7500 movie review: Joseph Gordon-Levitt nails it in harrowing hijacking drama

MUMBAI: All of 7500, the new thriller on Amazon Prime Video, is not as clever as its premise. Unfolding essentially in real-time, director Patrick Vollrath’s debut feature is a one-man show, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a pilot whose flight gets hijacked.

We’ve seen plenty of air-bound thrillers in recent years as the claustrophobic setting lends itself well to Hitchockian drama. Vollrath’s big creative gimmick in 7500 — that’s the emergency transponder code for a hijacking, by the way — is to restrict the action to the cockpit. It’s a truly ambitious move, because as any sane storyteller would tell you, the real drama lies among the passengers.

The film cruises along in its opening few minutes — JGL’s first officer Tobias is introduced, his secret relationship with a stewardess is revealed, and everything is in order. The cockpit door is open, allowing us to just about register faces that’ll return in some manner or the other later on; but we never leave Tobias’ side.

There’s a screen just behind him, which offers a static shot of the cabin — it is essentially going to be Tobias and our only window into the outside world after the door has been fastened.

Hitchcock attributed much of his films’ success to what he described as the ‘bomb theory’ — it was the difference, he said, between surprise and suspense. Two people are sitting across a table, and a bomb goes off. The audience is surprised. But in the second scenario, the audience is shown the bomb first, and then made to endure the agony of waiting for it to explode.

We already know that there are terrorists aboard the flight, so for the first 30 minutes or so, we are in suspense, expecting them to attack at any moment. We also know that the flight (from Berlin to Paris) is going to be relatively short, so the terrorists must make their move fast. It’s effective filmmaking.
But once the hijackers do attack, the film is robbed of all suspense, and therefore left to rely almost exclusively on moments of surprise. By definition, these moments are contrived. They do not feel organic, and instead, exist only to propel the plot for another 15 minutes or so, until a new twist can be introduced.

Also read Black Lives Matter: Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas join protest

Because Vollrath can’t explore the full dramatic potential of the hijacking, having locked himself up in the cockpit, he employs other techniques to ratchet up the tension. The camera is jittery, crouching on the floor, getting all up in JGL’s face when the going gets really tough. But the sound design is what really sells it — the rattling of the machinery adds to the edginess.

But at the centre of it all is a tremendous performance by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. The actor strikes a fine balance between letting his emotions take control, and falling back on his training.

Also read Have a look at the timeline of Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck’s love story

Credits: Hindustan Times