Improvements in communication technology mean you can make a pretty good tech suspense thriller on a pretty low budget. Netflix's 2024 film Carry-On (no relation to the long running British comedy franchise) is mostly just Taron Egerton talking to Jason Bateman on the phone. But it's one of the most intelligently constructed films to have premiered on a streaming service in recent years.
Egerton plays Ethan, a TSA officer who finds an earpiece on the luggage-scan conveyor belt. A text from an unknown source tells him to put it in and, once he does, he finds himself held captive by Jason Bateman's unnamed character. He tells Ethan to allow a suspicious suitcase through screening undisturbed or Ethan's girlfriend, Nora (Sofia Carson), will be killed.
Ethan's given a backstory about his inability to assert himself leading to his complacency in a dead-end job. Bateman's character knows all this and screenwriter T.J. Fixman (boy, does that ever sound like a pseudonym) does a nice job of weaving Ethan's personal issues in with the logistics of Ethan by turns trying to defy Bateman or reluctantly concocting ways to assist him.
It's not perfect but the film's logic holds up pretty well for the first half or so. Then people start doing one or two things that does seem quite natural. At one point, Ethan takes off his shirt and throws it in the garbage for no reason I can ascertain. There's also an ambitiously staged car wreck scene that sadly looked pretty bland due to weak cgi and overused compositions. But on the whole, if you're looking for a Christmas story with decent action and suspense, this one's pretty satisfying.
Carry-On is available on Netflix.
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