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On Christmas Eve, the TSA team at Los Angeles International Airport prepare for a hellacious shift, gearing up to process 200,000 impatient, anxious holiday travellers. Needing the money with a baby on the way, Ethan (Taron Egerton) and his girlfriend, an airline operations manager named Nora (Sofia Carson), agree to work the shift. After previously failing to gain entrance to the police academy, Ethan aspires to get a promotion after years of underperforming to ensure he can provide for his family. Choosing a crucial day to prove himself, Ethan secures a spot managing a baggage-scanning lane, but his shift takes an unexpected turn when a traveller gives him an earbud. After receiving a text instructing him to place it into his ear, Ethan hears the voice of a ruthless freelance mercenary known as the Traveler (Jason Bateman). The Traveler needs a specific bag containing a deadly weapon to pass through Ethan's scanning lane, or his accomplice will execute Nora. With the Traveler's accomplice sharply watching Ethan's every move on the surveillance cameras to ensure he does not attempt to contact the authorities, Ethan has little choice but to comply. Meanwhile, the terrorist activities catch the attention of the LAPD, with Detective Elena Cole (Danielle Deadwyler) contacting the Department of Homeland Security over concerns of an impending attack involving a lethal gas.
Collet-Serra works best with more grounded material, as his CGI-laden blockbusters like The Jungle Cruise and Black Adam suffered from dull storytelling. Working within the confines of a single location for most of the movie, the director ratchets up the white-knuckle tension from the beginning, establishing the stakes and making it clear that the Traveler is not afraid to go through with his threats. Egerton and Bateman are superb, with Egerton convincingly swallowing his native British accent to play an American. Able to sell vulnerability, intense paranoia and confidence, Egerton is a terrific leading man. However, Bateman is the standout, playing against type as the picture's sadistic antagonist. With large sections of the movie involving dialogue between the pair, it is fortunate that both performers are naturalistic and compelling, carrying the material and perpetually maintaining interest. Additionally, thrillers of this ilk commonly involve dumb character decisions, but the screenplay by T.J. Fixman (2016's Ratchet & Clank) treats Ethan as resourceful and intelligent, making increasingly clever decisions to try and thwart the terrorist plot. Unfortunately for him, the Traveler is always one step ahead of him.
After concentrating on tense interplay and near-misses for the picture's first two acts, the final third switches into action mode, with Ethan running and fighting for his life to save Nora and prevent the weapon's detonation. Admittedly, the picture feels more noticeably Hollywood as the finale approaches, particularly with Ethan disarming and escaping from Detective Cole in the pursuit of his goal, or the young TSA officer entering a plane already in motion on the runway. However, Collet-Serra's robust execution of the material ensures it remains compelling and entertaining, especially with the director using practical effects whenever possible instead of CGI excess. It may be silly, but it looks believable. The only scene threatening the picture's plausible aesthetic is a fight between two characters in a fast-moving vehicle along a motorway. It's an exciting action beat that unfolds in a single shot and even features Wham!'s iconic song Last Christmas, but the digital effects do not entirely sell the illusion.
Comparisons to Die Hard 2 are inevitable due to the airport setting at Christmastime, though Carry-On is more of a thriller than an action blockbuster, favouring a more intimate scale. With a terrific cast, clever scripting, and competent technical execution, the film is entertaining and gripping, and it has strong replay value. Debates will continue to rage on every year about whether or not Die Hard is a Christmas movie (it definitely is), and one could certainly imagine loading up Carry-On during the festive season after watching Bruce Willis drop Hans Gruber from the top of the Nakitomi Tower.
7.7/10
