7500
by Takashi Shimizu
When troubled passengers happen to witness the death of a mysterious man who carries a deadly cargo, we're talking about a flight headed for disaster and frankly nothing can go right.
In the ten-hour Flight 7500 flying from Los Angeles, California to Tokyo, Japan director Takashi Shimizu and writer Craig Rosenberg tried to stuff in as much suspense as possible, offering the viewers an outcome particularly enjoyable and uniquely entertaining. Of course, Takashi Shimizu is an expert when it comes to eerie horror and terrifying scenes as he is the man behind The Grudge and Ju-on extravaganza. In addition, Craig Rosenberg has had his own share in the horror-suspense genre having worked on the Lost TV series, the thriller Half Light starring Demi Moore and the recent not-very-successful horror movie The Quiet Ones. This duo certainly forms a very promising collaboration that will hopefully entertain you as much as it entertained me.
The cast is well known around horror circles and you'll definitely see familiar faces. Dead Silence's protagonist Ryan Kwanten is one of the lead actors in 7500 portraying the character of EMT Brad Martin, flying to Tokyo with his separated wife Pia (star of many comedies Amy Smart). We also see Leslie Bibb in the role of the stewardess and Jerry Ferrara playing the newlywed husband of Nicky Whelan complementing each other's performances in a very smooth and well thought manner. It has been a busy year for Johnathon Schaech as well, as we see him in a quiet and secondary role; the plane's pilot who is surprisingly not important.
After the sudden and disturbing death of a male passenger, who definitely catches our attention from the beginning due to his bizarre behavior, things start going from bad to worse causing mayhem and distress to the other passengers and the crew. The dead body amongst them and the scary air turbulence cause an unsettling setting that leaves no one unaffected. The most curious and nosy passengers will form a clique in order to discover the dead man's identity and find the answer to burning questions, like "Why did the 13-F guy disappear" and "Why did the figure of the dead man appear on a laptop's screen".
What's good about 7500 is that as a viewer you can't really be sure of what you should be expecting. Is it a ghost, given the director's pretty successful past work? Or is it an alien, throwing it immediately in the sci-fi horror category? Or in the end, is the plot realistic and completely explainable? To avoid any spoilers, I'll be as vague as possible and just say it's a little bit of everything.
What matters is that 7500 is a very entertaining choice and will probably please those who are into suspenseful thrillers.
Maria Kriva, HMS