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.                                           

The Shallows

Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Starring: Blake Lively, Óscar Jaenada, Brett Cullen, Sedona Legge
Running Time: 86 min.
Rating: PG-13

★★★ (out of ★★★★)

Over the past couple of years, "Shark Week" has morphed into what could be considered a national holiday. With it now comes an onslaught of shark-related programming, shark documentaries and "so bad, they're bad" Sharknado movies. It only seems that the next logical step would be a single location shark thriller, except for the fact that we already had  a pretty good one with 2003's Open Water, an underappreciated gem in which a married scuba-diving couple out at sea fight for their lives in shark-infested waters. But from the start, it's clear The Shallows isn't going to be THAT type of a psychological thriller. For one, it has a budget. For two, it stars Blake Lively. You don't put a young, big name, popular actress in the lead to get ripped limb by limb by a great white. The highest praise you can give Jaume Collet-Serra's film is that it has its moments where you think he might actually be going there. Of course, we know better, but none of that takes away from the entertainment or enjoyment of it all, as the suspense is skillfully escalates throughout even some of the more credibility-straining sections.

A snake may be able to swallow Jon Voight's villain whole in Anaconda but don't necessarily expect a similar fate for our heroine here, and while this does a surprisingly credible job putting her in perilous danger, it never feels that laughably ridiculous. Lively, who first surprised us with the extent of her acting capabilities in The Town (and to a lesser degree, Savages), is asked to carry this entire project on her shoulders and proves herself more than equipped at handling that responsibility. If you don't like the lead in this, chances are you won't like the movie and its problems will only be amplified. Luckily, that shouldn't be an issue for most and there's enough else that works about the familiar situation and skillful execution to recommend it, including the shark.         

Following the death of her mother, medical student Nancy Adam (Lively) takes a vacation to a secluded beach in Mexico, the same one her mom visited while she was pregnant with her. She's dropped off at the beach by a friendly local and in between an emotionally strained video-chat with her sister (Sedona Legge) and dad (Brett Cullen) back home, she gets in some surfing with a couple of guys, at least until the discovery (and foul smell) of a large, dead humpback whale floating nearby. Pretty soon, the murderer makes itself known, a great white shark that takes a bite out of her leg, forcing her to swim to the closest rock to slow the bleeding and attempt to treat a very serious wound.

Nancy will spend an indefinite amount of time stranded on this rock, with only a seagull for company, as the great white circles below, itching to finish what he started. With the shore suddenly further than ever and swimming becoming an impossibility due to her injury, Nancy must fight for her life as the shark claims more victims and she battles the elements, as well as her deteriorating physical condition. The real battle takes place inside herself, as she must summon up the wits, strength, resourcefulness and courage to come out of this alive and return home. In one piece.

More exciting than it has any right being, the stripped down story is aided not only by Lively's intensely physical performance (a full-fledged endurance test for the actress), but how little we see of the shark. Sound familiar? Obviously, Jaws comes to mind and while that film's malfunctioning shark famously and accidently resulted in seeing far less of it than intended, this movie holds him off intentionally to recreate that same feeling of escalating tension and dread. While Jaws was mechanical and the result of practical effects, this one is entirely rendered with CGI, and it's a testament to how little we see of it that such information is hardly noteworthy.

The shark's occasional appearances are genuinely well placed and scary, with Collet-Serra picking his spots well. But since the bulk of the running time is spent with Blake on this rock, the bigger challenge is holding our interest with a protagonist cut off from the outside world. Steven The Seagull may as well be this film's version of Wilson the volleyball in Cast Away. As a device, it's not relied on quite as much but he effectively serves his function as a sounding board for the audience to gain insight into Nancy's state of mind through a one-way dialogue. Cleverly, a Go Pro camera also serves that purpose with her video confessionals, even as the script arguably travels a bridge too far in terms of its impact on the story's resolution.

While it's doubtful a shark would continuously circle its prey like a serial killer for days at a time and likely has better things to do, The Shallows isn't really meant to be hold up to close logical scrutiny in that regard. Many of the events that occur are preposterous when taken purely at face value, but what makes it work is the tight, compact execution of it all and Lively's believability as a young woman at a crossroads who's suddenly thrust into an increasingly unbelievable situation. Even as the script sometimes tests plausibility, Lively doesn't and it wouldn't be a surprise to find out she put a lot of physical preparation into the role, or has previous surfing experience based on scenes where it's abundantly clear a stuntperson wasn't involved.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the premise that's grazed upon but mostly left unexplored is the danger of this young woman traveling alone in a country where she knows no one and speaks very little of the language. An argument could be made that if this didn't happen, something else just as awful was easily destined to. But they'll have to save that for the sequel. The biggest jump to be made is that anyone could survive a shark attack like this so it's a credit to the filmmakers that you rarely notice they're holding much back for a PG-13, infrequently shying away from the horror of the situation as its main character is put through the ringer. By the time it's over, viewers will feel spent enough to relate.