As the endless debate over whether Die Hard classifies as a Christmas movie wages on, ever so tiresomely, director Jaume Collet-Serra declares his stance with Carry-On, a new Netflix holiday thriller that bears a lot in common with the sequel Die Hard 2. Taron Egerton channels John McClane as a TSA Agent forced to go rogue when unexpectedly pulled into a terrorist plot at a crowded airport on Christmas Eve. While much simpler and more intimate in scale than Die Hard 2, Collet-Serra’s talents for taut suspense, tight plotting, and propulsive pacing ensure Carry-On delivers on big holiday thrills and energetic fun.
Egerton’s Ethan Kopek is a bit more law-abiding than his ’80s action-hero counterpart. Ethan is in good spirits when rushing to clock into his Christmas Eve shift at LAX, even as his newly pregnant girlfriend, Nora (Sofia Carson), points out his wasted potential in not pursuing the career that’d make him happiest: becoming a cop. While Ethan isn’t quite ready yet to attempt that career path again after a previous rejection, he is ready to step up his responsibilities at work in preparation for the new baby’s arrival.
That winds up putting him on a collision path with Traveler (Jason Bateman), a mysterious villain who blackmails the young TSA Agent into letting a carry-on bag slip through security unfettered. But Ethan isn’t quite as compliant as desired, escalating tensions into a lethal cat-and-mouse game.
Collet-Serra and screenwriter TJ Fixman, the scribe behind many Ratchet & Clank video games, spend as little time as possible introducing the key players and their motivations so Carry-On can cut straight to the thrills. It’s the type of quick setup that establishes the clear delineation between hero and villain in broad, quick strokes. Traveler, borrowing a page from westerns, dons a black cap and makes chilling demands with an apathetic calm. At the opposite end is a dutiful employee who high-fives and greets every co-worker and colleague en route to his position. The type whose altruistic motivations and career ambitions act as a neon sign designating Ethan as the de facto hero, as well as early lines of dialogue that forecast the hero arc’s tidy conclusion. This plotting efficiency may let the action take charge early, but it does diminish some of the stakes.
Luckily, it’s a small issue thanks to Egerton’s easy affability and charisma and the nonstop obstacles thwarting both men’s easy paths forward. While it may never come into question whether Ethan will prevail over his insidious foe, the journey getting there is where Carry-On‘s magic lies. Repurposing the virtually abandoned terminal New Orleans Louis Armstrong International (MSY) into a spitting image of LAX, Carry-On finds no shortage of ways to mine exciting action sequences or tension from every corner of the airport. But it’s the calculated chess match between two clever adversaries that ensures Collet-Serra’s latest gets the adrenaline pumping early, with very few moments to catch your breath over its two-hour runtime. It’s also in the way the script folds in new wrenches via supporting characters like Danielle Deadwyler‘s tenacious detective and Theo Rossi‘s gleefully sadistic accomplice to the Traveler. Deadwyler and Rossi both test their action mettle with separate yet inventive action sequences that greatly contribute to the overarching intensity of Ethan’s plight.
It all builds to a satisfying finale, one that once again calls back to the Die Hard series in terms of memorable showdowns with the villain. Carry-On is the type of action thriller that operates on a strict and clear moral spectrum; there’s no grey area for either Ethan or the Traveler, no matter how hard the movie occasionally tries to sand down Ethan’s moral purity. That’s okay, though, when featuring a talented director dedicated to delivering a sustained adrenaline rush and a committed cast. It’s also fitting for the holiday theming; it’s an easy, breezy, and highly entertaining thriller that captures the Christmas spirit through propulsive action and violence.
Carry-On releases on Netflix on December 13, 2024.
