Jason Bateman Is A Villain In Netflix’s Christmas Action Thriller

Netflix has a holiday gift for fans of trash cinema. Jaume Collet-Serra, the director of “Non-Stop,” is returning to the skies for a new action film, this one entitled “Carry-On.” Collet-Serra is a maestro of this particular genre, having devoted a good chunk of his career to making ludicrous Liam Neeson action thrillers that are often ludicrously entertaining, and this one looks like it’s cut from that same cloth. 

Taron Egerton (“Kingsman: The Secret Service,” “Rocketman”) stars as a TSA agent who has to outsmart a mysterious terrorist figure, played by Jason Bateman (“Arrested Development”), who demands that the TSA agent let a dangerous package slip through security at an airport, or else the terrorist will kill someone the agent loves. It’s the type of high-drama, “what would you do?” scenario that permeated action movies in the ’80s and ’90s, and it looks like this could be a fun way to kill a couple of hours around the holidays.

There is no shortage of Christmas movies out there, but when you narrow the parameters to Christmas-themed action movies, the list gets significantly shorter. “Die Hard” will always be at the top of the mountain, and “Carry-On” will also come out in the shadow of “Die Hard 2,” which is also set at an airport, but I welcome new contenders for Christmas action movie supremacy — at the very least, it’s fun to see filmmakers try to scramble their way to the apex, even if they stumble along the way.

Collet-Serra could definitely use a win after his recent one-two punch of mediocrity, directing “Jungle Cruise” and “Black Adam,” but thankfully, Dwayne Johnson is nowhere to be seen here, so there’s some hope this could actually end up being worthwhile. And thankfully, we know the director has it in him to capitalize on a premise like this, since his filmography includes movies like “The Commuter,” “Run All Night,” “Unknown,” and the surprisingly great Blake Lively shark film “The Shallows.” TJ Fixman, who has spent most of his career thus far working on various “Ratchet & Clank” video games and the 2016 movie, wrote the screenplay for “Carry-On” (how’s that for a change of pace?). Will this be a new Christmas classic, tossed in the rotation for years to come? Or will it be a sleeker version of “Getaway,” the abysmal 2013 “thriller” starring Ethan Hawke and Jon Voight that currently ranks as Hawke’s worst movie on Rotten Tomatoes?

Egerton is a winning presence on screen, the supporting cast (which includes names like Danielle Deadwyler, Logan Marshall-Green, and Dean Norris) is solid, and I’m curious how Bateman will handle playing against type as the mysterious villain at the center of this story. We’ll find out how it all comes together when “Carry-On” hits Netflix on December 13, 2024.