Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

7 Days in Entebbe Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman June 30, 2018

Truth isn't just stranger than fiction, it's often more compelling. While anyone can manufacture a plot, history is rife with real-world examples of fear, courage, and everything in between that are often more remarkable than any burst of the creative imagination. 7 Days in Entebbe travels backwards only several decades in time to find a story that has a little bit of everything: action, terror, political intrigue, and more than a dash of truth. Director José Padilha's (RoboCop) film aims to blur the lines amongst all of the components, to tell the story of hostage takers and would-be hostage rescuers who are battling not only for the lives of innocent people caught up in a sudden whirlwind of a frail political climate but also for greater causes and concerns like recognition and statehood on one hand and self defense and preservation on the other. The story is ripe for the making into a movie, and in the right hands it could have been the next Munich, but as it is the film is little more than an operational entertainer with some story depth, quality perspective juxtapositions, good acting, and impressive lensing. Yet it comes up just short of a seminal recreation of one of the most intense weeks in the tumultuous 1970s.

June 1976. Air France flight 139 from Tel Aviv to Paris is carrying 239 passengers, 83 of whom are Israelis. And four terrorists are on-board. Shortly after takeoff, two Palestinians and a pair of German nationals (played by Rosamund Pike and Daniel Brühl) secure the plane and ultimately force it to land in Uganda's Entebbe International Airport where they fall under the relatively safe and friendly authority of that country's president, Idi Amin (Nonso Anozie) and make a stand to make their demands against the state of Israel known to the world. As rifts begin to form between the Germans and the Palestinians over the segregation and targeting of Jewish passengers, the Jewish government, led by Shimon Peres (Eddie Marsan) and Yitzhak Rabin (Lior Ashkenazi), steps up its plan of action to take the airport and rescue the hostages by force.

The movie begins quickly. There's little wasted effort beyond the dance number which, even well intended, doesn't add the sort of metaphorical muscle and exciting visual contrasts to the film that the filmmakers obviously envisioned. The hijacking takes place almost immediately and the viewer is pulled right into it. The film doesn't spell out plot points in a similarly quick fashion, though. It is smartly, and rightly, content to allow those plot points, character identifications and motivations, to gradually expand as the characters themselves explore what they have done or what they may do in response. And therein lies the film's greatest strength. It gives nearly equal time, nearly equal prominence, and nearly equal emotional pull to all of the contributing forces in the film, perhaps a little less so the hostages but certainly exploring with some welcome depth the terrorists (who see themselves as freedom fighters), the Israeli government officials (including a few familiar names from the annals of modern history), and the Israeli soldiers who would raid the airport and free their fellow countrymen. All four sects, and most all of the film's themes and driving points and character arcs, converge when the Palestinian terrorists take the step to isolate the Jewish captives from those of different ethnic backgrounds. That sets in motion not only a greater sense of urgency on the Israeli side but forms a rift between the Palestinian and German terrorists who suddenly find themselves at odds over messaging and the purpose of the hijacking.

Performances are excellent because they go unrecognized. Each of the actors melt so deeply into part, with such convincing immersion into role that the audience practically forgets these are performers, not the real people they are portraying. That's not to say that this is a runaway for the acting categories at the Oscars but there's a harmonious seamlessness to the merging of story and players, undoubtedly partially attributable to Padilha's direction but also to the cast's dedication to understanding their parts well above their own hemisphere in the movie and grasping the larger geopolitical narrative that reaches well beyond each individuals' relatively confined physical space in the movie.

7 Days in Entebbe Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

7 Days in Entebbe's 1080p transfer delivers a satisfying viewing experience. Drawbacks are few, and perhaps the most prominent comes right at the beginning where black levels appear a little flat and washed out in the first dance sequence, but the picture soars beyond that. It's pleasantly filmic in textural quality, producing sharp, accurate textures that reveal finer facial details -- pores, moles, scruff -- with effortless ease and clarity. As the hostage situation intensifies and the days move along, the accumulated sweat and mess on characters and clothing are plainly revealed. The somewhat more ragged and used set pieces at the Entebbe airport appear sharp and complex, but it's in some of the film's more clean and complex images where the transfer truly shines, such as Amin's crisp military dress uniform. Colors are well saturated as the palette traverses from stuffy and hot warmth, crisp and natural hues in well-lit locales, and lower light scenes featuring the Israeli government officials. Source or encode flaws are few, blacks tighten up beyond the beginning, and flesh tones are reflective of any given scene's parameters. This is a very strong presentation from Universal.

7 Days in Entebbe Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

7 Days in Entebbe feature a 5.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio sound presentation. The opening beats to the dance routine are very scrunchy, coming across as filtered and roughhewn, but music in the dance scene to follow, and all subsequent dance scenes, play with well pronounced low end effect, well spaced stage saturation, and much more clarity and precision. The track delivers quality, realistic background hum on the plane in the early minutes and a nicely realized sound of buzzing insects in various scene featuring the hostages at the airport. Listeners will note positive reverb and crowd din during a tense sequence in chapter nine, though gunfire in that same timeframe lacks the punch one might expect. Gunfire in a key sequence later in the film can't match the very best, but essential pronouncement and depth are fine. Dialogue is clear and precise for the duration.

7 Days in Entebbe Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of 7 Days in Entebbe contains two featurettes and additional dance sequences. A Movies Anywhere digital copy code is included with purchase.

• The Entebbe Team (1080p, 7:24): A quick look at the real story and transitioning it to film: crafting the script, José Padilha's direction, casting and performances (including Rosamund Pike's German), the metaphorical dance numbers, and more.
• Inside the Raid (1080p, 7:45): Uncovering the truth behind the Entebbe situation through interviews with those who were directly involved. The piece also looks at shooting locations, set construction, and period authenticity with emphasis on costumes.
• Additional Dance Sequences (1080p, 5:26): More dance footage not seen in the film.

7 Days in Entebbe Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

While 7 Days in Entebbe doesn't inspire much of an emotional response, it's certainly a fairly crafty and often engaging Thriller that dares to explore one of modern history's most memorable focal flash points from several distinct yet interrelated perspectives. It's weirdly put together -- the "metaphorical" dance numbers just distract -- but the direction is complimentary, focus otherwise remains where it should, and the performances are good enough to simply melt into the movie. Entebbe has its moments of high intensity and it's structurally very well put together, but in different hands with a greater vision this might have been something truly special. Universal's Blu-ray offers excellent video, very strong audio, and a few extras that aren't exactly neat but that do offer a little more substance than many of the micro-extras Universal usually includes. Worth a rental.