IFFR 2008: THE SKYJACKER Review

One of the many world-premieres at this year's International Film Festival Rotterdam was "The Skyjacker".
It's the first feature of writer / director / actor Jeff Pickett and I had never heard of him, so I didn't know what to expect.

All I knew was that the story was inspired by the famous "Dan Cooper" incident in 1971, when a man claiming to have a bomb on him asked for money and a parachute, got both at an inbetween stop, jumped off the plane in mid-air and was never found.

As crimes go this one was remarkably non-violent (the passengers never knew what happened until they had already left the plane). It was also successful, with the FBI still having to concede that they haven't the foggiest where this man went.

Other than that the movie was a complete question mark when I took my seat.
Now, having seen it, the movie is still a question mark for me. As is its audience rating of 3.19 (out of 5) which I consider to be VERY generous.

Ouch! Read on after the break...

The Story:

A man boards a passenger airliner, and basically does the same thing as what I just described as the "Dan Cooper" incident.


The Movie:

Sorry, did that synopsis seem a bit short? Well, I wouldn't want to spoil anything but that is literally all there is. Jeff Pickett films it almost completely "as happens" which means that for the largest part of its 71 minute running time you're watching a man, sitting still with one hand in his briefcase, asking a stewardess to light a cigarette every 5 minutes. There are a couple of ways to keep this interesting but we don't get much more than a voice-over from one of the stewardesses, so "The Skyjacker" drags something fierce even though it's short. Of course the pace goes up once the jump approaches and the man, wait for it, gets up from his seat! The nicest thing I can say about this movie is that it perfectly conveys the feeling of long-distance travel.

Yet I shouldn't be too harsh on what is clearly a labor of love for its creator. It's easy for me to be mean, high and mighty here behind my keyboard, but the fact is that Jeff Pickett actually made a movie out of a story which intrigued him, had it premiere at an international festival on the other side of the ocean and got a "fair" score from a paying audience. If I ever manage to do the same I'll take my gloves off and start writing a vitriolic review about this movie, but for now I'll just sit and simmer.

And there are some amusing details sprinkled here and there, like the total absence of security measures we take for granted today, or the price of an airline ticket in the early seventies. Not too many though as production-wise this movie hangs somewhere between low-budget and no-budget.
Actingwise, I was watching a tough-looking Jeff Pickett for seventy minutes, searching for emotions (hey, I need to do SOMETHING while watching this movie) but not really finding any. Lizzy Davis has more to do as the stewardess and is quite good despite some clunky lines now and then.

And that's basically it.


Conclusion:

There must be loads of people you can point a camera at for seventy minutes who do more interesting things than a skyjacker does, especially if you already know what happens because you're familiar with the story.