Carry-On
I usually try to check out any top Netflix original movie that reviews reasonably well, and this weekend that was Carry-On, a new thriller starring Taron Egerton, of Kingsman fame with a great turn in Black Bird, with Arrested Development’s Jason Bateman as the villain, which may seem like an odd choice, but watch The Gift, and you’ll get it. Also, watch Carry-On.
This is a really compelling thriller. The concept, a TSA agent is blackmailed into letting a potentially dangerous package through security, does not sound terribly interesting at baseline, and this cast could have gone either way. But the 86% critic score intrigued me, and by the end, I certainly agree with it. The less-good 60% audience score is just wrong, I’m sorry.
Egerton is great here as a slacker TSA agent who realizes he should get his act together now that he has a baby on the way, but as his first day pushing to become a promoted “bag scanner” rather than line-herder, that quickly becomes a problem.
Carry-On
Jason Bateman’s mysterious “Traveler” gets to him via a secret earpiece, immediately finds out information about him through his support team, and threatens to kill his pregnant girlfriend unless he does as is required. This involves letting a package through security despite whatever flags it may set off. Egerton doesn’t know what’s inside, and I won’t tell you here, but as you may expect it’s not full of stuffed animals.
This all starts off being pretty grounded, where Egerton must navigate all this from really just a few square feet by the scanner. But things escalate quickly from here and this movie goes some wild places you would not expect by the end. It reminded me a bit of Trap, thriller action in a very confined space (though with no serial killers involved).
Jason Bateman, thankfully, gets to be more than just a guy on the phone, and actually has a significant physical presence in the film as he manipulates Egerton into executing his plan. In an age where I may fall asleep early due to entire days managing a toddler, I was wide awake for the duration of Carry-On, and I can give it a hearty recommendation. I wouldn’t call it a “family” movie as it does get pretty violent, but it manages to stay within the confines of PG-13. But that does not make it feel restrained in the least.
It’s Trap meets Phone Booth mixed with perhaps a little bit of Die Hard. Maybe not an instant classic but honestly the best Netflix original I’ve seen since Rebel Ridge. Give it a shot.
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