7500 (film)

The film opens with CCTV footage of an airport in Berlin, Germany focusing on 2 people. Next, it goes to American Co-pilot Tobias Ellis (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) talking to his girlfriend flight attendant about what school their son should attend. Captain Michael Lutzmann (Carlo Kitzlinger) boards and makes a joke about the plane. Both Co-pilot and Pilot begin flight checks before embarking on their flight (620) from Berlin to Paris.

Once in the air, the cockpit is entered by terrorists. Tobias manages to force the cockpit door shut but is badly wounded in his arm. Lutzmann is stabbed before Tobias can disarm the other terrorist. Tobias signals the air traffic control and is ordered to Hannover. After knocking out the terrorist he attempts to tie the man up in the jump seat. Lutzman is unconscious, so Tobias attempts CPR. Lutzman dies.

The remaining terrorists attempt unsuccessfully to break into the cockpit. Tobias informs ground control of what is going on and is informed that under no circumstance is he permitted to allow the terrorists into the cockpit. Just then Tobias spots the terrorists have taken a hostage and are threatening to kill the man unless they are granted access to the cockpit. Tobias pleads with the terrorist but it proves to be in vain as the terrorist's partner proceeds to execute the hostage.

Tobias, visibly shaken attempts to render first aid to himself. The terrorists return with another hostage who is this time a member of the flight crew, Tobias's girlfriend. Tobias pleads with them to spare her and then agrees to open the door only for the hostage to tell him not to for the sake of Tobias' girlfriend and the other hostages. Tobias attempts to summon the passengers to her rescue by informing them that the terrorists are poorly armed. He also makes a connection with the youngest terrorist Vedat (Omid Memar). He pleads with Vedat to intervene but to no avail and the air hostess is killed in front of his eyes.

Tobias disables the TV monitor and returns to piloting the plane. Unbeknownst to Tobias, the terrorist he had tied up manages to sneak free and knocks Tobias unconscious. He manages to open the door and Vedat enters the cockpit, just as the passengers attack the remaining terrorist. Vedat manages to close the door and he ties up Tobias as his partner takes control of the plane. It becomes clear that the terrorists intend to crash the plane but Vedat suffers a crisis of conscience and fear of death and kills his co-hijacker. He frees Tobias, who goes on to explain that the plane is low on fuel and needs to land.

Vedat demands they fly somewhere else but eventually relents and helps the injured Tobias land the plane in Hannover. After they land, Vedat becomes unstable as he's faced with the outcome of his actions. Tobias pleads with the young man to surrender but Vedat is in an emotional state and threatens to kill Tobias. Just then a German sniper from the police shoots Vedat mortally wounding him.

The film ends with Tobias exiting the cockpit as the police swarm in. The visibly shaken Tobias pleads for the police to summon a doctor for the injured young man.

• Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Tobias Ellis
• Omid Memar as Vedat
• Murathan Muslu as Kenan
• Aylin Tezel as Gökce
• Aurélie Thépaut as Nathalie
• Carlo Kitzlinger as Michael
• Paul Wollin as Daniel

In January 2017, it was announced that Paul Dano would star in 7500, a film to be directed by Patrick Vollrath, marking his feature-length directorial debut. Filming was slated to commence in mid-2017 in Germany.[6] However, when filming was delayed, Dano dropped out of the project due to scheduling conflicts, and was replaced by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Principal production then commenced in November 2017, in Cologne and Vienna.[7] Speaking of Gordon-Levitt's participation in the project, Vollrath said: "Joseph is one of the most exciting actors on the screen today, and we can't wait to work with him and see what magic he brings to this complex role".[8]

In May 2019, Amazon Studios acquired distribution rights to the film, and distributed it under their Prime Video banner.[9] It had its world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival on August 9, 2019.[10] It was digitally released in the United States on June 18, 2020.[3][11]

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 66% based on 97 reviews, with an average rating of 6.42/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "7500 never achieves maximum altitude as a skybound thriller, but Joseph Gordon-Levitt's solid central performance manages to hold it reasonably aloft."[11] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 58 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[12]

Giovanni Melogli of Cineuropa wrote: "The claustrophobic setting is an extremely effective element to achieve the goal set by the director: that is, to outline human behavior and reactions in extreme situations, where rationality and emotion mix and are fought with unpredictable results."[13] Allan Hunter of Screen Daily described the film as striving for "authenticity" rather than "the heroics and histrionics of an American blockbuster" and likened the limited set to "the ingenuity of Hitchcock" for its ability to instill "a good deal of sweaty-palmed anxiety generated by the story, use of close-ups and the sense of confinement."[14] Likewise, Guy Lodge of Variety called 7500's opening as "briskly effective in a cold-sweat sort of way, carrying its audience from a smooth takeoff to the first signs of disturbance to swiftly cranked all-out terror with the kind of nervy efficiency you can admire without exactly taking pleasure in it."[15]

• 7500 on IMDb 
• 7500 at AllMovie