If you've studied philosophy (and/or watched The Good Place), you're probably familiar with the classic ethical dilemma known as the Trolley Problem. German director Patrick Vollrath's feature debut, 7500, is more or less a variation on the same concept presented in the form of a low-budget thriller where nearly all the action is constricted to the cockpit of a commercial airplane. At the center of everything is Joseph Gordon-Levitt, a talented multi-hyphenate who wrings as much emotion as anyone could hope to squeeze out of such a minimalistic premise. But despite the clever setup for this (almost) single-setting B-movie, some half-baked plotting and unfortunate stereotyping keep 7500 grounded.
Gordon-Levitt stars as Tobias Ellis, an American co-pilot embarking on a routine flight from Berlin to Paris when, shortly after takeoff, terrorists wielding makeshift weapons storm the cockpit, seriously wounding the plane's captain (Carlo Kitzlinger) and injuring Tobias before he stops them and contacts ground control to plan an emergency landing. When the terrorists threaten to begin murdering passengers, Tobias is faced with 7500's version of the Trolley Problem: keep the cockpit locked and land the plane before too many people are killed, or let the attackers in and risk them all dying. And if that wasn't enough, one of the stewardesses who's being held hostage (Aylin Tezel) is Tobias' girlfriend and mother of their two-year old child.
The first half of 7500 (which Vollrath also scripted) starts off strong, using security camera footage from the entrance and security checkpoints in the Berlin airport (combined with some unsettling, low-rumbling silence) to generate suspense and establish a pseudo-documentary aesthetic for the film at large. Vollrath wisely allows the action to play out in real-time from there, first by visually mapping out the interior of the plane's cockpit (lingering ominously on the feed from the security camera in the hall nearby, as effective foreshadowing) as Tobias and his co-workers run through their pre-flight checklist. Sebastian Thaler's claustrophobic and constrictive cinematography captures the feeling of being stuck in a cramped aircraft in these moments, in many of the same ways Damien Chazelle's First Man depicted the discomfort and potentially treacherous nature of early space travel.
Although we only get a few minutes with Tobias and the others before all hell breaks loose after takeoff, it's enough to make them feel like real people just doing their job (be they joking around or, in the case of Tobias and his girlfriend, discussing their plans for the future), and make you concerned about their well-being later on. Gordon-Levitt is especially compelling as the humble everyman forced to make horrifying decisions while barely having space to even begin considering the life-shattering consequences, and he gets a fair amount of mileage out of the many scenes where Tobias is struggling to keep his emotions in-check and safely land the plane, all while terrorists are literally knocking at his door.
By the time 7500 enters its second half, though, the story devolves from a tense quandary into a series of obvious setups/payoffs and cliches, losing much of its urgency and momentum in the process (even for a movie that runs under ninety minutes, minus credits). This is also where the regrettable decision to make the villains Arabic/Muslim stereotypes fully rears its head; since the film has limited interest in being a sociopolitical allegory, this comes off as casual ethnic profiling and lazy shorthand for why the antagonists are attacking the plane in the first place. 7500 half-attempts to humanize the youngest of the terrorists, Vedat (Omid Memar), by showing how uncertain he is about what they're doing, but even then it feels more like a way of filling out the plot and less a sincere effort to get viewers to empathize with the character or give him depth the way a similarly realistic thriller like Captain Phillips fleshes out its antagonists.
There's something to be said for the way 7500 forgoes the typical grandstanding often found in the Hollywood variations on this type of B-movie in favor of more real-world heroism and a story highlighting just how terrifying it would be to actually have people's lives in your hands. But while it might not be as overly melodramatic or blatantly racist as similar U.S. films in the past, it's still drawing from many of the same regressive conventions and becomes increasingly tired, the further along it goes. Perhaps if 7500 had gone deeper with its political observations and subtext, it might've fully worked as the stripped-down, yet thought-provoking, thrill ride it wants to be. In lieu of that, it makes for an occasionally intense experience, but a bumpy flight on the whole.
7500 is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video. It is 92 minutes long and is rated R for violence/terror and language.