Life is but a series of choices; every major and minor decision we make, in turn shapes our present and future, and the ones made in the direst of circumstances bring out the truest assessment of one’s character. Such life-altering choices are abundant in director Jaume Collet-Serra’s Carry-On, a gripping, adrenaline-pumping thriller revolving around a young TSA operative who finds himself caught in a deadly terrorist plot, one that forces him to make a choice between his beloved and the lives of hundreds of passengers. While the premise of the movie isn’t something very novel, the narrative intrigue is compelling enough to keep viewers on the edge of their seats when the ball gets rolling. The pacing of the narrative, the pulsating action sequences, and the strong characterization ensure that the two-hour runtime of the caper never feels sluggish for a moment. The movie also offers a look at the underappreciated, hectic lifestyle of airport security and ground crew and presents a humane angle by making even the most minor characters have a voice of their own.
Spoilers Ahead
The Traveler’s Plan
Carry-On opens on the night of Christmas Eve in Los Angeles, and a mysterious ‘Traveler’ comes into focus who meets up with Bratva member Olek and his nephew Yuri at their business front—a greenhouse. Olek supplies the Traveler with a trolley bag primed with cylinders of Novichok gas—an extremely deadly nerve agent developed by the Russians during the Cold War. In exchange, the Traveller pays him the promised amount—laced with potent contact poison which results in Olek’s death upon touching the cash, and after getting rid of Yuri by shooting him to death, the Traveller sets the greenhouse on fire and leaves. The brutal, efficient method of ensuring no loose end remains speaks much about the adept skills of the killer.Â
The Traveler, who remains unnamed till the final moments of the movie, is part of an unknown private mercenary/contractor group, which takes on extremely high-stakes assignments under the command of a cabal of influential people who manipulate global geopolitics through dastardly terrorism schemes. Their present target is Congresswoman Grace Turner, who wants the DTD—Defence for Threatened Democracies Act—to get passed in Congress, but hasn’t been able to do so. DTD is a product of the infamous interventionist tactics of the United States, which allows the States to assume control over smaller nations in the guise of strengthening their defense and makes private weapon manufacturers and contractors get filthy rich at the same time. However, Congress hasn’t supported DTD, which has prompted the secret cabal to assign Traveler to orchestrate a vicious act of terror by killing Grace and her co-passengers on the flight, which she will board on Christmas day to fly to Washington, DC, from LAX. The idea is to make the attack seem like it was planned by the Russians with the usage of Novichok, which will prove the necessity of DTD to Congress, and the defense contractors will become richer than ever.
Why Did The Traveler Choose Ethan?
The narrative focus shifts to Ethan Kopek, a TSA operative who has left his past life behind to be with his girlfriend, Nora Parisi, who works in LAX airport operations. Following his father’s aspirations, Ethan’s passion was to become a cop, but after getting rejected during selections on the first attempt, he never applied again. Ethan has been stuck with his job at the TSA for the last three years, and his lack of interest in his job has left him in a stagnant situation in his career. This holiday season should have fared better for him, as Nora has revealed the news of her pregnancy with him—but trying his best to pretend otherwise, Ethan is too nervous and burdened by the prospect of being a father when he hasn’t found a solid footing yet. Concerns for the future keep Ethan awake at night and occasionally distracted, which Nora doesn’t fail to notice, and she asks for the best Christmas present a supportive partner could have asked for—she requests Ethan to reapply to the police academy. Ethan is quite consciously unwilling to pursue the topic, the reason for which is revealed much later, and decides to ask his boss, Phil Sarkowski, chief of TSA, for a promotion. Ethan is eager to prove himself, and his colleague/close friend, Jason, decides to help him by offering up his position as carry-on inspection in-charge.
It should be mentioned at this point that the only reason Ethan was rejected the first time he went through the selection procedure in the police academy is because he lied on the polygraph test about not reporting a crime despite being witness to it. Ethan, who had seen his father committing a crime, had tried to cover up for him—and discovered in the most unlikely way that he was not a good liar at all. This is the reason as to why Ethan avoids the topic of reapplying to the academy, as the situation hits too close to home for him. Otherwise, he is physically and mentally more than capable of joining the force—a fact that Traveler and his associate, Watcher, do not initially realize as they start looking into his background. After finding out that Jason, who was supposed to be watching over the entrance of terminal seven of the airport—through which Traveler has decided to transport the nerve agent-laced trolley bag—has been replaced by Ethan, the duo of Watcher and Traveler rethink their strategy for a moment. The rest of the inspection officers in other terminals have much stronger resumes and better experience, whereas Ethan’s career record is pathetic, and it’s the first time he is taking up a new position, which makes him an automatic, easier choice for blackmailing in Traveler’s eyes. With Christmas Eve bringing in thousands of tourists, it was the worst time for Ethan to switch to inspection detail, and the most ideal time for the terrorist duo to sneak in their contraband without attracting too much attention in the jam-packed schedule.
Did Ethan provide a free pass to the contraband?
One of the female passengers in terminal seven hands Ethan a single wireless earpiece , mentioning it came with her belongings by mistake. By now, a third associate of Traveler and Watcher, who had initially gone to Jason’s residence to hold his family hostage to force him to comply with their demands, had improvised and gone to Ethan’s residence to find out about Nora and her present status of pregnancy. The Traveler had learned everything he needed to know about Ethan in order to force him into submission, and making him use the earpiece, he initiated the blackmailing session. Initially considering it to be a prank, Ethan soon realizes he is in a turbulent situation. The Traveler asks Ethan to simply turn a blind eye to the content of the trolley, which one of his men will carry, and let him pass. Any attempt to foil the plan will result in Nora’s demise, and Watcher is on constant lookout to keep Nora under his radar.
Ethan dials up 911 the first chance he gets, only to hang up after Traveler threatens him with Nora’s life. Panicked, Ethan struggles to keep a calm demeanor, prompting the Traveler, who has been watching over him, to decide to strike up a conversation to ease his mind and pry into Ethan’s past and personal life. Ethan’s sharp intuition, deductive skills, and perceptiveness allow him to piece together a number of verbal cues to rightly assume the background of the person in the nearby vicinity who might be the blackmailer, and he sends Lionel, a security officer, to apprehend the Traveler by delivering a secret message to him written on a boarding pass. However, the Traveler takes notice of this and kills Lionel without being detected by using a potent contact poison. Realizing he had underestimated Ethan, the Traveler meets with him face to face to make him realize that Nora will meet a similar fate if Ethan doesn’t comply. Returning to his position, Ethan finds out Jason has reassumed his position as Sarkowski didn’t want to put Ethan through much duress after experiencing the sudden demise of a colleague. This could very well botch the entire plan, and Ethan is forced to improvise to retake his position at inspection by throwing Jason under the bus by framing him for drinking while on duty. This causes a rift between the duo, but Ethan is truly helpless in this situation. Afterwards, he is forced to let Traveler’s passenger, who is carrying the contraband, pass through inspection—and manages to learn the name of the passenger—Mateo Flores. A guilt-ridden, distraught Ethan is forced to resume his regular routine like nothing ever happened and goes to have lunch with Nora like usual, without being able to tell her of the heinous conspiracy that has been going on.
How Did Detectives Elena and Herschel Assume About the Conspiracy?
On the other hand, LAPD Detective Elena, who has started investigating Olek’s murder, finds an audio bug in his watch, which her associate techie, Herschel, is able to somewhat restore despite it being in a burned-down condition. Elena is able to decipher the word Novichok and begins to assume the worst, as her intuitive feelings coupled with the heightened chances of a terror attack during the holiday season prompt her to do so. Elena calls Homeland Security to inform them about a potential threat, and their response is swift as Agent Alcott joins her investigation, much to the dismay of Elena’s superior, who is under the impression that Elena is making a mountain out of a molehill. Herschel learns about the 911 call made by Ethan earlier that day, and coupled with the news of Lionel, the security officer’s sudden demise, Elena concludes that LAX might be under threat and requests the airport authorities to conduct random inspections with the help of LAPD.
This unexpected development allows Ethan a chance to improvise as he puts Mateo’s name in the random inspection list by accessing Sarkowski’s scanner, knowing the blackmailer will be too busy to handle the situation at hand—he rushes to save Nora. However, Traveler manages to get the upper hand by sending the Watcher at the right time to threaten Ethan back to submission, and this time the duo engages in a scuffle in the restroom. Ethan holds Traveler at gunpoint, who remotely activates the timer on the nerve gas apparatus inside the trolley, forcing Ethan into a difficult situation once again. On the one hand, he could bring Traveler to the authorities and risk the lives of thousands of tourists and ground crew who will perish by the Novichok leak; on the other hand, he can go to apprehend Sarkowski, secure the trolley Mateo was carrying, and defuse the bomb manually and let things proceed according to the plan. Ethan wisely chooses the second option, but after arriving at the inspection room where Sarkowski is interrogating Mateo about the contents of the trolley, Ethan refuses to kill his boss, prompting Mateo to kill the TSA chief. It is revealed that, like Ethan, he too has been forced into the situation as Mateo’s husband, Jesse, has been abducted by the Watcher. The duo narrowly misses getting exposed when Ethan’s superior pays a visit to the room. Afterwards, they carry the trolley to the automated sorting area when Mateo is instructed by Traveler to kill Ethan if he wants to see his husband alive. A prolonged scuffle and chase ensues between the two, which ends in Mateo getting shot to death by deflected bullets from his own gun. Ethan uses Mateo’s phone to alert one of his colleagues, Eddie, to bring Nora to safety.
Meanwhile, Elena decides to go to LAX to check on the situation, and Agent Alcott accompanies her, but from the intel provided by Herschel, Elena realizes that the person by her side has been impersonating the real Alcott all along. As Elena confronts the imposter, the duo engage in a grueling fight inside a speeding car, which ends with Elena killing the operative—who was also an associate of Traveler and Watcher. Possibly this was the third guy who was breaking into Jason and Ethan’s residence earlier as well. Upon reaching LAX, Elena begins searching for Ethan.
Was Traveler Able to Take the Trolley Airborne?
In the meantime, Traveler arrives at the sorting by himself to take the trolley and eliminate Ethan, who remains undetected and tries to do a switcheroo by switching the trolleys—and his final attempt to trick the blackmailer fails as well as he uses a tracking device attached to the trolley to detect the right one. As the Traveler departs, Elena comes across Ethan while looking for him in the sorting area and suspects foul play, but Ethan manages to temporarily incapacitate her in order to rush to save Nora. Before storming off, Ethan provides thorough details about the perpetrator and his belongings while maintaining that he is innocent in all this. Elena chooses to let him go and orders a complete halt on seventh terminal flights, the access way where Ethan was inspecting. The Watcher goes on to hunt down Nora after Traveler commands him to do so, and injures Eddie while chasing Nora across the airport. Even with Ethan arriving at the right time, it seems the couple will face the worst—until a captive Jesse manages to free himself and guns down the Watcher.
With the carrier, Mateo, deceased, Traveler decides to board the flight himself as a last-minute contingency plan. The female passenger who handed Ethan the earpiece in the first place is revealed to be in cahoots with the Traveler as well, as she provides him with her boarding pass and a parachute for safe escape. The Traveler boards the flight but is unable to keep the trolley in the overhead bin due to size issues, prompting a hostess to take it to the hold. The final twist comes in the form of the congresswoman and the Traveler boarding a different flight altogether, which doesn’t match with Mateo’s boarding pass, which was merely used as a decoy. However, as Ethan reveals everything to Nora and the duo search for the security tag attached in the trolley, they are able to learn about the situation. But Ethan knows if security is alerted, the blackmailer will simply trigger the nerve gas apparatus remotely, which will result in a massacre. Ethan plans to risk his life by boarding the plane and manually deactivating the bomb. There is a possibility that the trolley size issue was Ethan’s handiwork, his last-ditch attempt to stop the blackmailer.
Herschel’s research reveals the entire ploy to Elena, and after realizing that the attack is going to take place on the plane the congresswoman is boarding, she decides to stop the flight from taking off. However, following Ethan’s instructions, Nora calls Elena to provide her with the basic gist of the situation—requesting her to let the flight go airborne. Putting the lives of hundreds of passengers at risk, Elena decides to put her trust in Ethan and allows the flight to take off.
Was Ethan Able To Save The Day?
During Carry-On’s ending, Ethan manages to enter the flight from the luggage section, and as the flight goes airborne, he proceeds to identify the trolley and bring the apparatus outside. Noticing the warning signal going off, Traveler realizes that a relentless Ethan has managed to find a way to foil his plans, and he enters the hold as well. As the duo engages in a fight, the pilots notice a disturbance and decide to perform an emergency landing in LAX. At the end, Ethan manages to trap the Traveler inside a fridge and blasts the canister of Novichok inside, bringing a brutal end to the terrorist.Â
As the flight lands, Ethan gets flanked by security, but Elena vouches for him—now that Ethan has proven his mettle by saving the lives of hundreds of passengers. Ethan and Nora reunite, and Elena expresses her gratitude while praising Ethan for his bravery and skills. It is possibly through her encouragement that, a year later, Ethan is revealed to have become an officer in LAPD a year later and is taking Nora and their child to Tahiti—like he had promised his wife on Christmas vacation. A happy father, Ethan is now content with his professional life, and the misunderstanding he had with Jason has been resolved, as Jason is seen accompanying them on the vacation along with his family. The movie ends with holiday spirits high in Ethan and with a reminder of how thankless the job of service provider/support personnel is.
