Flight 7500

2.5/4

Starring: Ryan Kwanten, Leslie Bibb, Amy Smart, Jerry Ferrara, Nicky Whelan, Scout Taylor-Compton, Jamie Chung, Jonathan Schaech

Rated PG-13 for Thematic Material, Some Scary Images and Brief Language

"Flight 7500" deserved a better fate than it got.  Originally slated for an August 2012 release, the film was delayed for two years and released when no one was looking.  The studio behind the movie might as well have slapped "This film is a turkey!" right under the tagline.  While the film certainly has its problems, like settling for a totally cliche ending, it's certainly not a terrible way to spend 80 minutes.

Flight 7500 is flying to Tokyo with the assorted oddballs and "characters" that show up in disaster movies.  You have the newlyweds Rick (Ferrara) and Liz (Whelan).  Brad (Kwanten) and Pia (Smart) are splitting up but waiting until after their "vacation of a lifetime" to tell their friends.  Stewardesses Laura (Bibb) and Suzy (Chung) gossip about the passengers and their love lives.  Things get hairy when a shifty looking passenger has a medical emergency and dies on board.  And the flight has only just begun.

Unlike most disaster movies, the introductory scenes aren't just filler.  Director Takashi Shimizu takes his time and allow us to become involved in their lives.  It's not Shakespeare, but it gets the job done.  Ironically, they're the best thing in the movie.  Because once the thriller stuff gets going, it soon becomes apparent that the filmmakers have written themselves into a corner and are going to use a ridiculous cliche to get out of it.  No, I will not give away the ending.  But no one can watch this movie and tell me that they haven't seen it used in another movie.  And probably better.  Here, it just cheapens the movie because nothing is done with it and, especially taking the final scene into consideration, makes little sense.

The cast, which is compromised of young would-be stars whose time in the spotlight has passed (Schaech, Ferrara) or who never hit it as big as they should (Kwanten, Smart).  No one is brilliant in the same way as, say, Daniel Day-Lewis, but they're effective.  Kwanten is suitably heroic and vulnerable.  Amy Smart once again makes you wonder why no one hires her for the big roles she deserves.  Jerry Ferrara plays it cool.  Nicky Whelan is appropriately obnoxious as a chatty neurotic.  Only Jonathan Schaech doesn't deliver, but he can't act to begin with.

One thing I liked about this movie was its look.  David Tattersall, who photographed the "Star Wars" prequels, creates a visual look that always grabbed me.  There are lots of shadows but also strong colors.  It's very pleasing to look at.  It's not groundbreaking or anything, but it's good enough to be worth mentioning.

The film was directed by Takashi Shimizu, who is famous for "The Grudge," its sequel, and their respective remakes.  He keeps things moving at a nice clips, and that's a good thing for a genre movie.  He can make the innocuous seem creepy and demonstrates a solid sleight-of-hand.  What he doesn't have is a well thought-out screenplay.  Strengthen the plot, jettison the ending for something more clever and daring, and you'd have a solid movie.

As it is, it's just a decent time-killer to watch when you want to turn off your brain.

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