As they get ready to fly 85 passengers from Berlin to Paris, German pilot Michael Lutzmann (Carlo Kitzlinger) and American co-pilot Tobias Ellis (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) go through the rote tasks of checking dials and readings, communicating with ground crew about a couple of late passengers and joking around with the two flight attendants. Michael is somewhat surprised to discover that one of the flight attendants, Gökce (Aylin Tezel), is Tobias’ girlfriend. Tobias and Gökce take a moment alone to talk about their efforts to find a suitable kindergarten for their young son. All of these mundane details take on a layer of suspense, since director and co-writer Patrick Vollrath opens his debut feature 7500 with surveillance footage from inside the airport, showing a group of men obviously preparing for some sort of hostile action aboard the plane.

Aside from those initial surveillance-camera images, the entirety of 7500 takes place inside the cockpit, where Tobias is soon the only line of defense between a group of Islamic terrorists and their plans for death and destruction. Shortly after the plane takes off, two terrorists storm the cockpit with improvised weapons made from shards of broken glass. Tobias fends them off, forcing one out and subduing the other, leaving him unconscious on the floor. Michael is badly injured, and Tobias is hurt as well, but he retains control of the aircraft as the remaining terrorists pound on the cockpit door, demanding to be let inside.

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For almost an hour of the movie’s lean 92-minute running time, 7500 (titled after the radio code that pilots use to indicate a hijacking) is a tense thriller, conveying the all-encompassing chaos of the attack entirely from within the cockpit. A small black-and-white monitor connected to a camera just outside the door is the only way that Tobias (and the audience) can see what’s going on in the back of the plane, although the persistent beating of the terrorists on the door becomes a constant background element of the soundtrack. Gordon-Levitt is alone onscreen for large portions of the movie, as Tobias works to divert the flight to Hanover while both Michael and the tied-up attacker lie unconscious.

As Tobias communicates with the tower and scrambles to keep track of everything necessary to maintain the flight, 7500 resembles a cramped single-location thriller like Buried, with the main character reaching out to outside parties to rescue himself from a dire situation. But Tobias isn’t really alone or trapped in the cockpit, and Vollrath offers periodic reminders of the ongoing attack, as the terrorists threaten to kill hostages if Tobias won’t give them control of the plane. It’s obvious from the moment that the relationship between Tobias and Gökce is introduced that she’ll end up in danger, and certain elements of the plot feel contrived to keep the action going to feature length. When the tower operator tells Tobias that he’ll make it to Hanover in 20 minutes, that’s a sure sign something will come up to delay the safe landing and continue the story.

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The result is that the movie loses a bit of momentum in its final act, in which Tobias attempts to find common ground with young terrorist Vedat (Omid Memar), who’s less committed to the cause than his associates. The motivation behind the attack isn’t really the point of the movie, and Vollrath gives the terrorists generic talking points about the evils of the West and the glories of Islam. As a result, having Tobias and Vedat engage in a discussion about the futility of vengeance (the movie begins with a quote from Gandhi) is a letdown following the breakneck pacing and suspense of the first hour.

Gordon-Levitt’s performance remains strong throughout, whether he’s demonstrating Tobias’ technical competence, writhing in anguish over the horrific violence depicted on the monitor or showing compassion toward a scared young man who’s been led astray. Memar does what he can to bring emotional depth to his clichéd character, and the movie ends with a powerfully understated moment that highlights the emptiness of all the preceding violence. There are echoes of Paul Greengrass’ somber 9/11 drama United 93 in the way that Tobias encourages passengers to rush the hijackers and take back control of the cabin, but this isn’t a true story, and its social commentary isn’t sophisticated enough to tackle real-world issues in a complex way.

At heart, 7500 is just a pulpy thriller, and in its best moments it delivers on that kind of hold-your-breath suspense that places the audience right alongside the characters in danger. It’s a great showcase for Gordon-Levitt, whose screen appearances have been disappointingly infrequent in recent years, and it’s an impressive feat of cinematography and staging. It’s only when Vollrath aims for more that his movie falls short.

Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Omid Memar, Aylin Tezel, Carlo Kitzlinger and Murathan Muslu, 7500 premieres Thursday on Amazon Prime.

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