December 6, 2025
by Carla Hay
Directed by Ham Tran
Vietnamese with subtitles
Culture Representation: Taking place in Vietnam and in a flying airplane, in 1978 (and briefly in 1977), the action film “Hijacked” (inspired by true events) features an all-Asian cast of characters representing the working-class and middle-class.
Culture Clash: A Vietnamese plane is taken over by hijackers, whose only apparent goal is to get out of Vietnam.
Culture Audience: “Hijacked” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and disaster action movies that have more hysteria than a coherent plot.
“Hijacked” is inspired by true events about the increase in Vietnamese plane hijackings in the late 1970s. However, almost nothing about this tacky action flick looks realistic. Expect to see a lot of shouting, bloody fights, and horrible acting. A nonsensical plot twist that’s thrown into the movie makes everything look even more idiotic.
Directed by Ham Tram, “Hijacked” was co-written by Ham, Nguyễn Hoàng Dương and Nguyễn Mai Nhật Ánh. The movie takes place in Vietnam and mostly in the air during a hijacked plane that’s in flight. The movie was filmed on location in Vietnam. “Hijacked” is also titled “Death Battle on the Air,” depending on where the movie was released.
“Hijacked” begins with a caption explaining that in 1977, U.S. President Jimmy Carter signed an immigration act allowing approved Vietnamese people to immigrate to the United States as refugees of the Vietnam War. This immigration act led to hijackings of Vietnamese planes by people who wanted to go the United States “by any means necessary.” The airline company in “Hijacked” is called Vietnam Airlines. What the movie doesn’t mention is in real life, the airline company that experienced these late 1970s hijackings was Vietnam Civil Aviation, which didn’t change its name to Vietnam Airlines until 1993.
The movie shows one of these hijackings that took place in 1977. Vietnam Airlines Flight 137 is a Douglas DC-3 plane going from Ho Chi Minh City to Phu Quoc Island. This flight is based on the real-life Vietnam Civil Aviation Flight 509, which had 32 passengers and was hijacked on October 28, 1977. The hijackers wanted the plane to take a detour to Singapore. In the “Hijacked” movie, this hijacking is depicted only in the first 15 minutes.
Just like in real life, the movie shows that were four hijackers for this hijacking and two members of the crew were killed. However, the movie fabricates something that didn’t happen for this particular hijacking. In real life, two of the six crew members and no passengers were killed. In the movie, one of the passengers is killed when he apprehends a hijacker.
While the passenger has the hijacker in his grip, he jokingly says to a flight attendant: “Do I deserve a scarf now?” (Who says that during this type of crisis? Only people in a stupid movie like this one.) No sooner does he ask this moronic question, another hijacker sneaks up behind the passenger and slits the passenger’s throat with a knife.
The movie then abruptly segues to show Binh (played by played by Thanh Sơn,) an air marshal of the People’s Public Security of Vietnam), leading a training session to improve the fight and safety skills of airplane crew and security staffers. An air marshal named Minh (played by Hồ Thái Thiên Minh), who was killed on Vietnam Airlines Flight 137 just happened to be the brother of an air marshal named Son (played by Ma Ran Đô), who is on the next hijacked flight that’s depicted in the movie.
The movie’s second hijacked flight takes place in 1978. It’s Vietnam Airlines Flight 602, a Douglas DC-4 plane. This flight is based on the real-life Vietnam Civil Aviation Flight 501 that was hijacked on June 28, 1978, while going from departing from Da Nang International Airport to Phung Duc Airport. What happens on Vietnam Airlines Flight 602 takes up the majority of the movie.
The crew members on this flight include Binh, Son, flight captain Phong (played by Xuân Phúc), flight co-pilot Khanh (played by Trần Ngọc Vàng), flight attendant Tu Trinh (played by Kaity Nguyễn), and flight attendant Nhan (played by Tram Anh), who are all as generic as generic can be. This four male hijackers of this flight are group leader Long (played by Thái Hòa); Long’s son Suu (played by Bảo Định); and two brothers named Dan (played by Ray Nguyễn) and Ti (played by Võ Điền Gia Huy). Dan is the older brother.
To increase the drama and the tension, the movie has three of the crew members as expectant parents. Binh was on the plane so that he could visit his wife, who is due to give birth at any moment (and you know that the movie will show her going into labor during the hijacking. Khanh and Nhan, who are married to each other, are expecting their first child. Nhan is in the first trimester of her pregnancy. That’s about all you’ll find out about these main characters, who are all underdeveloped.
There are about 60 passengers on the plane, including the hijackers. Most of the passengers are just extras in the movie, which puts most of the passenger focus on a family of three people: a middle-aged man named Hai (played by Lợi Trần), his wife Phuong (played by Xuân Văn), and their son Dau (played by Bâo Di), who’s about 5 or 6 years old. Dau is carrying the ashes of Hai’s father in an urn. (And you can easily predict what will happen to those ashes during the chaos of this hijacking.)
Most of what’s seen in “Hijacked” takes place on the plane, with fleeting glimpses at some of what’s happening on the ground when the word gets out that the plane has been hijacked. Chief hijacker Long is a tyrant who physically and verbally abuses his son Suu, who is desperate to please Long. Flight attendant Nhan gets tortured by the hijackers. The hijackers have a gun, a knife and grenades. By the end of the movie, it’s still not clear what the hijackers’ motives are.
“Hijacked” has very choppy editing that takes unearned shortcuts and leaves many questions unanswered. One of the worst editing segues in the movie is when a fight breaks out between certain crew members and the hijackers. One of the hijackers gets knocked out. And then, the next thing you know, all the hijackers are tied up in a back storage room with red lighting, with the movie never explaining how the hijackers were tied up.
And the movie has too many ridiculous fights and explosions that would crash any plane that’s in flight, but this plane just keeps going during all the phony-looking mayhem. The movie’s dialogue is awful and is made even worse by the subpar performances. “Hijacked” is the type of movie that wants to pretend that people yelling, fake-looking fights, obnoxiously loud sound, and jerky editing can equal suspense. There is no real suspense in this annoying mess of a movie except wondering when it’s finally going to be over.
Galaxy Studio released “Hijacked” in select U.S. cinemas on December 5, 2025. The movie was released in Vietnam on September 19, 2025.