CARRY-ON (2024)

Carry-On, a leave-your-brain-at-the-door airport thriller, knows exactly what kind of experience it has in store for audiences. The first 15 minutes or so of the film are simply a build-up for what audiences actually want to see, as uninspired TSA officer Ethan Kopek (Taron Egerton) is carrying out a fairly routine series of threat assessments when he comes across a stray earpiece in an otherwise empty tray by his baggage scanning station. After receiving a text message from an unfamiliar number that refers to Ethan by name and instructs him to wear the earpiece, he does so and unwittingly kickstarts this thrilling popcorn flick, learning that he must give the all-clear to an incredibly suspicious package that’s about to pass through his station’s scanner or risk having the love of his life executed.

When Carry-On is able to do away with the fact that, as a mainstream film in every sense of the word, it has to present Ethan and the people in his life as blandly as possible, it turns into a fun thriller that knows how to appeal to just about any kind of moviegoer. Film lovers and general audiences will get similar levels of enjoyment out of its action sequences, and though there’s never any brilliant filmmaking on display, whenever the immediate stakes in this story rise there’s always fun to be had with its moments of tension, action-packed combat, or chase scenes.

But to get to these fun moments viewers must wade through swathes of dire exposition and character dynamics. Aside from an enjoyable opening scene that simultaneously sets up our unseen villain and lets us know that the movie recognises that such moments shouldn’t be taken completely seriously, the first 15 minutes of Carry-On consist of a seemingly endless (and shameless) litany of exposition. After Ethan wakes beside his girlfriend Nora Parisi (Sofia Carson), who works at the same airport as him, the pair engage in a bland conversation that exists purely to spoon-feed information to the viewer. Ethan loves his girlfriend. Nora is pregnant, which they’re both very happy about. It’s Christmas. He doesn’t find his current job fulfilling. Ethan and Nora love each other. He dislikes his role as a TSA officer but won’t make another attempt to apply to work for the police force, even when this is his dream job. Oh, did I mention that the pair are a happy, loving couple who are all too keen to constantly demonstrate that they’re a happy, loving couple?

The exposition dumps are absurd and these scenes’ intentions are blatant to the point of extremity; at times T. J Fixman’s screenplay comes across as a ChatGPT script brought to life. The screenwriter shows far more competency in interactions between Ethan and the Traveller (Jason Bateman), a mystery man on the other end of the earpiece who can see everything this protagonist does and has him at his beck and call. Neither actor comes close to doing their best work here—Egerton’s attempts to humanise Ethan are hamstrung by this character being the blandly virtuous hero of this tale, while Bateman’s fairly monotone intonations make him an effective psychopath, but weak whenever he’s gleefully taunting Ethan—but their natural ability shines through regardless, if only because some of these side characters are so wooden.

FBI agent Elena Cole (Danielle Deadwyler) is too bland for Deadwyler to demonstrate acting prowess, and her side of the storyline, which focuses on law enforcement agencies’ responses to Carry-On’s plot developments, often feels like a chore compared to how delightfully tense and exhilarating the airport scenes are. That said, Elena is involved in one of the film’s best moments, where she and another character attempt to fight one another in a moving car that’s careening wildly across the road. The action is fast-paced and thrilling, with camerawork that feels alive as it zigzags between these characters as rapidly as the car they’re in. It’s more than a little goofy, but that carries a lot of charm, too.

Nora is constantly on Ethan’s side, sticking up for him even when he treats her callously (though, in fairness, we know that’s only because he’s being told to behave in such a way by this movie’s villain). While scenes between this couple are entertaining so long as the Traveller’s instructions are being levied at Ethan through his earpiece, Ethan’s pregnant girlfriend operates less as a character and more as a walking, talking crutch for a mainstream movie that needed a ‘relatable family man’ at the helm.

Jason Noble (Sinqua Walls), meanwhile, is as distinguishable and complex as wallpaper, the blandly virtuous best friend and co-worker of our blandly virtuous main character. The key differences between the two are that Ethan is given room to develop an edge as he’s faced with extraordinary circumstances and some very tricky dilemmas, whereas Jason exists only to provide support for his friend. Some interesting conflict emerges between the pair, but not only is Jason’s response to it incredibly tame, it is wrapped up in an instant, concluding the film without a single compelling conversation between these friends.

It’s always aggravating to watch characters whose purpose is to exist in service of someone else, so luckily there’s some life to this TSA crew in Phil Sarkowski (Dean Norris), this unit’s boss. This is yet another role where one can only assume Norris’ career-defining work in Breaking Bad (2008–2013) guaranteed him the role, and he’s very enjoyable to watch here as he portrays a character that feels like it was written with him in mind. Phil has a tough exterior and an obvious warmth not very well concealed beneath it; he’s the sort of character you imagine you’ll hate until you inevitably see that there’s more to him than meets the eye.

Carry-On might not be visually captivating, but this is easily forgotten amidst an enjoyable plot and well-paced action. Fixman continually comes up with fun ways to keep up this film’s momentum and ensure that it never becomes stagnant. Carry-On’s intriguing central plot doesn’t lead to any interesting epiphanies for its protagonist, despite numerous attempts to do so by its conclusion, but it does give Egerton room to finally look like he’s inspired by this role. He isn’t able to effectively pull off the closeup shots of him looking terrified, which are frequent and more than a little silly.

Despite its release in mid-December and the references to Christmas (which, notably, almost entirely occur at the very beginning and end of the movie), Carry-On doesn’t feel like a festive film whatsoever. There are very forced references to the holiday season between Nora and Ethan, as well as a Christmas song sprinkled in here and there, but the only way this aspect of the plot feels significant in the story is in how one can easily imagine these TSA officers having swamped workloads due to the waves of travellers at this time.

That said, not only does this not raise the story’s stakes, since a busy work schedule isn’t exactly enthralling in a movie where murder and acts of terror take centre stage, it’s hard not to come to the cynical conclusion that the only way this movie could get greenlit was if it contained references to the festive period. After all, its $47M budget is nothing to scoff at, especially when almost the entirety of Carry-On‘s story takes place in its airport setting. If this was an attempt to turn this fun but fairly unremarkable thriller into a holiday classic, it’s a resounding failure; this is no Die Hard (1988).

Carry-On overcomes its storytelling hitches by being an engrossing, tightly plotted, and well-paced thriller, likening it to action thrillers like Collateral (2004) and the aforementioned Die Hard. So long as you don’t expect the same level of visual storytelling, acting masterclasses and screenwriting prowess that those films possess, viewers can expect an enjoyable two-hour experience that, exposition dumps aside, breezes by.

USA | 2024 | 119 MINUTES | 2.00:1 | COLOUR | ENGLISH

Cast & Crew

director: Jaume Collet-Serra.
writer: T.J Fixman.
starring: Taron Egerton, Jason Bateman, Sofia Carson, Danielle Deadwyler, Logan Marshall-Green, Theo Rossi, Dean Norris, Sinqua Walls & Tonatiuh.