Lamar Reviews - "Carry-On" (Airdate 1/10/2025)

Lamar Reviews - "Carry-On" (Airdate 1/10/2025)

I loved Taron Egerton in the Kingsmen, he was funny and great in the action movie. But I was really impressed when he played Elton John. It showed that he had a lot of range. I haven’t watched him in anything else until this Netflix movie.  I am still impressed.

The movie opens with a shadowy business transaction that involves a small suitcase, and a double murder by a mystery man in dark clothes. Then goes to a couple, Ethan, played by Edgerton, and his girlfriend Nora, played by Sofia Carson being excited about the upcoming birth of their baby. They are both extremely happy, but Ethan has the normal anxiety about the responsibility of becoming a father, especially being able to financially support his family. Emily encourages him to go for his dream and re-take the police exam that he failed the first time. But Ethan wants to take an easier route and try to make more money at his TSA job at LAX. A job that he is constantly late getting to, and one where he just walks through the motions as a slaker.

In an effort to prove himself to his boss Phil, played by Dean Norris, Walter White’s brother-in-law Hank in Breaking Bad, he asks to be put on the bag scan. This is Christmas Eve, the busiest day of the year so it is going to be tough. Way tougher than Ethan can imagine.

In a very smooth move Ethan finds himself with an earpiece and instructions to put it in. A very calm, but serious voice tells him that a package is going to go through the scanner and all he has to do is nothing. That calm voice is a Traveler, played by Jason Bateman who turns out to be an excellent villain, and the “nothing” is to allow a bomb to go through and be placed on a plane that will kill 250 people. If Ethan does not follow the instructions exactly, his girlfriend Nora, and their unborn baby will be killed.

The movie is 2 hours, Rated PG-13 for strong violence, bloody images, some language and suggestive references.

There are some great performances by other people in the movie. Theo Rossi, whose name you won’t recognize but will immediately when you see him, as the watcher who is tapped in to the camera system of the airport so that they can watch Ethan. And Danielle Deadwyler as the detective that is investigating the first murder, and winds up at the airport.

But make no mistake this movie belongs to Egerton and Bateman, they drive it. Egerton is perfect as the working-class guy who does just enough to get by but is underestimated by the villain who soon learns he’s more clever, and more driven than he could have ever expected.

There is a reason Carry-on is the fifth most-watched movie of all time on Netflix.

My Score: 5 Ice Cold Buds