After a number of edge-of-your-seat intrigues come to pass, we get to an unexpected moment that could be interpreted as improv-comedy. Here Ethan (Taron Egerton, pitch-perfect) and his girlfriend Nora (Sofia Caron) are sitting in the airport lounge for their daily lunch meeting.

Nora is an airlines operation manager at LAX, and Ethan, who once had aspirations to be a cop, is working in the lower rankings of the TSA (airport security) to be close to her.

Ethan’s mind, however, is hardly on what Nora is saying. Instead, his attention is hijacked by an ear-piece that connects to the voice of the mysterious ‘Traveller’ (Jason Bateman, almost always the best actor in the room) — a ‘facilitator’ of terrorists, who wants Ethan to do just one simple thing: let a bag with a deadly nerve gas pass the security check on to a plane.

Although most of Carry-On is designed as a taut-thriller by screenwriter T.J. Fixman, the scene I mentioned above in this Die Hard-esque contained thriller (almost all of the action takes place at the security check-in line), serves as a light-hearted deviation that humanises the terrorist.

Carry-On is a Christmas actioner like Die Hard — and it is definitely better than Die Hard 2 that’s also set in an airport

Unlike most villains with a black-and-white agenda, the Traveller is a thorough professional whose job is to see his assignment through but, like the best hostage negotiators who keep their targets at ease, he tries to find a human connection to the person at the end of the line.

The moment is funny, and a perfect ice-breaker to a tense relationship that calms the storm for a bit. Soon, however, the two characters are promptly replaced back in their original states, as the puppet and the master pulling his strings.

Both the puppet and the master (Edgerton and Bateman) are fine, fine actors who elevate the material from the place of good to pretty-darn-good. In fact, they, along with the screenplay and the direction by Jaume Collet-Serra, keep the viewer’s attention locked, despite the minor sidetracks and cutaways to mostly irrelevant side-characters.

Those sequences especially, and by and large the rest of the film, are shot pedantically by cinematographer Lyle Vincent. That technical aspect, and the colour-grade evoking the sense of a ‘white christmas’, leave a lot to be desired.

This, by the way, is a Christmas actioner like Die Hard — and it is definitely better than Die Hard 2, that’s also set in an airport. I believe, for the most part, that had been the memo all along for Carry-On.

Since the film is trending at the top spot, I’d love to see a sequel with just as much intensity and the twisty turn-y story-reveals, with a director who seems to have a predilection with contained thrillers set in terminals and moving vehicles (Collet-Serra’s filmography includes Commuter, Non-Stop and Shallows).

One couldn’t find better hands than these, even if those hands did make Black Adam.

Streaming on Netflix at the top spot, Carry-On is rated PG-13, but is suitable for all ages, 13 over or under

Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2024