Code 7500 - Un avion en détresse

I fly the A319/320/321. Whoever consulted on the film did a good job, and incorporated realism to how the airplane is flown. That constant beating on the door is also accurate. It won't open unless someone lets you in.

This movie gives an amazingly realistic look at the interplay that exist in actual hijacking scenarios. It is slower in pace and grittier in appearance and direction than what many expect from a Hollywood movie of this type and could be seen as more of a fictional "documentary" which I expect is the reason for the shockingly low reviews seen. However in my opinion the acting and direction of this movie make it one of the best in its genre and well worth watching.

7500 (2019) starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt is not your average thriller/action movie. Where other movies would have shootouts, a bomb go off, the engines fail, or someone sucked out of an open window, 7500 is more realistic. Sure, seeing some reviews about how ATC's demeanor is off or the plane details are wrong is fair. But that is missing the point. A group of Islamic terrorists are attempting to hijack a plane during a standard flight from Berlin to Paris and American first officer Tobias Ellis is the only one who can avert disaster. This movie keeps you on the edge of your seat if you allow it to and is very good.

I found out 7500 is the standard code for a pilot to alert authorities that a hijacking is in progress. My son probably already knew this, he is a commercial pilot.

My wife and I watched this via Amazon streaming through our Roku. It is a curious project because essentially all the action takes place inside the cockpit, first as the pilot and copilot begin the flight very routinely, then the chaos when the hijackers gain access to the cockpit. Not everyone survives.

Although this is a fictional story great care was taken to research actual hijackings over the decades, as such it comes off very realistically. Very tense most of the time, it isn't "entertaining" but more eye-opening.

(Not to be confused with the 2014 horror movie "Flight 7500".)

I was surprised to see this movie only has a 6.3 rating. I think audiences are too used to the same clichéd story structure we see in pretty much all action movies; the villain causes mayhem, the protagonist underdog steps-up, and against all odds defeats the evil, saves the day, is reunited with their love interest, and walks off a hero... roll credits. This movie challenges that cliché, and it does it in a brutal fashion. It's much more of a psychological-action movie than a classic action movie. There are no epic fight scenes, courageous last second acts of heroism or sudden unexpected plot twists. It's completely raw, "how would a post 9/11 airplane hijacking scenario unfold in real life conditions?". And that's exactly what you get, with almost no sugar-coating. That's not to say that the movie doesn't conform to some clichés, but the brutal and harrowing reality it portrays is akin to a movie based on real events, yet this is completely fictional. To say the ending is abrupt is an understatement, I certainly had a "wait, what?" moment. But in hindsight, it's actually very fitting with the narrative of the movie. There's definitely a huge psychological element that will leave you feeling very uneasy and claustrophobic, but I personally praise it for its raw and unforgiving depiction of how a real-life hijacking could potentially play out.

7.5/10.