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Ethan Kopek (Taron Egerton) is a middling TSA agent at LAX. He goes to work, punches the clock, and goes home. There isn't much drive or ambition with Ethan, he's just happy to be there. His girlfriend, Nora (Sofia Carson), also happens to work at LAX as the Director of Operations for Northwind Airlines. As we're first introduced to the couple, we're made aware that it is Christmas Eve and also that Nora is pregnant. Seeing as it's one of the busiest travel days of the year, it's no surprise that the couple is off to work together.
Now aware of the fact that he's about to become a father, Ethan decides to try and step it up more at work. In fact, he decides to start by boldly ask for a raise on Christmas Eve. While the request is rejected, Ethan is able to convince his boss to let him have a trial-run as a bag scanner. He finds himself at his buddy Jason's station scanning customer carry-on luggage as it works its way through security.
While initially thrilled to be given a chance at this new position, Ethan's whole world is about to be turned upside down. A woman, gathering her belongings after passing through security, signals to Ethan that there's something in the bowl with her belongings that isn't hers. He picks up an earpiece and receives a text to put the piece in his ear. When he does, a mysterious man known only as "the Traveler" (Jason Bateman) informs Ethan of a plan that is about to play out. The Traveler has an associate who is going to come through Ethan's security line. When the associate's carry-on is scanned, Ethan is to ignore what he sees on the screen and let the associate pass through. The Traveler will not reveal what is in the carry-on, just that it is not to be flagged under any circumstances. If Ethan fails to allow the carry-on through, the Traveler has threatened to kill Nora, revealing just enough information about her for Ethan to realize that the threat is real.
When I first saw the teaser for this, I was intrigued. Carry-On kind of felt like it might be similar to if Phone Booth took place in an airport around Christmas. A Die Hard 2/Phone Booth hybrid, if you will. While that sounds like it could be a fun time, just make sure you temper any real expectations.
Taron Egerton and Sofia Carson were never able to portray enough chemistry for me to invest in their relationship. In fact, their interactions all throughout felt wooden and cold. If I'm not able to care enough about them as characters, how am I supposed to care one or way another what happens to them?
One thing is for sure, if you don't check your brain at the door, you're going to have an awful hard time making it through the unnecessary long runtime of 1hr 59min. For starters, there is plenty of fluff that could have been cut to get this down to a tight 90minutes. Also, as the audience, we are expected to suspend quite a bit of disbelief. If you put more than two seconds of thought into any of it, everything falls apart. However, if you're able to look past it all, there is some fun to be had.
Awhile back I mentioned that the Peter Dinklage/Josh Brolin flick Brothers would have been a mainstay on '90s TNT/TBS. Well, if Brothers filled the 11am comedy movie time-slot, Carry-On would perfectly fill the 1pm action/thriller movie time-slot.
It won't be winning any awards. And it probably won't wind up on many "best of" lists. That being said, Carry-On manages to represent exactly what a "straight to streaming" movie should be.
🍿 SCORE = 70 / 100
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