Movie Review – Carry-On
Principal Cast : Taron Egerton, Jason Bateman, Sofia Carson, Danielle Deadwyler, Logan Marshall-Green, Theo Rossi, Dean Norris, Sinqua Walls, Josh Brener, Curtiss Cook, Tonatiuh, Joe Williamson, Gil Perez-Abraham.
Synopsis: A mysterious traveller blackmails a young TSA agent into letting a dangerous package slip through security and onto a Christmas Day flight.
********
If Die Hard 2 and Red Eye had a baby mid-flight, it’d be Carry-On—a turbocharged, gloriously absurd action thriller that knows exactly how ridiculous it is and leans in hard. Director Jaume Collet-Serra (The Commuter, Jungle Cruise) reteams with Netflix to deliver a B-movie adrenaline shot stuffed with airport chaos, Jason Bateman smirking like a Bond villain on Xanax, and Taron Egerton doing his best “budget Bruce Willis” as Ethan Kopek, a TSA agent thrust into a terrorist plot thicker than airport pretzel dough.
The premise? Pure chaos theory: On Christmas Eve, Kopek (Egerton) is blackmailed by Bateman’s unnamed “Traveller” to smuggle a mystery bag through LAX—or his pregnant girlfriend (Sofia Carson) gets a one-way ticket to the afterlife. Cue a cat-and-mouse sprint across terminals, Danielle Deadwyler’s no-nonsense detective playing catch-up, and Logan Marshall-Green’s DHS agent scowling like he’s auditing the script. The plot twists? So ludicrous they’d give Turbulence’s Ray Liotta vertigo. (Yes, a nerve agent poisoning is solved in 30 minutes. No, the film does not care.)
Collet-Serra’s direction is all greased gears and no frills—a Non-Stop reunion minus Liam Neeson’s growl. Action sequences snap by like conveyor-belt luggage, favoring claustrophobic close-ups over choreography, but the real fireworks come from Egerton and Bateman. The former channels McClane-lite charm, sweating through his polo shirt like a man who’s read the TSA Handbook for Dummies mid-chase. The latter, though? A revelation. Bateman’s Traveller oozes menace with the calm of a guy who’d poison your latte and tip the barista. Their verbal sparring—part negotiation, part psychological warfare—is the film’s jet fuel.
Is it smart? Absolutely not. The script (by Ratchet & Clank’s TJ Fixman) treats logic like a middle seat on a 12-hour flight—something to endure, not enjoy. But Carry-On thrives on its own stupidity. It’s a love letter to ’90s cheese, complete with Lauren Holly-level contrivances, Dean Norris barking orders as a TSA boss, and Theo Rossi lurking as a henchman who probably sharpens knives to ASMR. Flaws? Sure. Sofia Carson’s damsel role feels stale, and the third act’s “gotcha!” twists land like a delayed baggage claim. But Collet-Serra knows his lane: This isn’t Oppenheimer; it’s a rollercoaster where the safety bar’s optional. By the time Egerton’s dodging bullets in a baggage carousel showdown, you’ll either groan or grin. I grinned.
Carry-On won’t win Oscars, but it’s the best kind of Netflix junk food: salty, addictive, and gone before you regret it. Just check your brain at security.
Who wrote this?
