One Mann’s Movies review of “7500” (2020).
Bob the Movie Man’s Rating:
Certification:
US: R. UK: 15.
I’m not sure if there is an “IQ” table of Hollywood stars, but I would reckon if there is then Joseph Gordon-Levitt would rate pretty highly. Whenever I see him interviewed he comes across as a highly articulate and intelligent bloke. And that intelligence filters through into his choices of movie role. If you look back at his filmography on IMDB the first thing you notice is that his output is pretty sparse and selective, and the next is that the projects he’s done mostly deliver a pretty strong hit rate: “500 Days of Summer”; “Inception”, “Looper”, “The Dark Knight Rises”; “Don Jon”…. the list is impressive.
Co-pilot Tobias Ellis (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) expecting a trouble-free flight to Paris. (Source: Amazon Studios).
Small is sometimes beautiful.
Here he stars (and really stars) in a small German film. It only had a $5 million budget (that’s an impressive BvS quotient of just 2%!) and in some ways it shows: the speaking cast totals about a dozen; the single location used is the cockpit (an Airbus A320 simulator somewhere? Or a set? The production design is so good, it’s difficult to tell) ; and the “score” is so minimalistic (a solo piano piece over the end titles) that it doesn’t even merit an IMDB music credit!
But in many ways this is a case of ‘small is beautiful’. For this is an extremely tense and claustrophobic action picture.
“Welcome on board to you, and you, you three… not so much”. Flight attendant the half-Turkish Moslem Gökce (Aylin Tezel). (Source: Amazon Studios).
The Plot.
German Captain Michael Lutzmann (Carlo Kitzlinger) and American Co-pilot Tobias Ellis (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) are about to pilot an Airbus A320 on a routine flight from Berlin to Paris. By coincidence, also on the flight is Tobias’s partner and mother of his son, stewardess Gökce (Aylin Tezel). Shortly into the flight, three terrorists – Kenan (Murathan Muslu), Daniel (Paul Wollin) and youngster Vedat (Omid Memar) – take over the aircraft. Tobias issues a “7500” (hijack in progress) code. All that is protecting the injured pilots and the security of the 80 people on the flight is the cockpit door.
Vedat (Omid Memar) is out of his depth in playing the terrorist game. (Source: Amazon Studios).
A creeping sense of dread.
The film starts slowly, building atmosphere through the pre-flight chit-chat between the pilots and a leisurely take-off. I loved this development of character by Oscar-nominated shorts director Patrick Vollrath. But when the action starts, it starts with a bang and continues in truly tense and visceral style. There’s a sense of creeping dread when you realise the terrorist’s use of hostages to get the door open, and of who the hostages might be.
I note that one of the “thanks” for the film was director Paul Greengrass, who of course made the outstanding 9/11-themed “United 93” back in 2006. It would be fascinating to understand whether this was a “thank-you” for the inspiration the classic film gave Vollrath, or if there was some practical consultancy undertaken there.
Director Patrick Vollrath with star Joseph Gordon-Levitt. (Source: Amazon Studios).
Gordon-Levitt delivers an outstanding performance.
Star of the show here is Joseph Gordon-Levitt who delivers a peerless performance as the pilot under extreme stress. Veering cyclically through terror, emotional breakdown and calm ‘training-kicking-in’ modes, it’s a performance that is almost Oscar nomination-worthy in my book. He’s on screen for virtually every shot of the film, and really earned his fee here.
He makes for a very believable pilot.
A game of two halves.
I’ve read other comment that says the terrorists are rather 2-dimensional in their attempts to “do a 9/11”. And to a degree I agree. A nice angle though is the relationship that develops between Tobias and young Vedat in the second half of the movie. There’s a ‘Stockholm Syndrome’ vibe going on here, but this never quite gets resolved satisfactorily.
As such, unfortunately this ‘back 9’ never really quite lived up to the promise of the first 45 minutes for me. And as a single-location story that had nowhere else to go, the abrupt ending will not be to the liking of some I’m sure.
Genuinely tense. Terrorist Daniel (Paul Wollin) gets hands-on with a young passenger (Max Schimmelpfennig). (Source: Amazon Studios).
Summary
Not to be confused with the 2014 horror “Flight 7500”, this is for once a B-movie that’s real nail-biter. The movie doesn’t pull its punches, and although there is little of the more graphic violence actually shown, the mind can fill in the gaps effectively which makes for some upsetting moments. Although it never quite lives up to its early promise at only 93 minutes it is strongly deserving of your attention. The movie is available for viewing via Amazon-Prime.
Trailer:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4W5c_3_rhs .
