Carry-On

I was about to put this in the 5-star or possible 6-star category if you turned your brain off. But then it happened.

This is LAX, one of the busiest airports in the world. This is Christmas Eve, one of the busiest travel days in the world. Why is this important?

This entire movie is based upon ex machina. There are about 20+ situations that depends on perfect coincidence to make this movie works.

Empty bathrooms-check Empty baggage claims-check Empty parking lot-check No security at TSA checkpoint-check TSA agents leaving their posts and no one notices.

No 911 calls, or someone talking to a police-check. Bad guys finding their targets in LAX just by coincidence(9 times).

And biggest grievance. How the solution was done.

This movie is a sad indication that A. I. wrote this story. It is just painful.

This movie has a great premise, great actors, great characters. Unfortunately, the longer the movie goes on, the more frustrating it gets. The characters continue to make decisions that make ZERO sense. The plot also falls apart quickly everything is so quickly able to be solved if the characters used any common sense.

I figured it would be an mindless action thriller. It is an action thriller, but it's hard to be mindless with how obvious the characters are making bad decision after bad decision. Too many to be even remotely believable.

Again, all the actors did a great job with their characters, there are just so many obvious flaws in the story and plot that the movie became frustrating as it end on.

Okay, so it kept me entertained enough to watch it until the end, however, the ending was very predictable and no twist/shock to make it more interesting. Also, there are some moments where you need to suspend belief as otherwise, you'll be rolling your eyes.

Not sure about the casting for the 'bad guy'- having watched Jason Bateman in other roles, it just didn't sit right with me and the sniper, well, preposterous!

The film is a cross between Die Hard and Phone Booth but doesn't quite pull it off, although, if you haven't nothing else to watch, it's not a bad choice to while away a few hours.

Could we be slowly getting back to the good ol days of mid-90s action thriller's...? I really think we are getting close, it's just the quality isnt quite there just yet. To sustain the level of tension and suspenseful moments throughout takes time, patience and a really tightly paced script. This one has its moments...

As a Netflix produced Christmas time thriller, it was OK... Coming in at 2hrs it maybe overstays it welcome just a tad, however the simple plot, good actors, and one central location for the most part gives it some good points. This was actually a really good late adternoon viewing and you don't need to know anything plot wise going in, or even have seen the trailer or thumbnail on your Netflix homepage. Best to just hit play and let the story unfold as you get into the characters, and their motivations.

I don't think anything could ever top the original speed from 1994, however these types of genre films are very important to any movie fan, especially those who lived through the 90s...

Give this one a go...

As formulaic a film as you will find. That doesn't mean it's bad. It just means that while this is competently made, it doesn't exhibit an original thought at any point. It's sort of a Die Hard with somewhat of a wimp as the hero. I can't say I've been a big fan of Taron Egerton, our hero here, but his career did seem to take a new and startlingly terrific new direction with Rocketman and the fine mini-series Black Bird, but now there is this?! He does okay here, but it's not the best career move I can think of. Our hero's villain is played by the usually well liked Jason Bateman, but he doesn't fit this role to me and Sofia Carson, speaking of AI, does indeed look like something created by a computer. Danielle Deadwyler does what she's supposed to do well enough, but this is just a paycheck role for someone this talented. Theo Rossi is on the villain's team and stuck in a van wasted for most of the pic, but when he is finally let loose, he is gleefully evil and the most enjoyable of all to watch. The film is as far-fetched as Die Hard, just much lesser thrills, humor and excitement. It does contain some suspense and it is quite watchable and also reminiscent of Die Hard, it all takes place at Christmas!