7500

7500, Joseph Gordon-Levitt's return to feature films after a four-year hiatus, is an exercise in efficiency and legitimate heart-pounding thrills.

Directed and co-written by German filmmaker Patrick Vollrath, whose 2015 Oscar-nominated short Everything Will Be Okay packs similarly unnerving suspense, the compact work nicely foreshadows the dangers to come via introductory Berlin airport security footage of likely terrorists (cultural prejudices be damned!) up to shady business, and by lingering on the live feed of the door behind the cockpit just long enough to feel unsettling.

True to its title — air-traffic code for hijacking — 7500 wastes little time making good on its tense groundwork as a team of attackers take the passengers and crew hostage and attempt to usurp Captain Michael (Carlo Kitzlinger) and co-pilot Tobias (Gordon-Levitt).

In the ensuing power struggle, Vollrath is likewise smart not to draw out bringing Tobias' personal investments into the predicament, resulting in moments of intense emotion from an otherwise robotic and anonymous character.

The film also gets surprising mileage out of the ol’ “repentant terrorist” cliché, which nonetheless strains credulity the longer it’s employed and makes the story increasingly flimsy.

Considering that major limiting factor, it’s amazing that 7500 sustains its thrills for as long as it does — yet here I am, two weeks after seeing it, still thinking about this sharp little thriller.

Grade: B. Rated R. Available to stream via Amazon Video

(Photo: Amazon Studios)