Carry-On was released by Netflix on December 13, 2024, received positive reviews from critics, and earned more views during its opening week than any other film released on Netflix in 2024.[1]
Plot
Ethan Kopek, a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officer at Los Angeles International Airport, has become cynical and unambitious after failing the police academy for concealing his father's criminal history. On Christmas Eve, his pregnant girlfriend, Nora, encourages him to reapply and pursue his dream. Instead, Ethan requests his supervisor, Phil Sarkowski, assign him to manage a baggage-scanning lane, hoping to demonstrate his merit for a promotion.
During his shift, Ethan receives an earbud, through which he is contacted by a ruthless mercenary, the Traveler, who orders him to let a specific carry-on case pass through the scanner—or Nora will be killed. The Traveler's accomplice, the Watcher, remotely monitors Ethan, thwarting his attempts to alert the authorities. Ethan secretly warns his colleague, Lionel, using a message written in invisible ink. However, before Lionel can act, the Traveler poisons him with aconitine, causing a fatal heart attack.
Due to Ethan's seemingly erratic behavior, his friend Jason takes over his position. The Traveler tells Ethan he will kill Jason if necessary to execute his plan, so Ethan plants an alcoholic drink at his workstation, which when discovered by Phil, results in Jason's removal. After replacing Jason at that post, Ethan lets a man pass through with the carry-on case as instructed, and sees from his boarding pass that his name is Mateo Flores. The Traveler reveals that the suitcase contains Novichok, a lethal nerve agent.
Meanwhile, Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) detective Elena Cole investigates a double homicide and discovers the victims had smuggled Novichok into the country. Cole alerts the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and connects the threat to Ethan's aborted 911 call. In response, a terminal-wide sweep is ordered, and Ethan secretly adds Mateo to the list of passengers flagged for inspection. However, the Traveler suspects Ethan's interference and confronts him in a restroom. Ethan seizes the Traveler's plastic gun. In retaliation, the Traveler arms the Novichok bomb.
Sarkowski detains Mateo for inspection, but Ethan interrupts, holding them both at gunpoint. Mateo fatally stabs Sarkowski after Ethan refuses to shoot him, before revealing that he, too, is being coerced; the Watcher is holding Mateo's husband, Jesse, hostage. With time running out, the Traveler guides Ethan to reset the bomb. Afterward, Mateo is ordered to kill Ethan and takes the plastic gun, but he is killed when it overheats and explodes. The Traveler retrieves the Novichok case and orders the Watcher to kill Nora. Ethan uses Mateo's phone to warn her. Nora narrowly evades the Watcher, who is ultimately killed by Jesse.
En route to the airport with DHS agent John Alcott, Cole soon realizes the agent is an imposter—one of the Traveler's accomplices—and kills him in self-defense. Upon arriving at the airport, Cole confronts Ethan, confirms the active threat, and alerts the LAPD, initiating a terminal shutdown. Cole uncovers that the Traveler's target is Congresswoman Grace Suarez Turner, a passenger on a flight to Washington, D.C., who advocates for increased weapons funding. The Novichok attack is designed to implicate Russia, ensuring congressional approval of substantial defense spending, thereby enriching weapons manufacturers.
The Traveler boards the flight, unaware that Ethan has switched the bomb into an identical but larger suitcase, forcing him to stow it in the plane's cargo hold. Ethan infiltrates the hold to disarm the bomb, while Nora persuades Cole to allow the flight to take off, preventing the Traveler from becoming suspicious. As Ethan begins dismantling the bomb, the Traveler receives an alert and confronts him at gunpoint. Before the Traveler can re-arm the Novichok and escape using a parachute, Ethan locks him inside an airtight refrigeration unit with the nerve agent, killing him. The plane safely returns to the airport.
One year later, Ethan, Nora, and their child pass through a TSA checkpoint as they prepare to travel to Tahiti with Jason and his family. Ethan places his LAPD badge in the scanning tray.
In June 2021, Amblin Partners signed a deal with Netflix to produce multiple films per year for the streaming service.[2]Carry-On was originally planned to be the first film to come from the deal, the initial draft of the screenplay was written by former Insomniac Games writer T. J. Fixman, with Michael Green writing another draft.[3] Only Fixman was eventually credited with the screenplay while Green received an off-screen "Additional Literary Material" credit.[4] Fixman intended the film to be an illustration of the trolley problem.[5]
On an estimated budget of $47 million,[10]principal photography took place in New Orleans, Louisiana from September 2022 to January 2023.[11]
Fixman received extensive expert advice about airport security but deliberately used artistic license with TSA procedures for the sake of the storyline.[5]
Ten days after its release, the film had 97 million views, and was anticipated to become one of the top ten most-watched films on Netflix.[15]
In January 2025, Carry-On became the fifth-most-watched Netflix English-language film of all time, having received more than 149.5 million views.[16]
Reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 88% of 97 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.8/10. The website's consensus reads: "Taron Egerton and an against-type Jason Bateman make for great adversaries in Carry-On, a throwback thriller that clears all checkpoints of plot logic with its confident execution."[17]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 68 out of 100, based on 26 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[18]
Sarah Little, writing for Screen Rant, said, "Netflix's Carry-On has been shockingly divisive in the days following its premiere, as most critics seemingly enjoyed the movie, while audiences have (ironically) been more critical of it."[19]
The TSA noted that the film contains inaccuracies, but praised the filmmakers for portraying a TSA officer in a heroic light.[5]
