Carry-On - Review

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

JAUME Collet-Serra may have wobbled with his superhero offering Black Adam but he's back on surer footing with seasonal thriller Carry-On, a cat-and-mouse battle of wills between a terrorist and a security worker that unfolds at a busy LA airport during Christmas Eve.

The Spanish filmmaker has form for delivering taut films of this nature, having created a sub-genre of Liam Neeson films with Unknown, Run All Night, Non-Stop and The Commuter, as well as the gripping Blake Lively shark drama The Shallows.

Here, he uses LAX as the backdrop for a Die Hard 2 meets Phone Booth inspired take on the alternative Christmas movie, which follows a bored TSA agent named Ethan Kopek (Taron Egerton) as he is targeted by a mysterious traveller (Jason Bateman) determined to get a bag through security without it being checked (the carry-on of the film's title).

The bag in question contains a chemical weapon that will kill everyone on board its flight. So, to incentify Ethan to turning a blind eye, he uses his newly pregnant girlfriend (Sofia Carson) as leverage, placing her life under threat if he doesn't comply. The two adversaries interact via an earpiece.

It's therefore up to Ethan to find a way of preventing the unthinkable, while protecting those he loves.

The ensuing film, while hugely derivative, does actually have a lot going for it. As mentioned, Collet-Serra is no slouch when it comes to delivering tense scenarios and he isn't afraid to go 'old school' in his approach to delivering the thrills.

But he also makes good use of his appealing leading men, with Egerton combining everyman likeability with some belated action chops befitting his persona in the Kingsman movies, and Bateman employing his distinct voice to suitably menacing effect, while still affording himself some typically Bateman-esque put-downs and banter.

It's also refreshing to find a set-up that refuses to diminish its own high concept nature by enabling Bateman to score some wins, without being undone by anything too silly - a usual pitfall of the so-called super-villain scenario.

There are other players, too, several of whom make their mark and leave a possible sense of loss once they are targeted by Bateman's crew - with Carson's girlfriend a confident cheerleader for her boyfriend's ambitions, Dean Norris suitably gruff as his boss, and Sinqua Walls a likeable colleague who may or may not pay the price for being the original target of Bateman's plan.

A sub-plot involving a wily LA detective (Danielle Deadwyler), who slowly pieces together the plot from a pre-credit killing, adds an unnecessary extra layer of complexity and contributes to one of the film's silliest set-pieces (involving an out of control car).

But there's nothing here that's too groan-inducing, even as events start to unravel for the obligatory third act physicality.

As is so often the case with these kinds of movies, the biggest thrill lies in the set-up and chase - with the finale struggling to deliver on some of the smartness that's come before.

With that in mind, however, Carry-On still offers a good mix of 'old favourites', whether it's channelling its inner Die Hard, nodding to Shane (Lethal Weapon) Black or tapping into Phone Booth-style mind games. It knows what constitutes a good thriller and duly delivers.