The film opens with footage of an airport in Berlin, Germany, as the CCTV follows two individuals progressing through the airport. It then moves to inside the cockpit as Captain Michael Lutzmann and First Officer Tobias Ellis prepare for the flight from Berlin to Paris. Tobias talks to one of the flight attendants, his girlfriend, about which school their son should attend. Lutzmann re-enters the cockpit, and they begin their pre-flight checks. Once airborne the flight attendants take food to the aircrew, but the cockpit is entered by terrorists. Tobias manages to force one terorist out and shut the cockpit door, but is badly wounded in the arm. Lutzmann is stabbed as he radios "mayday", and Tobias manages to knock out the remaining terrorist in the cockpit. Tobias signals Air Traffic Control and is ordered to divert to Hannover, before tying up the terrorist and strapping him in the jump seat. Lutzman becomes unconscious, and Tobias unsuccessfully attempts CPR. The remaining terrorists continuously attempt to break into the cockpit. Tobias informs ground control of what is going on and is reminded that under no circumstance is he to allow the terrorists into the cockpit. On the monitor that observes the cockpit door area, Tobias notices that the terrorists have taken a hostage and are threatening to kill him unless he opens the door. Tobias pleads with the terrorist on the intercom, Vedat, telling him that he cannot open the door, but one of the terrorists executes the passenger anyway. 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 her and the other hostages. Tobias attempts to summon the passengers to her rescue by informing them that the terrorists are poorly armed. He pleads with Vedat to intervene but to no avail, and his girlfriend is killed as he watches. Tobias returns to piloting the plane. Unbeknownst to Tobias, the terrorist he had tied up manages to sneak free and knocks Tobias unconscious before opening the door. Vedat enters the cockpit, now trying to escape the passengers who are attacking the terrorists. Vedat manages to close the door and he ties up Tobias as the terrorist takes control of the plane. It becomes clear that he intends 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 to land the plane in Hannover. After they land the passengers escape and Vedat demands fuel. Vedat becomes unstable, faced with the outcome of his actions as Tobias pleads with the young man to surrender. Vedat is in an emotional state and threatens to kill Tobias when a German police sniper shoots Vedat, incapacitating him. The police enter the cockpit as Tobias tries to save Vedat. The visibly shaken Tobias pleads for the police to summon a doctor for Vedat as he is escorted out of the flight deck. The film ends with Tobias being escorted off the plane past his girlfriends body, and Vedat being dragged out to medical assistance.
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. 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. 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".
Release
In May 2019, Amazon Studios acquired distribution rights to the film, and distributed it under their Prime Video banner. It had its world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival on August 9, 2019. It was digitally released in the United States on June 18, 2020.
Reception
On review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 70% based on 135 reviews, with an average rating of 6.44/10. 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." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 58 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". 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." 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." Likewise, Guy Lodge of Variety called 7500s 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."
