Review: 7500

Release date: June 19, 2020
Running time: 91 minutes
Starring:  Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Omid Memar, Passar Hariky

7500 follows the flight of a commercial airliner where soft-spoken young American co-pilot, Tobias (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and German pilot, Michael (Carlo Kitzlinger) are forced to fly under very difficult conditions.  What starts out as a routine day on the job quickly turns into a life-or-death struggle when terrorists determined to take control of the plane force their way into the cockpit.  Now, Tobias and Michael are forced to fly the plane while trying to keep themselves and the passengers alive.

7500 is a tense movie that mostly follows Tobias and his interactions with one of the terrorists Vedat (Memar).  These unpredictable, sometimes very human, and often stressful interactions lead to much of the dialog and tension of the film.  JGL is engaging as the young American co-pilot, who has to display a wide range of emotion during this ordeal.  From anger, to pain, to sadness, to pure despair, Tobias has to go all over the map.  But that is matched by Vedat's range.  Memar is asked to display a similar range of emotions and often must do so very rapidly.  He has the unenviable task of being unpredictable, enraged, but also strangely empathetic at times.  The rest of the small cast are likewise good, but the movie is dominated by these two. 

And the story of this film is tense, if a little short and uneventful.  Much of this film involves waiting for the next event; which can be unpredictable and nerve-wracking, but often times can lead to downtime in the story.  The filmmakers do use the limited space of the film (it takes place mostly in an airplane cockpit) and time masterfully, but it does make the movie feel small.  And although the writing is good, there are some odd choices that occur and some motivations are not fully fleshed out.  And finally, although this is an interesting movie, it does not appear to be based on any real life event, nor does it really seem to teach much.  It is a well done, stressful foray into a commercial highjacking, but in the end you don't really learn much other than that JGL and Memar are phenomenal actors.  

7500 is a tension-filled film with fantastic acting from its main characters and a compact story that depicts a stressful highjacking. 

Rent it.