Movie Review ~ Carry-On

It may be the “most wonderful time of the year” to celebrate the season with family and friends, but I don’t think it’s anyone’s favorite pastime to spend much time tooling around the airport any longer than they have to.  Equal parts chaos (especially getting there; see 1990’s Home Alone for how not to do it) and control, airports have traditionally proven to be a creative playground for the imaginative minds of screenwriters.  There’s a peculiar tension to the location that crosses language barriers, making the pressure-cooker environment universally understood yet completely specific to whatever country the action takes place.

While I’ve often been an admitted white-knuckle flier, an increased travel schedule has loosened my grip in recent years.  Strangely, through it all, I was totally fascinated with any and all films set on or around airplanes, from the absurd antics of Airplane! to the high-flying terror in thrillers like Flightplan, Turbulence, Red Eye, Passenger 57, and Executive Decision.  A first-class favorite has been Die Hard 2 (which is most definitely a Christmas movie!), and that blockbuster Bruce Willis sequel from 1990 was on my mind a lot during Carry-On, a new Netflix thriller that merges its mile-high stakes with holiday cheer. 

It’s Christmas Eve, and TSA agent Ethan Kopek (Taron Egerton, Rocketman) has only recently found out he’s going to be a father, an early present from his girlfriend Nora (Sofia Carson, Songbird).  Determined but undisciplined, Ethan’s hopes for a promotion are dashed by his boss (Dean Norris, Fool’s Paradise), but after some convincing of his newfound drive, he’s given a prime spot scanning the contents of luggage as it goes through the security screening.  It turns out to be the wrong day to decide to be ambitious. 

The rush barely begins when he’s contacted by a mysterious Traveler (Jason Bateman, Game Night, really sinking his teeth into the meaty menace of his role) who coerces him into ensuring a dangerous package boards a flight. The dangers of disobeying the disembodied voice are personal and immediate: Ethan must choose between protecting his integrity and safeguarding the lives of thousands or succumbing to deadly blackmail under duress. Added into the mix are Detective Elena Cole (Danielle Deadwyler, The Devil to Pay), pursuing a lead on a homicide connected to the package, and the Watcher (Theo Rossi, Army of the Dead), a man aiding the Traveler in keeping Ethan on guard with increasingly frenzied energy.

Shot in a decommissioned terminal at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, the film’s meticulous attention to detail creates an authentic setting.  It’s not just a logical choice but a narrative strategy in maintaining a lived-in feel that no crafted set could ever truly replicate.  It’s the same way with Egerton’s real-time earwig communication with Bateman during filming, creating a tangible cat-and-mouse dynamic that gives the film a propulsive motion that elevates it up and over the typical genre constraints. 

In his previous films (including 2014’s Non-Stop, another air thriller), director Jaume Collet-Serra has shown himself to be a maestro of manufacturing suspense from the mundane.  He knows how to play to his strengths, if not always the actors he casts.  While he has crafted a holiday thriller that gives a knowing wink to genre enthusiasts, it’s an occasionally bonkers ride that stops just short of losing altitude but doesn’t entirely divert from some thrilling near misses. Collet-Serra’s affinity for confined spaces is unmistakable, so many scenes in Carry-On wind up not out in public areas but in back rooms or compartments meant to trap the characters and the viewer.

It’s impossible to shoo away the nods that T.J. Fixman’s screenplay makes to Die Hard 2, swapping the wintery runways for the chilly sterility of the checkpoints Egerton and his team (2023’s White Men Can’t Jump’s Sinqua Walls makes the most out of an underwritten work buddy) oversee.  While Willis’s John McClane faced a never-ending onslaught of terrorists, Ethan’s challenges are quieter, but his split-second decisions ripple with the same fraught consequences.  The premise is ludicrous, and most of what happens throughout is often unbelievable (no one notices that Ethan is having a full-on conversation with someone through an earpiece while he’s supposed to be working, not even a co-worker sitting five feet away?). Still, it’s delivered with such a heaping dose of self-awareness that it remains lively and engaging despite an unnecessarily elongated runtime.

Shaky American accent aside, Egerton creates an unconventional everyman as our protagonist, and his imperfection in being well-meaning is relatable on several levels.  Lacking the training to be a master of professional temperament, Ethan’s unprepared awkwardness in approaching this situation is believable, which makes him perfect to become the hero in many ways.  I wonder how much more interesting the film would have been with Egerton as the villain and Walls in Egerton’s role, though.  Walls is another actor who brings something different to the table and rises to the challenge when given the opportunity.

Deadwyler is Carry-On’s secret weapon, though.  Fresh off her acclaimed turn in Netflix’s The Piano Lesson (the original poster for this film didn’t list her name; once the reviews for The Piano Lesson came out, the revised one did), Deadwyler positively commands the screen, or, rather, she commandeers it.  An actor with sharp instincts, she creates a character who provides the film with real grounding…arriving at a point when it desperately needs it.  You’re already convinced she deserves her own action franchise long before her standout action sequence- a blend of physicality and effects precision-unspools.

At just under two hours, Carry-On’s narrative pacing occasionally feels weighed down by extraneous subplots and secondary characters that could be excised.  The presence of quirky colleagues or repeated reminders of Ethan’s shortcomings as an employee and boyfriend are detours the film doesn’t need to keep circling back to.  These are the screenplay’s most underdeveloped areas, stranding viewers until its kinetic energy jolts it back to life, usually via Deadwyler’s appearance.

Ideally suited to the moment and season, Carry-On is not here to revolutionize the thriller genre, nor is it trying to.  It’s slightly indulgent and often outrageous, but it understands and appreciates its audience above all else.  By embracing its limitations and avoiding potential pitfalls with its strong cast and slick direction, it reinforces the power of high-concept storytelling and shows that there is still life and plenty of suspense to be found in the airline thriller.