And it's funny, since on paper, the Jaume Collet-Serra directed thriller has almost nothing going for it: it lacks any big stars, set-pieces and, one would think most crucially, anything original, but it works. Taron Egerton stars as Ethan, an unmotivated and bit of a screw up LAX TSA worker, who's girlfriend Nora (Sofia Carson) is recently pregnant and both of them have to work at the airline on Christmas Eve. I know I know, how festive.
After Nora pleads with Ethan to try out again at the police academy, he persuades his boss (a usual crusty performance by Dean Norris), he's given a chance to run the computer at the baggage scanner, eying a promotion. But this last-minute employee swap causes a slight headache for totally-not-a-terrorist terrorist, played Jason Bateman, who's team was just about to kidnap the family of who was supposed to be running the scanner today. But this a scrappy terrorist, and through an earpiece, tells Ethan he was to let a man in a red hat and black suitcase with a little red ribbon on it through, no matter what the X-rays shows. Or what? His expecting partner will be killed.
Oh what a day to ask for a promotion.
The rest is the usual collection of cliches commonly found in not only action movies but also films containing scenes of airports, such as lines of frustrated travelers, legions of stressed workers, and no fewer than two scenes of where groups of people in nice looking clothing talk about how many people fly that day. But if the script by T.J. Fixman is rudimentary, then the direction, pacing, editing and performances are are effective, swift and most critically, exciting. It doesn't matter that the whole film depends on specific people having and not having access to their phones, but I didn't care in-the-moment. What the villain wants is less important than the gobbledygook device he's trying to smuggle on, which is itself less important than the act of watching people on-screen care or not care. Even familiar situations like the hero seemingly out-smarting his foe, where anyone who knew the runtime was barely half over, I wondered "is this it, did he really do it?" It's ridiculous how potently suspenseful the filmmakers have made of this musty material.
And I haven't even mentioned Elena, the police detective (played well by Danielle Deadwyler), who at first one thinks assumes the role of the usual incompetent cop in these kind of pictures, only for her not only to be the smartest character here, but also have her own story trying to piece together the plot. It's really good stuff; I sat glued to my moderately sized TV, wishing the room was darker so I could soak up more of the movie real estate streaming so wrongly places upon the consumer. A few decades ago, this would have attached some audience opening weekend, but alas, here we are in late 2024, wondering what the hell is going on with the world.
There's a sense of urgency as Ethan runs through crowds of people all draped in coats and scarfs, Christmas music on the speakers, and he's more than capable to, ahem, carry an action film. When he moves, his slender frame calls to mind that of Robert Patrick, and yet when he talks, be it to his superiors, lover or bad guy, there's a sense of exhaustion, bewilderment and naivety.
Bateman makes for a pretty good antagonist too, a bit smarmy but calm and collected, ordinary enough looking not to draw attention to himself but a good enough actor to come across as arrogant and distrustful. He lacks the suave command of "Die Hard" baddie Alan Rickman, but honestly, he's more than enough qualified to make late-career playing adversaries.
I lifted my satisfied body from the couch, fully prepared as to what to say here, but then as a few hours went and my fingers finally got down to collect my thoughts, something strange happened: I couldn't remember a damn thing about it! The plot, characters, the thrills, all lost, "Carry-On" remaining but a tile on my Netflix home page, the app suggesting other titles ostensibly similar. Still, I do remember liking it, even if I can't remember it itself, suppose that's something.
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