Warning: This article contains spoilers for Carry-On
Netflix’s Christmas action movie Carry-On is a fun new thriller that feels like the streaming service’s answer to Die Hard, and it includes a lot of character deaths. Carry-On‘s cast has several names who have proven their action and drama talents in the past, and who create tense moments throughout the film. The movie has received positive reception from critics and audiences and currently holds an 86% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
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Centering on TSA agent Ethan Kopek (Taron Egerton), who is working the X-ray machine on Christmas Eve, Carry-On quickly becomes a fight between good and evil as Ethan grapples with the illegal task that he is forced to do, eventually leading to Carry-On‘s intense ending with Jason Bateman’s villain, the Traveler. Ethan is asked to allow one bag through security despite knowing that it could lead to the deaths of hundreds of innocent people, as his girlfriend’s life is at stake. Like many popular Christmas action movies, Carry-On‘s hero is not able to save everyone in his quest to protect his partner, and there are multiple deaths throughout the movie.
|
Carry-On Death |
Killer |
|---|---|
|
Olek and Yuri |
The Traveler |
|
Lionel Williams |
The Traveler |
|
TSA Officer Sarkowski |
Mateo Flores |
|
Homeland Security Agent Alcott |
Detective Cole |
|
Mateo Flores |
Ethan Kopek/Accident |
|
The Watcher |
Mateo’s Husband |
|
The Traveler |
Ethan Kopek |
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7 Olek & His Nephew Yuri
Their Deaths Serve As The Introduction To The Film
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In the opening scene of the film, a mysterious man enters a greenhouse at the back of a Christmas tree farm. It becomes clear that he is there to make a deal with the man working on the farm, though the audience does not learn what that deal may be. The mystery man hands over a bag of money, and, immediately after checking the bag, the recipient, a man named Olek, coughs up blood and dies. When his nephew Yuri runs in to see what happened, he is shot and killed as well by the mystery man.
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This introduction creates a tense tone in the movie, as all the characters’ identities and motives remain largely unknown. When the police later investigate the fire at the greenhouse and the deaths of Olek and Yuri, it is revealed that the police had been tracking them for some time because of their involvement in selling weapons to Russian gangs. However, the police admit they don’t know why the two would be killed by Russian groups that they usually aided. Clearly, they had something that the mysterious killer wanted, but that item remains a mystery until later in the movie.
6 Lionel Williams
Lionel Is Killed To Stop Him From Checking The Bag
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After TSA Agent Ethan Kopek is forced to help the mysterious Traveler by agreeing to let a bag through security in exchange for his girlfriend Nora’s life, Ethan makes several attempts to expose the Traveler’s plan. After unsuccessfully attempting to use his phone to call the police and use his watch to record his voice, Ethan formulates new plans to prevent the security incursion, though the Traveler makes his intentions to kill Nora clear. Finally, Ethan calls his superior officer, Lionel Williams, over and attempts to get a message to him using invisible ink on a ticket.
Lionel Williams is, unfortunately, collateral damage in the Traveler’s plan since Williams checking the ticket would expose that an illegal object was going to be put on a flight.
Just as Williams is walking away to check the ticket, the Traveler bumps into Lionel Williams. Something that he does causes Williams to have a heart attack and die while Ethan helplessly looks on. Lionel Williams is, unfortunately, collateral damage in the Traveler’s plan since Williams checking the ticket would expose that an illegal object was going to be put on a flight. This death also forces Ethan to continue cooperating with the Traveler, since he now knows that the Traveler truly would kill Nora if necessary.
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5 TSA Agent Sarkowski
Sarkowski Is Killed By Mateo
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After nearly besting the Traveler in a fight, the Traveler informs Ethan that he has just armed the nerve agent to be released throughout the entire airport, which will kill everyone if Ethan does not let him go. Ethan runs to the bag search room to find the weapon, knowing his boss and the suspect, Mateo Flores, will be in there too. Upon entering the room, Ethan points his gun at his boss, Agent Sarkowski, but is unable to fire at him. Instead, Mateo Flores grabs a pen from the table and stabs Sarkowski in the neck.
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Sarkowski dies from the stab wound before Ethan Kopek has a chance to save him. However, he does get to the room in time to disable the Novichok nerve agent in the carry-on and save the lives of everyone else in the airport. Thus, somewhat similar to Lionel Williams, Sarkowski’s death was not planned and happened because Ethan attempted to stop the nerve agent from getting on the plane. Ethan also learns that despite Mateo’s quick action in killing Sarkowski, he was also unwittingly trapped in bringing the suitcase to the airport.
4 Homeland Security Agent Alcott
The Real Alcott Does Not Make An Appearance But His Impersonator Is Killed By Detective Cole
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While driving to the airport to speak to Kopek about the 911 call he attempted to make earlier in the movie, LAPD Detective Elena Cole receives a call about the potentially dangerous people flying through LAX that day as well as the Homeland Security agent coming to the office to meet her. When her partner tells her that the agent is named Alcott, Cole becomes immediately suspicious since the man she is currently with told her that he was Agent Alcott. Instead, this reveals him as a fraud who is in on the plot to release the Novichok.
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As soon as she realizes that the man she is with is not the real Alcott, she pulls her gun on him. However, he attempts to fight her off while they are on the freeway, which results in them causing a multiple-car accident. After their car comes to a stop, the fake Alcott attempts to kill Elena Cole by choking her, but she manages to shoot him instead. Though she was already convinced that something was wrong at LAX, this revelation proved that she was correct.
3 Mateo Flores
Mateo Is Killed In A Fight With Ethan
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Despite learning the truth about Mateo’s role in the plot, Ethan and Mateo are unable to work together for long, as the Traveler orders Mateo to kill Ethan. While attempting to hide Sarkowski’s body, Mateo fires the gun at Ethan, but Ethan sees him in time to duck out of the way. The two men fight while being carried along the baggage conveyors in a very entertaining scene. Ethan attempts to chase after the bag with the weapon in it, while also avoiding Mateo’s bullets.
As Mateo dies, he apologizes to Ethan, creating an emotional moment in which the movie allows its viewers to fully understand that Mateo had no choice in his actions, as he believed that killing Ethan would save his husband’s life.
Not realizing that the plastic gun will continue to heat up as he shoots, Mateo fires at Ethan until the gun explodes in his hand, causing him to be struck by a bit of the gun. As Mateo dies, he apologizes to Ethan, creating an emotional moment in which the movie allows its viewers to fully understand that Mateo had no choice in his actions, as he believed that killing Ethan would save his husband’s life.
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2 The Watcher
Mateo’s Husband Escapes And Kills The Watcher To Help Nora
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After stabbing Eddie, the Watcher continues chasing Nora into a parking lot, but he wrecks his van, allowing Mateo’s husband to escape his handcuffs in the back. Just as Nora and Ethan are finally reunited, the Watcher finds them and holds a gun up to them both. At that moment, a gunshot rings out, but it is revealed that the Watcher had been shot by Mateo’s husband, saving Ethan and Nora.
Though the reunion of Nora and Ethan is a happy moment in the otherwise tense movie, it becomes equally sad as Mateo’s husband learns that Mateo died. Ethan attempts to console him by stating that Mateo’s actions were all with the hope of helping his husband and that the situation was not truly his fault. In this scene, Ethan also finally realizes that the Traveler’s plot is more complicated than they all knew since Mateo had been given two tickets and was really flying to Washington, DC rather than New York, meaning that the police were looking in the wrong terminal.
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1 The Traveler
Ethan Kopek Finally Bests The Villain In The Movie’s Climax
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In Carry-On’s climax, Jason Bateman’s villain, the Traveler, makes it onto a plane bound for Washington, DC, but the police are on to his plan by that point. Ethan Kopek learns where he is and decides to take matters into his own hands by getting onto the plane before it takes off and defusing the bomb while the plane is in the air. However, the Traveler gets an alert on his phone about the override and goes into the cargo hold to check on the suitcase, knowing that Ethan is intervening.
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The Traveler shoots at Ethan again and tries to convince him to give up the weapon, but Ethan outsmarts him by taking the weapon apart and hiding one half of it while the Traveler is distracted by the other half. Finally, Ethan manages to lock the Traveler into an airtight fridge with the second half of the weapon. Since the container was broken in their fight, the nerve agent starts releasing into the fridge, killing the Traveler with his own weapon. Happily, the plane lands and Ethan is able to reunite with his girlfriend, having proven himself worthy of becoming a police officer as he always dreamed.
In many ways, Carry-On is a typical action film with several deaths that occur throughout, but the exhilarating airport setting and the Christmas theme take the movie to the next level. While Carry-On may not reach the Christmas classic status of Die Hard, it is certainly an entertaining watch to add to any Christmas movie list. Carry-On is a tense action thriller that will keep audiences on the edge of their seats until the end.
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5/10 15 8/10 Carry-On PG-13
Carry On is a film directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, focusing on a young TSA agent who is coerced by a mysterious traveler into allowing a dangerous package onto a Christmas Eve flight. As events unfold, he must use his wits to resolve the perilous situation.
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*Availability in US Director Jaume Collet-Serra Writers Michael Green , T.J. Fixman Cast Taron Egerton , Jason Bateman , Sofia Carson , Danielle Deadwyler , Tonatiuh , Theo Rossi , Logan Marshall-Green , Dean Norris , Sinqua Walls , Curtiss Cook , Joe Williamson , Gil Perez-Abraham , Josh Brener , Benito Martinez , Edwin Kho , Reisha Reynolds , Adam Stephenson , Michael Scott , Jeff Pope , Raymond Rehage Release Date December 13, 2024 Runtime 119 Minutes Main Genre Action Expand