BITE-SIZED: Carry-On (Jaume Collet-Serra, 2024)

A TSA officer at Los Angeles International Airport, Ethan (Taron Edgerton) finds his job and life in jeopardy when a mysterious antagonist (Jason Bateman) blackmails him on order to let a specific piece of luggage through the baggage scanner.

With his family threatened, and unable to get help from his colleagues, Ethan is on his own against a ruthless team of high-tech terrorists who can watch his every move...

Jaume Collet-Serra is back!

Throughout the 2010s he was carrying out a niche making the kinds of thrillers that Hollywood used to pump out on the regular: Most of Liam Neeson’s best post-Taken action pictures, and Blake Lively’s The Shallows.

When he made the jump to Dwayne Johnson’s big plays, it felt like he would be gone, off making anonymous blockbusters.

Thank god (or Black Adam) that his last movie bombed, I guess.

A high concept thriller set in a single location, Carry-On feels tailor-made for Collet-Serra.

It is a testament to the filmmaker that he makes a movie set around an airport security barrier feel tense and dynamic.

Featuring a fine lead performance from Taron Edgerton and an effective heel turn from Jason Bateman, this movie goes down easy.

Aside from a cartoonish one-take fight inside a moving car, Carry-On’s action is pleasingly lo-fi, making good use of the airport’s various environments for the various set-pieces.

Nothing about it is particularly original but it works.

And it makes me excited for whatever Collet-Serra has next.

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