We open with Captain Michael Lutzmann (Carlo Kitzlinger) and First Officer Tobias Ellis (Gordon-Levitt) going through pre-flight checks and mundane chit-chat before they take off on a course towards Paris. Just moments into their journey, an attempted storming of the cockpit leaves the Captain left-for-dead, one of the terrorists unconscious and Gordon-Levitt severely injured. 

What follows is a dark drama set almost entirely within the cockpit with just voices from the intercom and one grainy video feed from the cabin as our window into what’s happening outside. As the remaining terrorists continue to attempt to break down the door separating them from taking control of the airplane, the editing by Hansjörg Weißbrich cleverly keeps us on the edge given the cramped and claustrophobic location.

With hostages used as bargaining chips, their threats to kill become all the more significant when one of Gordon-Levitt’s personal relationships become involved. Omid Memar is great support as Vedat, a conflicted extremist and the film’s final moments are some of the most nail-biting of the year.

At just 92 minutes, it’s a swift ride with little room to breathe but that’s a huge plus as we trail this real-time emergency. Although it doesn’t involve itself with global politics, it adds enough thematic complexities to the proceedings to be more than a surface-level exploration of extremist tendencies.

But for the most part, like similar films Buried and Phone Booth, it’s a ‘one location’ set-up that throttles along to its final approach with nerve-racking excitement and electrifying suspense.

★★★★