Imagine working at a busy airport on Christmas Eve and not drinking on the job. Rule #1: Expect everyone to do so. Rule #2: Don't be a snitch. These are the kinds of workplace politics we encounter in Carry-On, a new festive thriller that is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra from a screenplay by T.J. Fixman.
Taron Egerton stars as TSA officer Ethan Kopek who's working a holiday shift at Los Angeles International Airport, the very same place that his newly pregnant girlfriend Nora Parisi (Sofia Carson) also works at. Hoping to progress in his career for his soon-to-be-family, Ethan gets a shot working at a baggage scanner. Unbeknownst to him, this throws a wrench into the devious plans of a mysterious traveller (Jason Bateman as Traveler) who has been hired to get a dangerous bag onto one of the flights. Consequently, the traveller, with help from his right-hand man (Theo Rossi as Watcher), begins to blackmail Ethan with lethal consequences unless he lets the bag and its contents through. Meanwhile, detective Elena Cole (Danielle Deadwyler) investigates a trail of blood that the traveller has left behind in LA.
It doesn't take long to figure out that you're in for some unapologetic trash cinema with Carry-On considering its simple premise that has a few relatable ingredients for anyone who's worked a public-facing job and have also perhaps fantasised about being the main character during a precarious situation. The movie not only embraces all the '00s and '90s counterparts in the genre but it also seems to be shaped by its platform to act as counterprogramming to lighter fare as far as new holiday releases go. But the keyword here is indeed "unapologetic" since Collet-Serra and co. aren't trying to conquer mountains; they're here to deliver a palatably thrilling, really straightforward pressure cooker with a watchable cast and a bit of action serving as the gravy for your preferred Christmas meal.
Speaking of the cast (assembled by casting directors Chelsea Ellis Bloch and Marisol Roncali), the faint praise does come with an exception, but there's plenty of jet fuel coursing through the engine to get the movie to where it's going. Egerton does his everyman bit well despite acting against earpieces and screens for much of the 110-minute runtime, fluently expressing Ethan weighing his morals and coming to terms with his hero complex. Bateman balances things out with his calmly menacing, capitalist, antagonist role, while Deadwyler slowly and eventually introduces a disruptive element when Elena's investigation starts to lead her closer to Ethan and Traveler.
Dean Norris (as Ethan's supervisor Phil Sarkowski) and Sinqua Walls (colleague and friend Jason Noble) add lovely character actor flavours to round out Ethan's journey, the former especially providing razor-sharp zingers. Carson, however, is the aforementioned exception because the actor's wooden line readings and facial expressions come off as rather incompetent when compared to everyone else in the cast. Fixman's writing isn't giving her even the bare minimum to work with at any point, admittedly, but whenever we cut to Nora, the film can't cut away fast enough either.
Thematically and character-wise, Carry-On isn't much to write home about but it does enough to have your root for Ethan to find solutions—although making him want to be a cop is nearly an unforgivable deal-breaker that makes you root for Traveler initially instead, and the film's coda is just excruciating in its predictability and blandness. Otherwise, it's the same ol' story about ambition, a battle of wits, fearlessness and (holiday) spirit, just inside a different sized luggage.
Collet-Serra enhances the merely sufficient foundation marginally by keeping the tone constantly fun and lively, even if he and cinematographer Lyle Vincent shoot Egerton's jawlin.. I mean character from every possible angle in every single scene, possibly causing editors Elliot Greenberg, Fred Raskin and Krisztian Majdik multiple life-threatening aneurysms in the process. Composer Lorne Balfe's score on the other hand is disappointingly on autopilot, turning into forgettable mush, but at least the action is fittingly dumb yet sometimes satisfying. Once you see a shot of conveyor belts, your mind starts racing, and I'm happy to tell you that they're put to good use ultimately. There's also one elaborate sequence involving a car on a highway, and while everything outside is too video game-y for one's liking, the ambition is respectable.
Most importantly, you could say that the film manages to land the plane in a way that elevates the overall project from a tolerable streaming distraction to somewhat memorable entertainment. It does so by ending on a refreshingly uncomplicated action scene between the main characters after a series of escalating events. This is trash cinema in its most satisfactory form and sometimes that is exactly what you want from your destination. The actors and crew are committed, the story is engaging enough, and we, the audience, get a fun little getaway as a gift.
Smileys: Tone, ending
Frowneys: Sofia Carson
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3.5/5
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