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Carry-On stars Taron Egerton (Tetris) as an American with un-American name of Ethan Kopek, who thinks every Xmas is a happy Xmas in England, while girlfriend Nora Parisi (Sofia Carson) is pregnant – yet not even remotely showing, and I thought thinks were about to kick off sooner rather than later, since he was spending a lot of time driving and NOT looking at the road.
But no, nothing out of the ordinary takes place for him just yet.
And no, there’s no sign of Jim Dale, nor Kansas’ fantastic tune, Carry On My Wayward Son, even rebranding it to Carry On My Wayward Piece Of Luggage.
Ethan works in an airport, and switches jobs on the day so he can show initiative and look for a promotion, since kids are expensive, but at a random moment, he’s left with an earpiece that someone apparently left behind… Egads! It’s the bad guys making contact, and they’ll force him to do what they want to get the job done… whatever their job is.
He works for the TSA – the Transportation Security Administration – scanning luggage for dodgy stuff, and has to let a particular bag through, or they’ll kill those close to him. If this agent was Ireland’s customs officer Bruce Heller from Stop Search Seize on Sky Mix, they wouldn’t even get a look-in, as he’d shut that nonsense down right away!
It’s a bit like Phone Booth, but while Kiefer Sutherland was nowhere to be seen, Jason Bateman‘s no-named Traveller character is at first heard only in voice form, before subtley showing up. However, when Ethan’s getting instructions through to himself and then responding, how come other people can’t hear him talking, seemingly to himself?
And why do the baddies start their day at the 7am shift changeover? Why not in the middle of the night when it would be more subtle?
What Carry-On does bring us, is a largely tension-filled thriller which builds up nicely, rather like this year’s Trap, with Ethan having to be resourceful beyond measure, and is perfectly-matched by Bateman’s neatly menacing Traveller. In fact, for the most part, it builds up like a classic thriller, hitting every perfect beat as it goes, but who will win in the end?
However, it is a bit dense when FBI agent Elena Cole (Danielle Deadwyler) is listening in to a distorted conversation and hears “Nov.. chuck”, yet doesn’t instantly recognise it’ll be “Novichok”, given everything that’s gone in on recent times.
(inner voice): “It’s just a movie, Dom”
The first half of Carry-On builds slow, while the secnod half is more action-packed, but you do have to stretch cedibility a bit, at times.
However, when you start marrying up Novichok and what really shouldn’t be carried on to a plane, just don’t Google whether or not that’s possible, otherwise you might get a knock on your door from a policeman, who’ll don a rubber glove and shove a finger up your bottom.
Carry-On does get monumentally daft at times, but props to the brilliant car driving scene in this film.
That said, I do question a moment when a character pays for a meal in the airport restaurant by leaving cash on the table. It’s not a traditional restaurant, and in that sort of environment, you’d pay BEFORE eating! Okay, so that’s the LEAST ridiculous thing about this film 😀
Additionally, there’s a moment where a cop commandeers a car by brandishing their badge. Erm… you do that to me, you’re at MOST getting in the passenger seat. You’re NOT leaving me on the side of the street!
Overall, for a Christmas film set in an airport, it’s certainly no Die Hard 2, but Carry-On is great fun, and it’s a shame this didn’t get a cinema run. It’s far better than a lot of things I’ve seen recently on the big screen.
WARNING: You WILL get Whamageddoned during this film! Then again, I only count that when I come across Last Christmas while out and about, and not from a film or TV show.
There is NO mid- or post-credits scene.
Thanks to our friends at Netflix for the screener prior to release.
Carry-On is on Netflix from today, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. However, once announced, it will appear on the New DVD Blu-ray 3D and 4K releases UK list.
Check out the trailer below:
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 117 minutes
Release date: December 13th 2024
Studio: Netflix
Aspect Ratio: 2.00:1
Score: 8/10
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Producer: Dylan Clark
Screenplay: TJ Fixman, Michael Green
Music: Lorne Balfe
Cast:
Ethan Kopek: Taron Egerton
Traveller: Jason Bateman
Nora Parisi: Sofia Carson
Elena Cole: Danielle Deadwyler
Mateo Flores: Tonatiuh
The Watcher: Theo Rossi
Agent Alcott: Logan Marshall-Green
Phil Sarkowski: Dean Norris
Jason Noble: Sinqua Walls
Lionel Williams: Curtiss Cook
Ron Dunn: Joe Williamson
Eddie:Gil Perez-Abraham
Herschel: Josh Brener
Security Director Marm Bellows: Benito Martinez
Lance: Edwin Kho
Nina: Reisha Reynolds
Jesse: Adam Stephenson
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.