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Image via Netflix
Netflix's Carry-On is an exciting, thrilling, action-packed film poised to create a new series of arguments in the "Christmas films" debate. Led by Taron Egerton and Jason Bateman, Carry-On is a cat-and-mouse thriller set on LAX on Christmas Eve. Taron Egerton stars as a TSA agent who is blackmailed by a mysterious voice to let through a potentially disastrous package.
Carry-On is the latest in a long line of similarly themed cat-and-mouse films. Eagle-eyed viewers might have noticed the fingerprints of earlier thrillers, ranging from the location to the film's claustrophobic tone to the villain's MO. For audiences just coming off their Carry-On high and eager to remain in the feel and thrill of the world, these are some films that perfectly evoke similar excitement.
Release Date December 13, 2024
Runtime 119 Minutes
Writers Michael Green , T.J. Fixman
10 'The Negotiator' (1998)
Directed by F. Gary Gray
Image via Warner Brothers
Samuel L. Jackson boasts so many rewatchable films that a lot were inevitably going to fall through the cracks. One such film that has been lost to history is the 1998 F. Gary Gray-directed The Negotiator. Samuel L. Jackson stars as Danny Roman, a top police hostage negotiator in Chicago. When he is accused of embezzlement and murder, he takes an Internal Affairs investigator hostage to prove his innocence. Another negotiator arrives to hear his demands, and the film becomes a stand-off between the experienced negotiators.
The Negotiator is a very good, albeit talkier, version of the genre. While it still has the action and thrills in Carry-On's vein, it focuses more on the interactions between the two negotiators and unravels the criminal conspiracy. It's a pulpy, twisty thriller that keeps audiences engaged, mostly due to the excellent performances at its center.
The Negotiator
Release Date July 29, 1998
Runtime 139 Minutes
Writers James DeMonaco , Kevin Fox
9 'Panic Room' (2002)
Directed by David Fincher
Image via Columbia Pictures
In David Fincher's Panic Room, Jodie Foster plays a single mother who must protect her daughter when armed burglars break into their new home. Jodie Foster's Meg Altman and her daughter, played by a young Kristen Stewart, have to fend off the burglars who are seemingly one step ahead of them for most of the film's runtime. Panic Room is an entertaining and highly rewatchable thriller and was a box office success.
While Panic Room and Carry-On don't share any immediately obvious story connections, they are linked by their similarly intense and paranoid feel. Like Taron Egerton's TSA Agent, Meg is on the back foot from the start of the ordeal and must use her intelligence and some quick thinking to outsmart the burglars. Both films also boast sleek and efficient directing that contributes to their thrilling nature.
Release Date March 29, 2002
Runtime 112 minutes
Writers David Koepp
8 'Air Force One' (1997)
Directed by Wolfgang Petersen
Image via Sony Pictures Releasing
"Get off my plane". Perhaps the most memorable airplane film, or certainly, the one with the most memorable line, Wolfgang Petersen's Air Force One sees Harrison Ford as President of the United States, a reasonable jump for one of cinema's most charismatic leading men. When Air Force One is hijacked by neo-Soviet terrorists, Ford's President James Marshall has to retake control of the plane.
More of a straightforward action film than Carry-On's cat-and-mouse game, Air Force One still provides many of the same thrills that Carry-One excels at. Taron Egerton's character may not be President, but in the end, both he and Ford's President are idealistic family men trying their best to protect everyone around them. Air Force One's plane setting helps to accentuate its similarities to the Netflix film.
Air Force One
Release Date July 25, 1997
Runtime 124 minutes
Writers Andrew W. Marlowe
7 'Unknown' (2011)
Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra
Image Via Warner Bros.
In 2011's Unknown, a professor (Liam Neeson) has to prove his identity after he wakes up from a four-day coma and no one recognizes him, including his wife. To make things worse, another man is pretending to be him. The film was the first of four collaborations between Liam Neeson and director Jaume Collet-Serra.
Collet-Serra, who also directed Carry-On, is an excellent action director, and in Unknown, he moves the story along with efficient pacing. Like Carry-On, Unknown asks the most important action film question, "What would you do in this situation?" Most of Carry-On's success relies on the fact that the situation can happen to an average TSA worker, helping the audience empathize with the lead character. Similarly, in Unknown, we believe that Liam Neeson's professor character is an average person caught in the middle of a conspiracy bigger than him.
Unknown
Release Date February 16, 2011
Runtime 113 minutes
Writers Oliver Butcher
6 'Red Eye' (2005)
Directed by Wes Craven
Image via DreamWorks Pictures
Planes, a murder plot and blackmail. Red Eye has all the makings for a perfect Carry-On follow-up. In one of the late, great Wes Craven's final films, Cillian Murphy plays a domestic terrorist who charms and blackmails a fellow traveler, Lisa (Rachel McAdams). Just as Taron Egerton's Ethan is blackmailed because of his unique job allocation, Lisa is blackmailed because of her job as a hotel manager and her access to a Government official's room.
Red Eye is a thrilling and nerve-wracking film that may have more on its mind than it initially lets on. It shares a lot of the characteristics that made Carry-On an excellent watch, including using its built-in time constraint to its advantage. Like most films of its ilk, it isn't a mystery as to whether the protagonist will get one over their blackmailer, but the fun is in how they do it.
Release Date August 19, 2005
Runtime 85 Minutes
Writers Carl Ellsworth
5 'Speed' (1994)
Directed by Jan de Bont
Image via 20th Century Studios
There's a bus; if it goes below 50 miles per hour, it will explode. With Speed, Graham Yost and Jan de Bont created what may be the greatest elevator pitch ever. Starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock, Speed became an instant critical and commercial hit. In the film, an extortionist (Dennis Hopper) plants an explosive on a bus that will detonate if the bus goes below 50 miles per hour. It is an adrenaline-fueled theatrical experience that remains as exciting as when it debuted 30 years ago.
Both Speed and Carry-On are exciting, tense thrillers that successfully keep increasing their stakes. The films use the time constraints in their premises excellently and leave little room for fluff or unnecessary material. Perhaps, above all, Speed and Carry-On effectively take everyday scenarios and transform them into manifestations of common anxieties.
Release Date June 10, 1994
Runtime 116 minutes
Writers Graham Yost
4 'The Commuter' (2018)
Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra
Image via Lionsgate
2018's The Commuter is the latest collaboration between Liam Neeson and Jaume Collet-Serra. In the train-set film, Liam Neeson plays a retired police officer turned insurance agent who gets approached by a mysterious stranger (Vera Farmiga) on his daily commute. She offers him $100,000 to find a passenger on the train who allegedly possesses stolen property. Like Ethan in Carry-On, he quickly realizes that his participation is a demand and not a request.
Like Neeson and Collet-Serra's previous collaborations, The Commuter is an entertaining roller-coaster ride. Despite employing familiar tropes, it keeps them fun instead of predictable. Like Carry-On, The Commuter's villain is perpetually steps ahead of its hero, repeatedly thwarting whichever way Liam Neeson's Michael tries to get out of the situation. This approach makes his journey to eventually out-maneuvering her an entertaining and unpredictable one for the audience.
The Commuter
Release Date January 11, 2018
Runtime 104 Minutes
Writers Philip de Blasi , Byron Willinger , Ryan Engle
3 'Die Hard 2' (1990)
Directed by Renny Harlin
Image via 20th Century Studios
1988's Die Hard is one of the most influential action films of the last half a century. The film spawned a franchise of five Die Hard films and became a catch-all term for a film set in a specific, restrictive location where the hero faces overwhelming odds. In Die Hard 2, Bruce Willis returns as John McClane, this time tasked with stopping a terrorist plot at an airport on Christmas Eve.
Carry-On in itself already qualifies as a "Die Hard" movie thanks to the importance of its location (the airport) and its hero (Ethan, a regular TSA Agent) being forced to fight a conspiracy bigger than him. While fans of the action genre should definitely watch all the films in the franchise, Die Hard 2's time setting at Christmas (something the first film employed as well) and location setting at an airport make it the most similar to Carry-On out of the five films. It's also almost certainly set to start a new version of the "Is Die Hard a Christmas film debate."
Die Hard 2
Release Date July 3, 1990
Runtime 124 Minutes
Writers Steven E. de Souza , Doug Richardson
2 'Phone Booth' (2002)
Directed by Joel Schumacher
Image via 20th Century Studios
When Colin Farrell's Stuart Shepard answers a phone call in a New York City phone booth, he has no idea that it will alter the rest of his life. Initially tempted to hang up the call, he is forced to stay on, first because of the caller's extensive knowledge about his private life and eventually because of the rifle the caller has trained on him. It is an intriguing and exciting premise that the film's screenwriter, Larry Cohen, first pitched almost 40 years prior.
Phone Booth shares Carry-On's most essential tenet: a normal person thrust into an abnormal situation that they can't get out of and becomes increasingly tense, dangerous, and ultimately life-threatening. While Kiefer Sutherland's villain in Phone Booth would argue that he had more altruistic intentions than Jason Bateman's, it doesn't make either film less harrowing or the protagonist's desire to protect their friends and family less desperate.
Release Date April 4, 2003
Runtime 81 minutes
Writers Larry Cohen
1 'Non-Stop' (2014)
Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra
Image via Universal Pictures
Arguably the most entertaining out of the Neeson and Collet-Serra collaborations, Non-Stop finds Neeson as an alcoholic, ex-NYPD officer turned United States Air Marshal who must stop a terror plot...this time on a plane. Joining Neeson in the film is a deep bench of impressive actors, including Julianne Moore, Corey Stoll, Scoot McNairy, Michelle Dockery and Lupita Nyong'o. This deep cast also aids the film's mystery element as the audience is kept guessing as to the identity of the terrorist till the film decides to reveal it.
For fans of Carry-On, Non-Stop is the perfect follow-up, and not just because they both have double-barreled titles. Although ten years apart, Jaume Collet-Serra directs both films with similar efficiency and showmanship when needed. While Carry-On is mostly confined to the airport, Non-Stop is almost entirely confined to an airplane, giving it a more claustrophobic feel than the already enclosed Carry-On. The perfect mix of suspense and action, Non-Stop is the right follow-up to the Netflix thriller.
Release Date February 26, 2014
Runtime 106 Minutes
Writers John W. Richardson , Christopher Roach , Ryan Engle
English (US) ·