Carry-On – A Solid Holiday Contained Action Thriller (Early Review)

Carry-On is a new action thriller from director Jaume Collet-Serra who returns to the mid budget thriller genre after directing such tentpole blockbusters as Jungle Cruise and Black Adam. Ethan Kopek (Egerton) is a young TSA agent working on Christmas Eve at the same airport as his pregnant girlfriend Nora Parisi (Carson) when a mysterious unnamed traveler (Bateman) blackmails him into letting a dangerous package slip onto a Christmas Eve flight for unknown reasons. For the most part, it is a solid thriller delivering everything one would expect it to in the best sense and marks a nice return to form for Collet-Serra who is back in his wheelhouse and excels at making these kind of contained thrillers.

While far from a great movie in any sense of the word, it offers up an entertaining watch that will certainly gain traction over the upcoming holiday season. Nicely setting the stag, Collet-Serra knows how to build tension and keep the action moving at a good pace throughout, even across the film’s slower moments. Though it may not be a full blown action film that it was perhaps made out to be, the action sequences it does feature are handled very well, further immersing audiences into the experience. It is easy to see the homage to the first two Die Hard films, for which it shares similar elements, in what is more of a tribute than a blatant copy job. Meanwhile, the film’s Christmas setting and holiday geared soundtrack helps it to standout against a large contingent of the contained action thriller subgenre.

When it come to acting, Egerton is one of the most underrated actors working today, and this film provides further proof that he deserves to be a much bigger star. As Ethan, he perfectly sells his fear, terror, and captures the uncertainty Ethan faced, while making for a very likeable protagonist. On the other hand, Bateman’s antagonist role as a nameless traveler is totally different than what most audiences are used to seeing from him, however, he absolutely crushes it. That being said, while most of their interactions take place over the phone, Egerton and Bateman have a such a great back and forth dynamic, as the cat-and-mouse elements are the film’s strongest. Carson is another standout as Nicole, contributing more than what many might expect. Making up the supporting cast is a treasure trove of big names and plenty of talent, including the likes of Danielle Deadwyler (Elena Cole), Dean Norris (Phil Sarkowski), Sinqua Walls (Jason Noble), Logan Marshall-Green (Agent Alcott), and Theo Rossi (Watcher), who all fit their roles well.

Above all else, this solid action thriller isn’t much more than that, not trying to be anything more. However, it definitely would have worked better had it had a shorter runtime as its premise is much more suited for a roughly 90-minute feature, rather than the full 2-hours it actually is. Never dragging per se, there are definitely scenes and characters that could easily have been omitted, if only to tighten things up a bit. On top of that, one thing that comes up with a lot of Collet-Serra’s thrillers, something that might bother some more than others, is how pretty far fetched and arguably ridiculous they get as they progresses and this continues to be the case here. The final act stretches credibility at times and perhaps goes a little overboard, but in spite of this, remains entertaining and is not nearly enough to be taken out of it.

At the end of the day, whether they are released in theaters or on streaming services, we as audiences deserve more mid budget thrillers like Carry-On. It might not be the next great thriller by any means, but it delivers a tense 2-hour thrill ride full of strong performances, solid direction, and a great premise that never overcomplicates itself. All in all, a perfect Christmas corridor release for Netflix.

still courtesy of Netflix

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Connor Carey

www.connorsmoviereviews.com/