Airports during the holidays truly don’t normally intrigue us, but we might make an exception for Netflix’s Carry-On. After all, we’d definitely be excited if we heard Emmy nominee and Golden Globe winner Taron Egerton was there.
Two months ahead of the film’s release, Netflix shared the poster and first teaser trailer for its holiday action thriller, Carry-On. The poster honestly doesn’t tell us much besides the fact the film stars Egerton, Sofia Carson and Jason Bateman and involves a suitcase — and presumably travel. The Carry-On teaser trailer truly lives up to the name of teaser trailer, simply giving us a sneak peek at the story.
Bateman’s nameless character, credited as “Traveler,” is the catalyst of the film, blackmailing TSA agent Ethan Kopek (Egerton) into allowing a seemingly dangerous suitcase through security during the busy holiday travel season. In classic storytelling fashion, if Ethan doesn’t submit to Traveler’s orders, the woman he loves, Nora (Carson), will die. This isn’t the first time Egerton’s portrayed a character in distress who must save his loved ones, and we’re sure it won’t be the last. With a few months until the film’s release, Netflix has definitely left us with more questions than answers with the Carry-On teaser trailer.
Who is Jason Bateman’s Carry-On character?
Logically, Bateman’s nameless character of “Traveler” won’t tell Ethan who he is. But as viewers, of course we’re curious. Who is he and how does he know Ethan? To blackmail someone, you need information on that person, so he has to have some sort of connection to the TSA agent. Was Traveler looking specifically for a TSA agent to blackmail so he could get this luggage through the airport, or is it all personal?
Who did Traveler set on fire?
About 10 seconds into the trailer, Bateman’s character sets a presumably dead body on the ground on fire. By placing this clip towards the start of the Carry-On trailer, it’s deemed as important to the story. Who is this person, and what happened?
What’s in the suitcase?
It’s an obvious question but an important one. The contents of the luggage could also tell us more about the story. If it’s some sort of weapon or explosive, that makes us think Traveler simply wants to physically hurt others. At one point in the Carry-On teaser, Bateman’s character says, “You got 10 minutes before everybody in this airport dies.” But doing that through the suitcase seems too easy and not enough to demolish the entire airport.
If it’s an illegal substance, perhaps he needs to bring it to someone for money. Lots of things are prohibited in airports and carry-on suitcases nowadays, so it could be something we wouldn’t even think of.
How does Ethan get the suitcase through?
We understand how hectic the airport of all places can get during peak travel seasons, like Christmastime. Lots of people are traveling, and lots of people are working. But with all of those TSA agents working, how did no one else see the suitcase in the scanner? Sometimes TSA rummages through completely safe suitcases because the scanner identifies things like a coin purse full of change. The Carry-On teaser even includes a clip around the 50-second mark of another TSA agent handling the suitcase with gloves in a mysteriously dark room. Will Ethan have to confess to a colleague that he’s being blackmailed?
Watch the Carry-On teaser trailer below:
Carry-On comes to Netflix on Friday, Dec. 13.
