“Carry On” (2024) is the kind of action thriller that steps into the Netflix terminal with a sly grin. It carries a boarding pass to nostalgia and offers a nod and a wink to ‘Die Hard’. Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, who by now can orchestrate tense, single location thrillers in his sleep. This film feels like it’s dusting off a old jacket of old school Hollywood fun. The result is something familiar but surprisingly fun.
We begin with Ethan Kopek (Taron Egerton). He’s a TSA officer at LAX. Unlike the usual surly airport security types we all know and fear, he’s actually a decent fellow with bigger dreams. He wants to be a police officer, but for now, he’s stuck scanning carry-ons and confiscating large tubes of sunscreen. Adding to his personal pressure cooker is his pregnant girlfriend, Nora (Sofia Carson), who’s in charge of operations at the very same airline terminal. She’s nudging him to follow his dreams and maybe, just maybe, muster the courage to ask for that promotion. On Christmas Eve, no less, when the airport is as packed as a cheap overhead bin.
If you’ve seen a movie set at the airport, you know the drill: endless lines, frantic passengers, and that anxious sense of “can we just get on the plane already?” But “Carry On” doesn’t allow for leisurely people-watching. Instead, things turn dicey fast. Ethan is handed a lost earbud and, before you know it, a voice on the other end (I love the idea of Jason Bateman as a quiet menacing mastermind) is threatening to kill Nora unless Ethan lets a certain suspicious passenger’s bag slide right on through. The passenger is Mateo (Tonatiuh), who’s clearly caught in his own web of blackmail and misfortune. Suddenly, Ethan’s moral universe collapses into a brutally simple problem: let this bag pass and risk mass casualties, or say no and lose the love of his life.
“Carry On” never overcomplicates its central premise. There’s a chemical weapon destined for a flight, and a mastermind known as “The Traveler” who’s orchestrating the whole thing remotely. Ethan is the hapless hero, forced into a moral minefield and under constant surveillance. It’s “Die Hard” meets TSA training manuals, with an emphasis on split-second decisions and old-fashioned tension. No multiverses, no cosmic stakes, no fancy costumes, it’s just a guy, a bad guy, and a lethal carry-on bag.
Egerton’s performance is key here: he delivers a restrained, everyman quality that makes Ethan likable and believable. He’s not a supersoldier or a brilliant detective; he’s just a good guy who wanted a better job and ended up staring at X-ray scans of doom. Egerton wisely underplays, letting the action swirl around him rather than trying to dominate it. Opposite him, Bateman demonstrates chilling calmness. So often we see Bateman as the quirky everyman, the sardonic straight guy. Here, he’s the puppet master behind a lethal plan, his warm Midwestern twang twisted into something predatory. It’s a treat to watch him flex those villain muscles, reminding us that he can do more than just deadpan humor and “Ozark”-style anxiety.
Danielle Deadwyler’s Detective Elena Cole, meanwhile, provides the audience proxy: she’s the one running around, piecing together scattered clues in record time. It may strain credibility at moments, her leaps of logic would make Sherlock Holmes scratch his head but who cares? She’s determined, sharp, and not about to let some passenger with a suspicious itinerary ruin everyone’s holiday. Deadwyler’s presence lends the film a welcome sense of urgency, and her action scenes pack a punch. Watching her face off against Logan Marshall-Green’s shady Agent Alcot or Theo Rossi’s unnervingly silent Watcher is just plain fun.
Sofia Carson, as Nora, may not be given as much to do beyond looking distressed and concerned, but her relationship with Ethan provides a human center to all the ticking clocks and loaded firearms. You root for them as a couple, hoping they can move past this insane holiday fiasco and get on with their family life. Similarly, Sinqua Walls as Jason Noble, Ethan’s TSA coworker, and Dean Norris as Ethan’s tough-but-fair boss, Sarkowski, round out a cast that seems to genuinely enjoy playing with the classic airport thriller formula.
There’s plenty to chuckle about: the movie nods cleverly to holiday tropes and the stubborn question of what makes a “Christmas movie.” Yes, it’s set on Christmas Eve. Yes, people wear Santa hats. Sure, there’s a sense that this day of joy is being punctured by chaos. And maybe, just maybe, like “Die Hard” decades earlier, “Carry On” can squeeze onto the unofficial roster of offbeat Christmas action films.
Visually, Collet-Serra keeps the camera moving briskly through terminal corridors, cramped baggage holds, and cargo compartments. The sense of claustrophobia is skillfully maintained. The musical score leans into the tension without becoming overbearing, and the action sequences are free of the superhero-level spectacle that dominates so many contemporary blockbusters. Remember what it’s like to be genuinely worried if a guy can defuse a chemical weapon in time, rather than whether the planet will explode?
“Carry On” isn’t a masterpiece, nor does it pretend to be. It’s an airport thriller, pure and simple—one that knows how to entertain, build tension, and deliver on its promise of high-stakes holiday nerve-jangling. With its strong cast, tight pacing, and playful callbacks to the action classics of yore, “Carry On” proves that sometimes all you need is a relatable hero, a nefarious villain, and a good reason to hold your breath at the security checkpoint. And in a cinematic era overloaded with complexity, a modest, well-executed thriller might just be the perfect flight.
Screen Rated 