When it comes to movies gearing on peril, I have always been a sucker. Especially when the film involves airplanes in menacing situations or on the verge of finding safety with little time and no assistance, I am a fan.  Some of the films in this genre include Flightplan (2005), Con-Air (1997), Flight (2012), and United 93 (2006). United 93 is hard to watch given it is based on the 9/11 events, but the realism is what makes the film engrossing. The others are not based on actual events, but they have a variety of hazardous airplane scenes that make viewers feel they are part of the action. Patrick Vollrath’s 7500, however, is just average. While it has a chilling setup and structure, it is dry and probably one of the quieter movies with airplane danger that I have seen.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Tobias Ellis, a pilot en route to Paris from Berlin.  Shortly after the flight takes off, terrorists try to take control of the flight deck killing Tobias’s co-pilot, but Tobias manages to keep them locked out of the pit. With one pilot dead, terrorists on the plane cause much harm to the passengers to get Tobias’s attention in order to let them take control of the flight deck, Tobias finds himself having to talk to the flight tower to try to get help from below along with constantly wondering how much danger the passengers are in. Although the premise is a good setup, it is not as suspenseful as I expected, most of the suspense came from the consistent banging on the cockpit by the terrorists along with dialogue via radios.

As always, I try to be fair with my reviews, and I am trying to be positive here even though it is a challenge for this one. 7500 keeps its viewers on edge (albeit quietly), but it is more irritating with repetitive sound effects than suspenseful. I found myself wondering if Tobias would ever leave the cockpit cabin, or if there would be slightly more physical action.  Unfortunately, there was only a light amount of physical action, and not much of a change of scenery. This film just seemed rushed.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt delivered a solid performance, but the script was not very well written and not very memorable.

7500 is a mediocre action/thriller film that could be better, but it was just rushed. The premise had potential, but the filmmaking, the writing, and the setup of the hijacking was where it all lacked. Therefore, I give 7500 just two stars.