Taron Egerton has entered the battle over genre and Christmas movies with his latest thriller. Some purists believe that a Christmas movie must fit into the canon of projects like Miracle on 34th Street and A Christmas Story. Others will contend that John McTiernan’s 1988 classic Die Hard belongs in the pantheon. Carry-On is another entry in this long back and forth, and it does very little to answer any of the key questions involved.
Jaume Collett-Serra is an eclectic director with an odd back catalog. He exploded onto the scene with a couple of compelling horror movies in House of Wax and Orphan. Shortly thereafter, he started tying himself to individual action stars for long stints. He did four movies with Liam Neeson and two with Dwayne Johnson. Most of them were fairly forgettable, but he’ll be back to psychological horror with The Woman in the Yard next year.
Taron Egerton Carries Carry-On Onto Netflix’s Top Ten
Carry-On feels like an idea someone pitched shortly after Die Hard came out as a potential cash-in. Taron Egerton stars as Ethan, a bored TSA agent celebrating his girlfriend’s recent pregnancy. Just after he bugs his boss for a chance to prove himself, a mysterious voice on a planted headphone offers some instructions. Ethan has to allow a bag to pass through the security screening, or a terrorist will kill his girlfriend. Their rapport is tense, but elements keep shifting. There are a lot of ticking clocks, especially as the bag’s contents become obvious. The film feels like the midpoint between an action thriller and a heist movie. Egerton does well, but his opponent, Jason Bateman, steals the show. If you can ignore a few silly plot beats, you’ll have a good time. There are many worse Die Hard clones.
The old Christmas movie debate is a game of irony. It used to feel slightly cool to answer Die Hard when someone asked about your favorite Christmas movie. It’s just the juxtaposition between a gritty action film and a touching comedy or family drama. You could probably get the same response if you conjured an obscure holiday horror film, like Silent Night, Deadly Night. We either accept a “Christmas movie” as a film about Christmas or one set on the 25th of December. I don’t really enjoy any side of the argument. It feels needlessly restrictive to cut out entire genres from the Christmas movie discussion. It feels comically played to reach for Die Hard or Carry-On as the answer to that question. We’ll have to see that cold take as a line on dating profiles for the rest of time now.
Carry-On is obviously not as good as Die Hard. It’s not as good as Die Hard 2 either, but it feels remarkably similar. There isn’t much new to take from the project. We already know Taron Egerton can do the unassuming hero routine and that Jason Bateman can play a capable villain. This isn’t an experimental project, but the Christmas crowd isn’t looking for anything groundbreaking. It may not be a Christmas movie, but Carry-On might fill the silence for a couple of hours after the holidays.
