Ivan Radford | On 23, Dec 2024

Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Cast: Taron Egerton, Jason Bateman, Sofia Carson, Danielle Deadwyler, Theo Rossi, Dean Norris
Certificate: 15

A Christmas actioner in an airport? Carry-On carries automatic comparisons to Die Hard 2 with its festive thrills and flight-bound setting, but the Netflix film is a treat to unwrap in its own right.

Taron Egerton stars as Ethan Kopek, a TSA agent at Los Angeles International Airport. With a baby on the way, he’s under pressure from his partner, Nora (Sofia Carson), to further his career, but they both know he checked out from caring about his work a long time ago. With Christmas looming, he decides to ask his boss (the always-excellent Dean Norris) for a promotion to X-ray baggage scanning machines. The moment he does, though, he finds himself the target of a mysterious passenger with a suitcase that they’re determined to get on a plane at any cost.

And so a seasonal nightmare begins to unfold, as the elusive traveller gives instructions to Ethan via an earpiece. There’s fun to be had in the back-and-forth between the two men, which may well recall Die Hard-style banter, but this is much closer to a claustrophobic thriller such as Grand Piano or Phone Booth. The fact that it’s set in a busy airport at Christmas adds to the isolating pressure Ethan’s feeling – everyone else moving purposefully around him is either a reminder that they have somewhere to go or a potential victim unwittingly waiting to be turned into collateral damage.

TJ Fixman’s script captures Ethan’s inner conflict by giving his opponent speeches that are reminiscent of a life coach rather than a terrorist – a mix of cynical empowerment and clinical detachment that feels very 2020s. The cast sink their teeth into the material with a festive glint in their eyes. Taron Egerton is as endearingly charismatic as ever, selling Ethan’s panicked desperatiot. As things continue to escalate, his squirming presence keeps the film grounded. Jason Bateman, meanwhile, is brilliantly blunt as the man on the other end of the phone – playing against his everyman charm with a matter-of-fact authority, it’s a sign of how good he is that even when you see him in person, he’s still chilling.

But the real star of the show is director Jaume Collet-Serra. From Unknown and The Commuter to Non-Stop, he’s one of the best action helmers around today, capable of bringing energy to any scene and inventively staging set pieces around locations and objects. That includes a superb car punch-up that comes out of nowhere, knowingly soundtracked by Last Christmas – giving a whole new meaning to the term “Whamageddon”. The result is an understated cat-and-mouse thriller that’s an absolute cracker. Between this and Black Doves, Netflix is having a killer Christmas.

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