WIW: Carry-On (2024) Movie Review

Movie/Series Title:
Carry-On

Release Date:
12/13/2024

Genre: Thriller/Action

The story of "Carry-On" follows a very eventful Christmas Eve for the main character Ethan Kopek, who works as an uninspired TSA agent at LAX. On this day, Ethan is confronted and blackmailed by a strange traveler with a carry-on bag strapped with a nerve agent that could take out thousands in the busy airport.

Ratings Breakdown

Characters:

• Ethan Kopek (Taron Egerton): A TSA agent with aspirations of becoming a police officer

• Nora Parisi (Sofia Carson): Ethan's pregnant girlfriend who works in airport operations

• The Traveler (Jason Bateman): A mysterious villain blackmailing Ethan

• Elena Cole (Danielle Deadwyler): An LAPD detective investigating suspicious activity at the airport

• The Watcher (Theo Rossi): The Traveler's accomplice who monitors Ethan remotely

Rating: 85/100

Plot:

On Christmas Eve, Ethan Kopek, a TSA agent at LAX, is blackmailed by a mysterious man known as the Traveler into allowing a suspicious package through security. The Traveler threatens to harm Ethan's pregnant girlfriend Nora if he doesn't comply. As Ethan struggles to disrupt the plot without endangering Nora, he uncovers a larger conspiracy involving a deadly nerve agent and a plan to influence defense spending legislation. The story eventually evolves into a tense confrontation aboard an aircraft, where Ethan must disarm a bomb and stop the Traveler from committing a terrorist attack.

Rating: 90/100

Acting:

• Taron Egerton delivers a solid performance as Ethan, effectively conveying the character's tension and moral dilemma.

• Jason Bateman stands out as the Traveler, bringing a menacing calmness to the villain role that makes him even more disturbing.

• Sofia Carson and Danielle Deadwyler gave strong supporting performances, often outshining their co-stars even with limited screen time

Rating: 80/100

Enjoyment:

As a movie enjoyer and much less a critic of films, my perspective of enjoying a film might vary from others. However, I think that this film was a unique and very smart execution of a thriller set in an airport. Jason Bateman and Taron Egerton both do an excellent job driving the plot and making solid acting choices to keep the viewer engaged on the story without slowing the pace down and boring us. With the action alone, this movie holds up to most of the action movies I'd seen in 2024. And I also think it will hold up for years to come, as I know I will be turning it on every year during Christmas time.

Rating 80/100

Picture Quality:

I don't think the picture quality from this movie is knocking down any barriers or providing innovation to the film scene, but I do believe that the picture quality with the action still does well with the chase scenes and serves the story well. The only improvement I would suggest is with the airplane scene at the end. The story felt a bit rushed at this point but it doesn't take away from the overall enjoyable experience of this movie.

Rating: 70/100

Total Score: 81/100 🍿

Recommendation:

• 🍿 Must Watch

• 👍 Recommended

• 👀 Watchable

• 👎 Skip