Carry-On info:
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Writer: T.J. Fixman
Starring: Taron Egerton, Jason Bateman, Sofia Carson, and Danielle Deadwyler
Hello and welcome to another week here at 1guysmindlessmoviereviews.com. This is my last review before Christmas, so I hope everyone has some time off work and gets to spend time with their families and friends. I haven’t had time off of work yet, so between that and some family stuff, we didn’t get to make out to see Moana 2 as I originally planned, but thankfully there’s always a backup plan with so many streaming services pumping out new releases all the time. My thoughts first went to the latest Jack Black movie, “Dear Santa” on Paramount +, but I thought better after seeing it. I will spare you the details but just know that it isn’t great. Netflix then swooped in with a nice Christmas surprise with the new movie “Carry-On” which was just released on December 13th. I’m excited to talk about this, but let’s get the formalities out of the way. If you proceed further than this, there will be spoilers, so be warned. I encourage you to visit any of my other reviews here in the meantime.
Ok, like I mentioned, “Carry-On” is a new Netflix release and is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra (who has a decent track record of movies already). It worked out that I was able to watch “Carry-On” since it’s basically a full-on Christmas movie. I’m not talking about another “Die Hard” discussion, this is a movie that intentionally takes place at Christmastime, with Christmas music, and lots of people trying to travel for the holidays. So, this is a Christmas movie hands down.
The two main stars are Egerton who plays Ethan Kopek and Jason Bateman as the Traveler…who goes unnamed for the duration of the film. Ethan works for TSA at LAX and his wife Nora (Carson) also works at the airport. As the two are making their way to work, we learn that not only is she pregnant with their first child, but she wants him to apply to the police force again so he will be happy. This all happens at a bad time for him because he makes today the day when he approaches his boss (Happy to see Dean Norris in this role) Phil Sarkowski and asks for a raise and/or more responsibilities. At first reluctant, he eventually gets to run the machine in one of the security lines.
Why was it a bad time? Because today of all days is when he gets contacted (via an earpiece that came through security) by the mysterious Traveler. Reluctant at first, Ethan unfortunately learns how serious of a situation this could be. The Traveler wants him to allow someone through security without stopping him. He will be carrying something that would normally get flagged, but he has to allow it to get through. What they are carrying is some sort of super deadly chemical that will kill thousands if released. Once they find out who Nora is, he begins to allow things to proceed. He locks up his watch and phone as instructed and even gets his good friend fired to stay sitting at the security line chair.
Even though some of this is unbelievable, for the most part, it’s thrilling and keeps you on the edge of your seat. For a guy who is somewhat lazy in life and has no drive, he can do some pretty crazy stuff when under pressure.
While this is going on, Elena Cole (Deadwyler) is investigating a murder and a fire (that the Traveler committed earlier), and her investigation is bringing her closer to the truth. As she uncovers the pieces, she also ends up at the airport by tracing an abandoned call from Ethan. As she is trying to track him down, things aren’t going great. Since this whole thing began, one of the officers who works at the airport was killed, Phil was killed, he met the Traveler in person, he had let the guy with the bag through, and his wife was threatened multiple times. Eventually, the order is put in to take him out as well, and even though he gets shot, he gets away.
By this time, the Traveler has to take the bag on the plane himself, so Ethan devises a plan with Nora and Elena to board the plane and defuse the timer before it can be remotely activated. There is a mostly uneventful final fight in the cargo bay of the plane as Ethan gets the better end of the two as he traps the Traveler in a containment box along with the busted cylinder of gas that kills him almost instantly. Then it’s all a happy ending as we see he finally gets to become a cop when he is the one travelling the following year.
I was pretty surprised at how good this movie was. I hadn’t heard a lot about it before its release, but since I will watch Jason Bateman in any role he chooses to play I was eager to jump into this. Once I started, I couldn’t stop watching until it was over. Not only did Bateman hit another home run in his portrayal of the Traveler, but Egerton also did a good job playing Ethan. A few of the side characters left a little to be desired, but overall, it was a good cast and I enjoyed the story.
When it’s all said and done, I may have a new Christmas movie to watch every year since this will be on my list to watch again. I feel like there are a couple of areas where this could be improved, but overall, this is a great movie and I give it an 8 out of 10. While you are sitting around during the holiday season looking for something to watch, I would definitely put this on your radar.
Have you seen “Carry-On” yet? If so, what did you think of it? Are you as big of a Jason Bateman fan as I am? If so and you haven’t seen this yet, what are you waiting for?
That’s it for this week’s review, next week is the end of the year, so that means it will be time for my annual top ten movies of the year list (sorry Moana, I ran out of time for you). See everyone next week!
