7 Days In Entebbe (dir. José Padilha)

From the executive producer behind TV juggernaut Narcos, "7 Days in Entebbe" - or as it’s known across the pond "Entebbe" - falls victim to it’s drastically misguided casting. It’s a shame that a film which depicts such a memorable snapshot of Israeli-Palestinian relations should be boiled down to it’s performance levels, though this is merely because director José Padilha ( 2014's RoboCop and Bus 174) is more interested in bankable stars than using suitably nuanced character actors.

Along with a exposition-heavy script from ’71 scribe Gregory Burke - the drama on screen is stagnant - despite easy-to-understand plot devices. For all it's glossy visuals and broad characterization - there's an overbearing absence of energy here, and even when the rescue elements kick off - you'll spend your time wishing for the tenseness of Paul Greengrass' "Captain Phillips" to get this thriller off the ground.

Setting up the drama with plot exposition in it’s most basic form, we are reminded of the long history surrounding the Israeli occupation of Palestine, and the subsequent ousting of it's people, many of which have found sanctuary in neighboring countries - or are held up in refugee camps. Similarly, the incarceration of freedom fighters deemed "terrorist insurgents" from the "Palestinian Liberation Front" are on the mind of German freedom fighters -led by Wilfried Böse (Daniel Brühl) and Brigitte Kuhlmann (Rosmamund Pike)- and so they decide to take matters into their own hands, and hijack a French plane setting off of Israel; steering it down at Entebbe airport where the mischievous Ugandan President Idi Amin - played here with cartoonish buffoonery by British actor Nonso Anozie - and his Ugandan army await to facilitate in the kidnappings.

Once they touch down they usher the hostages into the terminal, splitting them between nationality and holding them at gun-point. Accompanying the two German radicals are fellow PLF henchman, who challenge the peaceful accord with which our inexperienced revolutionaries perpetuate (they have a grudge to bare but don't want anyone to get hurt). Their plan is to use the Israeli nationals on the Paris-set plane as bargaining power -hoping to force top-brass in the Israeli government to free their comrades before they start picking off the Jewish contingent. The claustrophobic confines of the airport terminal should create an eery and atmospheric tone to the proceedings, yet despite a astutely charismatic turn from one of the plane's crew members Jacques Le Moine (Denis Ménochet) who is by far the best thing in the film (in one terrific scene he contemplates the morality of warfare with Daniel Brühl's Böse whilst fixing the water supply) - the stock moments of terror aren't as absorbing as they need to be.

Though it’s been nearly forty five years since the incident , one could argue it has escaped the social consciousness. So a modern re-telling of the events surrounding the madness should be right on the cards, as Ben Affleck’s “Argo” managed to do so with award-wining results. Three previous films attempting to bring the story to light: Raid on Entebbe (1976), Victory at Entebbe (1976), and Operation Thunderbolt (1977) all used the standoff as the basis for their drama, and even Kevin McDonald’s “The Last King Of Scotland” suggested to it in semi-fictitious results. Here however, there’s a staggering lack of urgency which is too risible to ignore: both in it’s storytelling and in the eventual hostage shenanigans, and there are many reasons to blame for this.

For starters, our central anarchists - both German nationalists and civilian revolutionaries - Daniel Brühl and Rosamund Pike are recognizably miscast in their lead roles. Seen during the odd flashback sequence as bourgeois intellectuals, hoping to bring liberation to the oppressed plight of the Palestinian cause are suitably annoying. For instance, Pike's ridiculous get-up consists of a bad wig and gigantic glasses and her inability to bring pathos to the character is evident in the more broad moments of action in the drama. The "Gone Girl" star may have convinced audiences with her femme-fatale psycho-bitch in Fincher's mystery drama yet here her criminal exploits are inherently un-engaging: “Shut up all of you or you will be shot” - she beckons to the wincing crowd of hostages; apparently her authoritative state is supposed to feel threatening when accompanied with an AK-47 rifle though feels empty and unassuming.

With the hostage crisis taking full flow in one-half of the drama, back in Israeli headquarters Prime Minster Yitzhak Rabin (Lior Ashkenazi) and his Secretary of Defense Shimon Peresrace ( Eddie Marsan ) - who appears to be channeling works of Laurence Oliver in Marathon Man along with the campest of Nazi officers - argue over the best course of action, frantically trying to find a solution to the ensuing madness which will be best for public morale. But it becomes clear that there ongoing national stance to “never negotiate with terrorists” should be the go-to response and so they come up with hackneyed plan to storm the terminal in Uganda and free the hostages from their captured state. Here - the chain-smoking Prime Minister’s moments of extensional crisis are inherently watchable - helped enormously by the on-screen charisma of Israeli actor Lior Ashkenazi - but the unevenness with which Padilha and screenwriter Gregory Burke use to flick between the squabbling at Israeli HQ and the day-to-day accounts back in Africa contribute to the film’s misunderstood messages and uninspiring tone.

Add to the mix a hokey subplot involving an Israeli soldier and his interpretative dance member girlfriend - which exists solely for reasons contextualized at the very end of the film- appear to have been bolted on from a completely different adaptation. Jolting narratives become increasingly difficult to follow and admittedly tedious, as the final moments of intended tautness fail to deliver their intended suspense due to the director's insistence on showing a interpretative dance performance of Batsheva Dance Company - before flickering back to the over-the-top carnage in the Ugandan airport. All of this is accompanied by the overbearing audio of “Echad mi Yodea”, which the artists bellow out in a aggressive unison, supposedly a well known passover number incorporated to add dramatic weight to the attempted rescue and a tiny bit of Zionist culture, are nothing but inherently distracting.

No doubt there’s a great film to be made here, and that’s not to say that certain elements of the drama further prove the promise of director Padilha (his Hollywood bow with 2014’s "RoboCop" was wrongly maligned) - It must be added that he manages to evoke the oily and grainy aesthetic associated with the very best 70’s energetic thrillers - yet, be that as it may, there is a whole heap of political satire to be exploited here: from the Israeli’s stand on worldwide negotiations, or even the mere notion of German radicals oppressing Jewish citizens and the inevitable backlash this would cause - Padilha’s attempts at assimilating these themes merely serve as contrived plot exposition in-between the bland and disassociating action set-pieces.

Rating 2/5