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    How Does Ethan Save the Day?

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    How Does Ethan Save the Day?

    Warning: Spoilers for Carry-On.

    The newest action thriller from Netflix, Carry-On, just dropped on the platform, and it’s quite an enjoyable wild ride. Set amid the hustle and bustle of LAX airport on Christmas Eve, the movie could easily become everyone’s favorite holiday rewatch, especially for all the people who think Die Hard is a Christmas movie. Carry-On follows Ethan Kopek (Taron Egerton), a TSA officer who just found out he and his girlfriend, Nora Parisi (Sofia Carson), are expecting their first child.

    After failing to make it through to the police academy, after lying on his polygraph test, Ethan has spent the last few years seemingly void of any real personal dreams or aspirations, clearly scared to apply to the academy again. Having remained rather stagnant as a TSA officer, he decides to discuss a possible promotion with his boss now that he’s going to be a father. As a trial run, Ethan is placed on the x-ray machine, a position originally allocated to his friend, who was more than happy to give it up for the day to help his buddy prove himself. However, such a switch sets Ethan up for a day he’ll certainly never forget.

    Almost immediately, Ethan is given an earpiece connected to a mysterious traveler (Jason Bateman) who informs him he must comply with the traveler’s directions otherwise his girlfriend will die. Whenever a specified passenger enters the line, Ethan must let the man and his carry-on luggage skirt through security regardless of what he sees on the x-ray screen. As expected, Ethan attempts to circumvent the traveler’s orders and let the authorities know, but he’s quickly met with resistance because the traveler and his associate, the watcher (Theo Rossi), have eyes everywhere.

    When he does manage to slip a police officer a note, the traveler intersects the officer and kills him via a nerve agent that mimics a heart attack. From then on, it becomes quite clear that Ethan is not the one in control, no matter how hard he might try to outsmart the mysterious traveler.

    What Passes Through Security in ‘Carry-On’ and Why?

    At the beginning of the film, the traveler encounters a pair of Russians who he kills before acquiring a black suitcase with a red ribbon. Inside the suitcase is an extremely deadly Russian nerve agent known as Novichok, which the traveler plans to slip past airport security via a courier, Mateo Flores (Tonatiuh), and unleash on a plane full of people. Despite how the situation may appear, the traveler makes it clear that he’s not a terrorist. Rather, he’s the man people hire to get things done, no matter what that might be. In this case, he was hired by private military contractors to take out Congresswoman Grace Turner (Jill Flint).

    As Chair of the Armed Forces Committee, Turner proposed the Defense of Threatened Democracies Act (DTD), which she claims will protect threatened democracies all over the world, something a country like Russia doesn’t like. If passed, such a bill would certainly line the pockets of private contractors. However, it doesn’t have the votes and is unlikely to pass. Because of this, the traveler was brought in to have the congresswoman killed as a set-up to make private military contractors rich. If they can make it appear as though the Russians assassinated a congresswoman on American soil because of the DTD, then Congress would undoubtedly rally behind her bill. Once passed, the floodgates of funding would open for those who would benefit most from the bill: private military contractors.

    An edited image of The Gift

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    How Does Ethan Prevent the Attack?

    With Mateo dead, the traveler is forced to courier the device himself. However, he doesn’t plan to be a martyr and is equipped with a parachute. When the carry-on doesn’t fit in the overhead bin, because Ethan switched the cases, the flight attendant places it below the plane with the other checked bags. Although irritated, the traveler can still control the device from his phone. However, unbeknownst to the traveler, Ethan was able to board the plane’s cargo hold while it was stalled on the taxiway. Having defused the device once before, thanks to the traveler’s instructions, he plans to do it again.

    Taron Egerton in Carry-On.

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    Once there in the sky, Ethan locates the device and manually overrides its remote activation abilities. When the traveler is alerted to this, he sneaks below and shoots Ethan. Now aware of a gun onboard, the plane turns around to make an emergency landing back at LAX. The pair battle it out before Ethan is able to shove the traveler into a vacuum sealed fridge along with the nerve agent he managed to remove from the device, which promptly breaks and unleashes the toxin. Rather gruesomely, the traveler finally meets his demise. Once the plane lands and everyone makes it out safely, Ethan becomes a hero.

    The film then jumps ahead one year to the following Christmas Eve as Ethan and Nora are on the way to Tahiti with their baby. As they happily go through airport security, Ethan tosses his LAPD badge into one of the x-ray bins before walking through the metal detector. Clearly no longer afraid, Ethan’s personal aspirations were reignited and ultimately fulfilled. Carry-On is currently streaming on Netflix.

    Originally Published Here.

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