Unleash the Thrill: Why Carry-On is a Must-Watch Cable Series
The Thrill of Carry-On: A Christmas Thriller That Will Keep You on the Edge
Complexity is what makes great thrillers stand out, like the classic movies All the President’s Men and Blow Out. But B-tier thrillers, like Taken and Phone Booth, have their own charm. They may not be as intricate, but they’re often more straightforward and endlessly rewatchable. Carry-On, the new holiday airport thriller from Netflix, is a solid example of this breed.
The movie follows Ethan (Taron Egerton), a bored TSA agent with dreams of being a police officer. As he’s stuck working at LAX, he’s determined to put as little thought into his work as possible, much to the dismay of his newly pregnant girlfriend (Sofia Carson), who would love to see him get a promotion or finally join the LAPD. But during a Christmas Eve shift on the X-ray machine, Ethan receives an earpiece with which a terrorist (Jason Bateman) tells him his girlfriend’s going to die unless he lets a certain bag through the machine.
Jason Bateman’s Sinister Turn
The real treat here, though, is Jason Bateman, who gets to play sinister in a way he’s never really been allowed. It’s a straightforward, uncomplicatedly evil kind of character that we’ve rarely seen in thrillers over the last decade or so. Bateman plays the character with a panache that cleverly hides just how much this guy relishes in his evil work, and being good at it. His terrorist is always a step ahead and more than content to watch people like Ethan play games that Bateman’s character is already positive he’s won.
A Fun, but Not Perfect, Conclusion
Given how great both leads are, it shouldn’t be a surprise that the only real turbulent interruption to Carry-On‘s otherwise excellent tension comes when the movie breaks from its central duel to introduce a police detective (Danielle Deadwyler) who finds herself accidentally thrust into the middle of the action. As with so many of these thrillers, the cop character both feels like an unwelcome distraction from the movie’s main event, and is completely integral to tying together a plot that was more interested in creating a fun premise than a mystery that makes sense. But it’s hard to blame the movie for a so-so conclusion when the journey to get there was as fun as Carry-On‘s.
A Christmas Thriller for the Ages
In another era, this is the kind of movie that when you come home for the holidays, you’d find out your parents have watched six or seven times, simply because it’s playing on TNT and they stop channel surfing every time they see it. And who could blame them? Carry-On is tremendous fun. It won’t blow you away, it won’t replace Die Hard as your dad’s favorite winking answer to what’s your favorite Christmas movie, but it will entertain you and whoever else is watching every single time you turn it on. It’s just a shame you’ll never be able to catch it on cable halfway through.
Carry-On is now streaming on Netflix.
