“Carry-On”

Netflix thriller “Carry-On,” which at best feels like an episode of a second-rate television show, spends way too much time on setup and not nearly enough on delivering a coherent, gripping story. The plot is stupid, the threat is ridiculous, and the motivations of the characters make little sense. Anybody comparing this lazy junk to “Die Hard” is either living in an alternate universe or needs a couple of semesters of film school.

The story centers around a TSA agent (Taron Egerton) who’s blackmailed by a mysterious traveler (Jason Bateman) to let a dangerous package slip through security and onto a Christmas Eve flight. While this setup might sound intriguing at first, it takes less than ten minutes for the plausibility of the story to completely fall apart. The film is filled with absurd twists and turns that are so far fetched they make the screenplay feel as if it was written by a twelve year old. Not only could the scenario have easily been stopped from the get-go, but the plot becomes more ridiculous as it goes on, with each new development managing to outdo the last in terms of sheer improbability.

It’s not that I need my action movies to make total sense, but this film is so lacking in the logic department that it ruins the entire experience. The fact that (SPOILER ALERT!) the authorities don’t immediately call for a ground stop at LAX when things start going south is laughably bad. There’s no sense of urgency or realism in the way the whole situation unravels, and it gets more and more stupid with every passing minute. It’s frustrating because the premise had potential, but the film doesn’t do anything meaningful with it.

The pacing is painfully slow as the plot drags on with endless back-and-forth dialogue, which only adds to the frustration. The characters feel flat and unconvincing, and the pacing does nothing to elevate the stakes. By the time the movie reaches its climax, you’re too detached from the story to care about what happens next.

Messy and ridiculous, “Carry-On” simply doesn’t work. It’s a film that doesn’t know what it wants to be, and it shows.

By: Louisa Moore