrison, meet at an oceanfront restaurant in California. The conversation turns to the failure of the CIA Vienna Residency to free an airliner hijacked by terrorists in 2012.
The criminals, who had an informant in the CIA, anticipated all the actions of the special forces and managed to destroy all the hostages. Now, eight years after the tragedy, Pelham is trying to identify the traitor.
The spy thriller is based on the novel of the same name by Olen Steinhauer.
Snakes on a Plane
- IMDB Rating – 5.5
- Genre: Action, Thriller, Crime, Adventure
- Production: USA, Germany / 2006
- Budget: $33,000,000
- Worldwide Box Office: $62,022,014
- Director: David R. Ellis
- Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Julianna Margulies, Nathan Phillips, Rachel Blanchard, Flex Alexander, Kenan Thompson, Keith Dallas, Lin Shaye, Bruce James, Sonny Mabry.
The thriller describes the hijacking of an airplane by very unusual criminals. Under the protection of two FBI agents from Honolulu to Los Angeles transports a very important witness, whose testimony will help to put behind bars one of the influential members of the Yakuza.
Having learned about it, the Japanese mobsters load on board many containers with flowers, which also contain a large number of poisonous snakes. After half of the flight, the snakes manage to escape from the cargo hold and start destroying the passengers of the doomed flight.
Two-thirds of the snakes shown in the movie were created using computer graphics. The remaining third were non-poisonous. Nevertheless, the performer of the role of FBI agent, fearlessly dealing with creepers, Samuel L. Jackson stipulated in his contract that the snakes must be at least eight meters away from him.
Entebbe
- IMDB Rating – 5.9
- Genre: Action, Thriller, Drama, History
- Production: UK, USA, France, Malta / 2017
- Worldwide Box Office: $8,771,432
- Director: José Padilha
- Starring: Daniel Bruhl, Rosamund Pike, Eddie Marsan, Lior Ashkenazi, Denis Menochet, Ben Schnetzer, Angel Bunani, Mark Ivanir, Nonso Anozi, Juan Pablo Raba
1976. German left-wing terrorists together with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine hijack an airbus flying from Tel Aviv to Paris. On the hijackers’ orders, the airliner lands in Uganda. Having released all the hostages who were not Jewish, the perpetrators demand the release of 53 Palestinians serving prison sentences.
Israeli authorities try to negotiate facilitation with Uganda’s leader, General Idi Amen, who cut off diplomatic ties between the countries several years ago. No agreement can be reached. Then the Israeli military conducts one of the most daring rescue missions ever.
The dramatic movie is based on true events that took place in July 1976. Four Israeli Air Force Boeings landed secretly, without the assistance of ground services, at Uganda’s Entebbe airport. An assault team of Israelis, after shooting the sentries, stormed the terminal where the hostages were being held. An hour after the operation began, the planes with the hostages had already departed for Israel.
