Carry-On (2024)
Directed by: Jaume Collet-Serra
Premise: A TSA employee (Taron Egerton) working on Christmas Eve is manipulated by a mysterious figure (Jason Bateman) who wants a piece of luggage to get onto a plane.
What Works: Carry-On is primarily a cat-and-mouse story in which a man is unwittingly caught up in a criminal scheme. Ethan is a TSA employee working an airport security checkpoint who is strongarmed into cooperating with a terrorist. The filmmakers do a good job of making Ethan a heroic character. He consistently uses the resources available to try and expose the terrorist plot. His actions are usually thwarted by the villain who retaliates or adjusts the plan and raises the stakes of the story. Carry-On is tense and exciting even though the first half has very little violence. Some of that is due to the plotting which escalates the conflict and effective camerawork that draws attention to the Ethan’s emotional state. Taking a clue from the original Die Hard, the filmmakers do a good job establishing the geography of the film’s key locations so that the later action scenes make sense. Carry-On also does a bit more with its characters than we might expect from similar movies. Ethan is established as a man drifting through life, and that is a source of tension with his newly pregnant girlfriend. The domestic rift is well played by actors Taron Egerton and Sofia Carson. The terrorist plot forces Ethan to rise to the occasion which makes him heroic. The background of Carry-On is full of interesting and believable supporting characters and the filmmakers create a credible workplace with a lot of behind-the-scenes details of airport security.
What Doesn’t: Like a lot of action films, Carry-On tends to stretch its credibility. The story takes place at the Los Angeles International Airport, which is a huge facility, but everything happens at the same few locations. Critical story moments depend on coincidences with characters appearing in the right place at the right time. There is also a car crash sequence that is stylistically out of character with the rest of the movie. It’s a great looking sequence in itself but the set piece feels like it belongs in a different picture.
Disc extras: Available on Netflix.
Bottom Line: Carry-On is an exciting thriller. It mixes some intelligent cat-and-mouse drama and interesting character work with some dumb action movie conventions. But Carry-On generally works and occasionally exceeds expectations.
Episode: #1029 (December 29, 2024)