7500 (2019) ***

Source: Imdb

I understand that this shockingly realistic drama about an airplane kidnapping – a 7500 incident – is a rehash of the premises, but it’s a good one. As a mostly German production, it’s not surprising (but very gratifying) to find that they cast exclusively native speakers from Germany and Austria for German-speaking roles. This made the German parts of the dialogue, which made up about half, very easy to understand, unlike when non-natives try to cough up some broken German. However, presumably to give the film more international pull, they put Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the pilot’s seat. A good choice. His acting in this tour de force – almost a one-man-show – did not disappoint, but I have to say that all his German colleagues were first-class material as well. Particularly the young terrorist portrayed by Omid Memar, was very well-chosen. Their performances are even more impressive considering that the director relied quite a lot on their improvisation talent and shot scenes in single takes of up to 60 (sixty!) minutes to provide the opportunity for his cast to completely immerse themselves.

The script could have used a bit more tightening. It was great with the foreshadowing in the lead-in and building of ominous tension. However, then it sort of wavered a bit and left some slack in the reigns. It also had a niggling flaw that annoyed me (as a non-pilot layperson): why didn’t the pilot just tell the passengers to put on seat-belts and then drop the plane by a few hundred metres? That would knock out anyone not strapped in with a good whack on the cabin roof. He did try a few manoeuvres to shake the invaders off their feet, so maybe that was just more realistic?

Anyway, the ending was both oddly predictable and strangely sudden. I suppose they wanted to keep this in the style of intimate theatre with only the cramped cockpit as a stage and a very limited cast. It does make you wonder, though, about the fall-out from this, the consequences for everyone and how captain Tobias deals with his considerable trauma.

Visually, this was very well done. It really did look like they shot in the cramped conditions of an airborne plane cockpit. They had some good make-up and very consistent directing, realistic lighting and… I don’t even remember a score. Huh. This appears to have drawn me in more than I thought. Still, despite the shock value and great performances, only 3/5

7500 on Imdb