Carry-On

Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Starring: Taron Egerton, Jason Bateman, Sofia Carson, Danielle Deadwyler, Theo Rossi, Logan Marshall-Green, Dean Norris, Sinqua Walls, Curtiss Cook, Josh Brener
Running Time: 119 min.
Rating: PG-13

★★★ (out of ★★★★)

There's a scene in Jaume Collet-Serra's action thriller Carry-On where a case passes through airport security as a scan of its deadly contents appear in front of the shocked, panicked protagonist's screen. Scary newspaper clippings flash in our faces while he helplessly watches this weapon of mass destruction move down the conveyor belt. It's just one of the many entertaining and suspenseful moments in a plot best described as Die Hard meets Phone Booth meets the director's own Non-Stop. 

Whether this holds up on repeated viewings is almost beside the point since you'll have enough of a blast watching it once, as an unlikely hero squares off against a ruthless antagonist who thinks he has him wrapped around his finger. And by calmly exploiting this blackmailed airline employee's weaknesses to produce the vicious outcome he's hired for, he'll casually write off any potential deaths as collateral damage. Assessing his hostage is a loser who lacks motivation, he'll underestimate him, discovering that you really can't count on what someone will do in a perilous situation. The result is a cat-and-mouse battle of contingency plans and last minute improvisation, with both men maneuvering to gain the upper hand.

After failing to make the police academy, unambitious TSA agent Ethan Kopek (Taron Egerton) is going through the motions at LAX while his pregnant girlfriend Nora (Sofia Carson) holds an upper management position for the airline. Arriving late on Christmas Eve, Ethan requests supervising the baggage scan lane usually overseen by friend and colleague Jason (Sinqua Walls) in an effort to show gruff supervisor Phil (Dean Norris) he deserves a promotion. But this switch puts Ethan in the crosshairs of The Traveler, a nameless mercenary who leaves him an earbud to receive his instructions.

Ethan's informed by The Traveler that if he doesn't let a specific carry-on case pass through the scanner, Nora gets killed, leaving him with few options. Lounging in the terminal, this mercenary sees everything and communicates with a sniper, The Watcher (Theo Rossi), who's monitoring Ethan's every move, ready the pull the trigger on anyone at a moment's notice. Meanwhile, LAPD detective Elena Cole (Danielle Deadwyler) is tying a double homicide committed by The Traveler to a tip about an airline threat, but faces bureaucratic resistance from Homeland Security. Torn between saving Nora or the lives of these passengers, Ethan will have to dig deep to somehow outsmart this sociopath before it's too late.

Considerable tension builds to how, when and by what means this mystery case will arrive in line and whether Ethan will wave it through, sacrificing hundreds of passengers' lives for Nora's. With The Traveler lurking and conversationally feeding demands into his ear, Ethan needs to stay calm and cooperative, all while subtly sending out distress signals for help. But The Traveler's a step ahead, emphasizing he's no terrorist, but a "facilitator" whose services are retained at the highest price by only the most dangerous criminals. For him, it's just another day at the office.

Egerton sketches out this portrait of a guy who's thrown in the towel, but knows he has to move up the ladder with a baby now on the way. More established in her career, Sofia Carson's Nora displays the patience of a saint, gently nudging him not to give up on his dream of joining the police force. It's a derailed goal we'll eventually get more details about, at least when Ethan isn't dusting off his track skills to frantically rush through the terminal. 

While it's not exactly fair to say Bateman's breaking type after already proving how much he can do, this is probably one of his bigger leaps to the dark side. He's still employing his dry comedic sarcasm, only now as a methodical killer whose conscience is clear of all moral responsibility. Characters like this have almost become an action cliché, but watching Bateman do it packs an extra punch since his trustworthy, everyman screen presence makes the underlying psychology of these scenes play differently than they otherwise would.

It takes a bit before Ethan actually comes face-to-face with Bateman's Traveler, who inconspicuously blends into the crowd with his black baseball cap and down jacket. But all hell breaks loose when that case arrives and the twists and turns start coming, like the addition of another major player, luggage tracker confusion, a thrillingly shot freeway fight and one of the more creative death scenes we've seen in a while.

Much of T.J. Fixman's script is built on characters remaining a step or two ahead as the story zigs and zags in increasingly improbable ways. But we're all in since Collet-Serra keeps things moving at a breakneck pace while the performances only further elevate it. What we're left with easily exceeds your typical Netflix action offerings, utilizing an inspired concept to successfully channel the movies it takes inspiration from.