Movie Info
A young TSA agent is blackmailed to allow a dangerous package past security in Carry-On. Ethan Kopek (Taron Egerton) is a young man working as a TSA agent at LAX. Worried about his future after his girlfriend Nora Parisi (Sofia Carson), who also works at LAX as the director of operations, announces that she is pregnant, Ethan asks his boss Phil Sarkowski (Dean Norris) for a raise and with the support of Ethan’s friend Jason Noble (Sinqua Walls) gets placed on X-Ray duty for the extremely busy Christmas Eve shift.
However, Ethan finds himself slipped an earpiece that puts him in contact with a mysterious Traveller (Jason Bateman). The Traveller wants Ethan to allow a suitcase containing a dangerous package through the security checkpoint, no questions asked. Ethan is warned that if he doesn’t comply, it will endanger the life of Nora.
Carry-On Synopsis
Carry-On is an airport thriller directed by Jaume Collet-Serra (Non-Stop, Run All Night, Black Adam). The film’s Christmas setting evokes Die Hard, or more specifically the similarly airport-set Die Hard 2, while also featuring similarities to thrillers such as Phone Booth and Red Eye. Taron Egerton (Kingsmen: The Secret Service, Rocketman) stars as TSA agent Ethan Kopek, who finds himself in a deadly cat and mouse game with a mysterious Traveller, played by Jason Bateman. Meanwhile, detective Elena Cole (Danielle Deadwyler) investigates a fire that may tie into the events going down at LAX.
With his Watcher (Theo Rossi) ready to shoot Kopek’s pregnant girlfriend Nora with a sniper rifle, Ethan is forced to comply with the demands of the Traveller. However, the stakes are risen when Ethan realizes how dangerous the package he has to let through security actually is. As such, Ethan has to risk everything to ensure that the suitcase does not board its plane.
My Thoughts on Carry-On
It is quite obvious that Carry-On wants to be viewed as a modern Die Hard, right down to being set on Christmas Eve. However, Carry-On also strives to be its own film, which is based on the cat-and-mouse dynamic between Taron Egerton’s Ethan Kopek and Jason Bateman’s Traveller. The latter in particular seems to be having fun playing a villainous role after a career that has seen Jason Bateman known more for comedies such as Arrested Development.
Carry-On can be described as a return-to-form somewhat for director Jaume Collet-Serra, as he returns to the action-thrillers he made his name on, after directing a couple of Dwayne Johnson-starring vehicles, including Jungle Cruise and the underperforming Black Adam. It’s almost a shame that Carry-On is a direct-to-Netflix film, since it’s the type of thriller that you rarely see any more released to theatres. It many ways, Carry-On is a throwback to the multitude of Die Hard clones that were released in the 1990s.
With Jaume Collet-Serra’s regular star Liam Neeson retiring from action films, Taron Egerton does a solid job in the lead role, even if the American accent he puts on for the film turns him into a bit of a Joseph Gordon-Levitt clone. Former Disney star and singer Sofia Carson is OK as Nora Parisi, even though she is the weakest link of Carry-On. However, it is Jason Bateman who is having the time of his life as Traveller, with the dynamic he shares with Egerton being the element the film is based around.
I don’t want to get into too many of the twists and turns of Carry-On, but it does do a good job of picking up Die Hard‘s mantle. While the Christmas setting is arguably less prominent than it is in Die Hard, the film at least has a notable action set piece set to Wham’s “Last Christmas.” As such, Carry-On makes a fine addition to the pantheon of holiday action films.
Trailer for Carry-On
