After a two movie journey with The Rock, Jaume Collet-Serra is back in his B-movie wheelhouse with the Netflix thriller Carry-On. If you’re looking for a break from year-end awards contenders or holiday season feel-good affairs, Carry-On offers up a fun reprieve.
Taron Egerton stars as Ethan Kopek, a TSA agent who’s stuck in a career rut. He didn’t pass muster at the police academy and he’s settled into a routine of complacency at the airport. In case you haven’t seen this kind of movie before, you may be surprised to know that Ethan’s girlfriend Nora (Sofia Carson) is not only more driven, but also pregnant. Ethan and Nora both work at LAX and on this day, Christmas Eve, their lives are about to be upended, as they often are, by a nameless, nefarious guy played by Jason Bateman.
While at his station, Ethan gets an earpiece and a mysterious text that connects him to Traveler (Bateman). All Ethan has to do is let something he shouldn’t onto a particular plane without getting flagged. From there the cat-and-mouse game is on. T.J. Fixman’s script is briskly plotted and escalates at a nice pace. Collet-Serra’s direction is as slick as every, finding small moments to ratchet up the tension without laying it on too thick.
Most of the movie’s juice comes from the ongoing conversation between Ethan and Traveler. Traveler is all seeing and knowing, constantly a step ahead of Ethan’s attempts to play the hero. Egerton and Bateman have good chemistry. Bateman isn’t necessarily doing anything new here, but his blend of sincerity and sarcasm ups the level of menace in Traveler’s words. Egerton’s intensity sparks off Bateman, so their dynamic is a lot of fun. Whether they’re on the phone or face to face, they give the film a solid foundation.
In a different era, Carry-On would’ve been a cable staple. The direction is slick, the action is engaging (including the best baggage sorting set piece this side of Toy Story 2), and the performances (including supporting turns be Dean Norris, Danielle Deadwyler, and Theo Rossi) are strong enough to get viewers to buy in. I don’t know if this the best version of this kind of movie Collet-Serra has done, but after spending years away from the genre while working on Jungle Cruise and Black Adam, he hasn’t lost his touch. Talk about being home for the holidays.
