Netflix’s ‘Die Hard knockoff’ holiday thriller will get your hearts racing-Asyia Iftikhar-Entertainment – Metro

Carry On, Netflix’s latest holiday thriller offering starring Jason Bateman, is a chaotic Christmas romp set at the airport.

The Jaume Collett-Serra movie follows a young TSA agent Ethan Kopek (Taron Egerton) who is blackmailed by a mysterious traveller (Jason) into letting a dangerous package slip onto a Christmas Eve LAX flight.

As the trailer lays out when Ethan is forced to work the festive period shift and help thousands of passengers travel to their destination for the holidays, things soon take a terrifying turn.

He must smuggle the contaminated luggage through security or his pregnant girlfriend Nora (Sofia Carson) will be ‘executed’, the traveller threatens, explaining ‘one bag for one life’.

Cue airport chases and security showdowns as the stakes grow ever and ever higher.

The tense, high-paced action thriller has received plenty of praise from critics which has landed it an impressive 86% on Rotten Tomatoes, no mean feat for the typically poorly-scored Netflix original holiday selection.

Taron Egerton and Jason Bateman team up for Netflix thriller Carry On (Picture: Youtube/Netflix)

Jason plays the antagonist in this movie (Picture: Youtube/Netflix)

In one review, Variety described it as ‘ the streamer’s stupid yet satisfying Die Hard knockoff.’

The review continued: ‘Egerton’s an appealing action star, whom this film gives multiple opportunities to do Tom Cruise-style sprints across the airport.

‘Watching Carry-On on Netflix, you may actually take some pleasure in its preposterousness…’

The Die Hard comparison continued, with Film Feed writing: ‘Obviously, Die Hard will always be the go-to example of Christmas action movie spectacle, but Carry-On is a wholly worthy, if less sophisticated, competitor.’

‘There are about two minutes in Carry-On that are as exciting as any other action movie this year, and about 100 minutes that are pretty fun too,’ TheWrap reflected, making particular note that the two leads ‘soared’ in their performances.

And The Daily Beast echoed: ‘This breakneck Netflix offering confirms the enduring vitality of its chosen formula—and, in the process, proves an unexpected and welcome Yuletide streaming gift.’

And for those simply looking for some background Christmas streaming while they get merry for the festive season, it’s also perfect for that.

As Collider put it: ‘Carry-On is pure escapist fare that you can turn on while sitting next to your Christmas tree, and it has enough energy that you won’t feel the need to check your phone every 10 minutes.’

Ethan must save his girlfriend from getting murdered (Picture: Youtube/Netflix)

The movie was shot in the old wing of the New Orleans airport which was redesigned to look like LAX.

The Kingsman actor’s co-star Sofia had nothing but love for the actor.

She told Decider: ‘Taron is an extraordinary actor, and a preparer, like myself. We both worked for about two weeks together, bringing our scenes to life—working on our individual backstories and our joint backstories, because all of that is so formative.

‘It informs the relationship so profoundly on screen. It was amazing to work with him.’

And although Taron was initially not interested in playing an archetypal action hero, the director soon brought him round.

He told Netflix: When Jaume first approached me about the role, I told him I didn’t want to do something that felt like an archetypal action hero.

‘Luckily, neither of us thought that’s what was exciting or interesting about Ethan. What we kept our eyes on was making sure that we made him feel as relatable and as normal as possible … whatever normal is in the extraordinary situation he’s in.’

Carry On is now streaming on Netflix.

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