Carry-On [Film Review]

Carry-On
Released: December 13, 2024

Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Starring: Taron Egerton, Jason Bateman, Sofia Carson, Danielle Deadwyler, Dean Norris

It’s Christmas time. You know what that means. Time to sift the collection of holiday-centred classics you’ve most probably churned your way through excessively and are desperate for some fresh source material to satisfy your Christmas loving/hating cravings.

Luckily for us, Die Hard can sit this year out as a new action-packed contender has entered the market and it’s going to induce second hand anxiety through your TV screens as it’s set in one of the most horrific locations in film history – LAX on Christmas Eve.

Ethan Kopek (Taron Egerton) hasn’t slept a wink before work as a TSA agent at the infamous Californian airport after his girlfriend, Nora Parisi (Sofia Carson), informed him he’s going to be a dad. If that wasn’t stressful enough, there’s a shituation at work when a mysterious traveller (played perfectly by Jason Bateman) shows up and starts causing internal mayhem for the aspiring father to be – via an earbud. He casually informs Ethan a passenger will be arriving soon, who WILL be let through the baggage-scanners, regardless of what’s inside his carry-on luggage. If he disobeys, there will be consequences; and believe me, there are.

Let it be known, that’s just the beginning of what this anxiety-filled thriller has to offer in terms of keeping you on the edge of your seat.

With his pregnant girlfriend’s life in danger, Kopek, under the strict orders of the ruthlessly calm voice on the other end of the line, plays an intricate game of ‘follow these directions or face my wrath’ resulting in some of the most gasp-inducing moments experienced inside an airport… Well, they’re definitively more gasp-inducing than missing a flight or accidentally forgetting to take something out of that boogie board bag you packed for that overseas beach vaycay. After a thwarted attempt to alert on-duty authorities, the bodies start to drop and emotions start to rise – all the while Ethan’s superior Phil Sarkowski (Dean Norris) is on his arse. It’s in this moment you truly start feeling for the bloke, who’s stuck in this godforsaken shituation with no one to turn to – and it only gets worse when the aforementioned baggage turns up containing a device filled with Novichok – an incurable nerve agent that’s as lethal as it is impossible to pronounce.

Following what could have been an early climax and a sneaky withdrawn 911 call – it appears that despite his best efforts, Ethan is all alone as the internal chaos builds and builds with each and every conservation with the madman on the other line. That is until LAPD detective Elena Cole (Danielle Deadwyler) starts sniffing around in the office close to closing time (it’s Christmas Eve remember). After obtaining a scrambled recording which connects the nerve agent to the airport, Elena goes with her gut and heads to where the action is already approaching the third act.

Without giving too much more away, the film’s intensity builds upon itself more and more and the ante is upped with Ethan put in several grim positions one after another – many of which would make any normal person call it a day and walk out with their pay docked. With an explosive revelation that parallels reality, the experiences Ethan faces on his own would be enough to send any man grey in the hair – long before his child even enters this world.

The unrelenting, edge-of-your-seat drama is made more thrilling by the precise performance of Jason Bateman, who in his first serious role since the end of Ozark (please correct me if I’m wrong), proves there’s more depth to the actor than the abundance of comedies he’s appeared in over the years.

If psychological thrillers of the 2000s like Eagle Eye, Cellular and Phone Booth had you questioning whether to pick up the phone afterwards, Carry-On will leave you on the edge of your seat from start to finish – and probably second-guessing whether you realllllly need to be at an airport during one of the most craziest times to be flying – even without a sadistic homicidal mercenary on the other end of the line.

Rating: 4/5

Film Review by Paul ‘Browny’ Brown

Carry-On is out now via Netflix.