‘7500’ Review
A film like 7500 isn’t the expected one for someone like Joseph Gordon-Levitt to come back in a major role. Not being flashy in any way and instead being minimalistic, there’s something to admire about that approach whether or not it comes to full fruition. Starting with a co-pilot and a plane while later introducing a hijacking by terrorists, it’s a tough job to make something spectacular out of it even before confiding to only the cockpit. There’s certainly enough forward momentum in its pacing but the limitations do turn into a nuisance.
Taking into consideration the least possible blocking and attention grabbers in the set, this is an extremely tough feat for an editor. Somehow miraculously that becomes the film’s strongest outing as Hansjörg Weißbrich cuts things with precision. There really isn’t any big magic going on in the edit (as in artistic transitions, fades or split-screens) but the rhythm keeps the boat afloat. Gordon-Levitt (as Tobias Ellis) and Omid Memar (as Vedat, one of the terrorists) do the best they really can with limited space and material, even so it’s not enough to elevate the story to higher places.
Space and material. That is what director Patrick Vollrath's vision of 7500 eventually comes down to. What material it uses and in what space it is used in. The characters are disappointingly shallow and created only for the sake of the premise without ever really expanding from that. Tobias Ellis is a pilot and has a girlfriend, cool. Vedat is young and scared and has a voiceless mom, alright. Tobias’ girlfriend is doing her job, okay. On top of that one of the terrorists, Kenan (Murathan Muslu), gives a reasoning for their actions which is so basic that it rivals Netflix teen dramas for the most ”basic bitchness”. The production itself doesn’t help either as the rest of the plane remains unused and the cockpit doesn’t offer the actors much to act with.
Smileys: Editing
Frowneys: Characterisation, production design
It doesn’t do a crash landing but I wouldn’t fly with them again.
2.5/5
