7500, not to be confused with the schlocky supernatural thriller Flight 7500, is the kind of movie that showcases how you can do a lot with very little. It's the kind of minimalistic presentation that requires serious talent on all sides to be executed properly. More often than not, indie filmmakers will opt to make a movie with an emphasis on story and characters, not necessarily because they care most about those elements, but rather because they are easy to control. Writing a decent script and getting actors to perform with conviction are challenging enough on their own. So when you do either of them poorly on a project that emphasizes them, it becomes more noticeable. 7500 is, fortunately, not such a case. While it has a few spots that could have been done a little better (more on that in a moment), it is an overall well-crafted film that reminds us how to achieve more with less, and how incredible of an actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt is. Seriously, why has he still not been nominated for an Oscar yet?
The story follows an International Airline Pilot named Tobias (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), making a routine flight from Germany to France. Shortly after take-off, the Plane is hijacked by a group of Islamic Extremists armed with broken glass who manage to kill the Captain and severely injure Tobias, but fail to take over the Cockpit. As Tobias successfully shoves most of the terrorists out of the room and seals the door. Upon radioing in the attack, Tobias is instructed to make an emergency landing and not open the cockpit door under any circumstances. Which would be easy to do, if it wasn't for the terrorists threatening to kill the passengers one by one unless he opens the door. Now, Tobias must do what he can to land the Plane and save the passengers, all the while keeping the Cockpit sealed.
As you might have guessed, the entire film takes place inside the Cockpit. The only time we see any other part of the Plane is in a few shots at the beginning and end, or through a small monitor next to the Cockpit door. This is where the idea of minimalism comes to play. Even though we, the audience, are confined to a single space, the tension from the extreme circumstances is enough to raise and keep our attention.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt carries the whole movie on his shoulders, and he does so with firm conviction. A project such as this requires a vast amount of range from the lead actor. This is as much a showcase of his genuine talent as it is a decent demonstration of minimalistic storytelling.
Now, as I mentioned earlier, there are a few things about the film I wish could have been done better. There are parts of the film, mostly in the middle, that seem to take too long to happen. One scene, in particular, has a supporting character coming to an essential revelation within the story, and it seems to take this character longer than feels necessary to reach it. This was likely an effort on the filmmaker's part to pad out the runtime to reach conventional feature-length. This results in moments of repetitive dialogue and unintentional diminishment of tension. Fortunately, these bits are few and far between. So while they were distracting on occasion, they never negatively affected my overall enjoyment of the film. It just made me wish they had done something more creative to extend the necessary runtime.
Putting that aside, 7500 is a decent new thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat. At the moment, it is available on Amazon Prime. Hopefully, it will become available on other platforms as well in the future. If you need a well-crafted thriller for movie night, give this one a shot.
Ladies & gentlemen, I am TheNorm, thank you all for reading.
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