Netflix’s best new movie is a Taron Egerton, Jason Bateman Thriller

I usually try to check out any Netflix original movie that reviews reasonably well, and this weekend it was Carry-On, a new thriller starring Taron Egerton, of Kingsman fame with a great turn in Black Bird, with Arrested Development’s Jason Bateman as the villain, which might seem like an odd choice, but watch The Gift and you’ll get it. See also Hand luggage.

This is a really compelling thriller. The concept of a TSA agent being blackmailed into letting a potentially dangerous package through security doesn’t sound very interesting at baseline, and this cast could have gone either way. But the critic score of 86% intrigued me and in the end I definitely agree. The less good audience result of 60% is just wrong, I’m sorry.

Egerton is fantastic here as a slacker TSA agent who realizes he should pull himself together now that he has a baby on the way, but whose first day pushed to become a promoted “bag scanner” instead of line- shepherds, it quickly becomes a problem.

Jason Bateman’s mysterious “Traveler” comes to him via a secret cochlear, immediately finds out information about him through his support team and threatens to kill his pregnant girlfriend unless he does as required. This involves letting a packet through security despite whatever flags it might set in motion. Egerton doesn’t know what’s inside, and I won’t tell you here, but as you might expect, it’s not full of stuffed animals.

It all starts with being quite grounded, with Egerton having to navigate all of this from really just a few square meters at the scanner. But things quickly escalate from here and this movie goes some wild places you wouldn’t expect by the end. It reminded me a bit of Trap, thriller action in a very confined space (though without serial killers involved).

Jason Bateman thankfully becomes more than just a guy on the phone and actually has a significant physical presence in the film as he manipulates Egerton into carrying out his plan. At a time when I can fall asleep early due to full days of managing a toddler, I was wide awake during the Carry-On and I can give it a warm recommendation. I wouldn’t call it a “family” movie as it gets pretty violent, but it manages to stay within the confines of PG-13. But that doesn’t make it the least bit reticent.

It’s Trap meets Phone Booth mixed with maybe a little bit of Die Hard. Maybe not an instant classic, but honestly the best Netflix original I’ve seen since Rebel Ridge. Give it a shot.

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