Carry-On: 10 Biggest Plot Holes, Headscratchers, And Moments That Just Don’t Make Sense

Warning: major spoilers for Netflix’s Carry-On.

Carry-On has joined the catalog of Netflix action movies, and while it’s very entertaining, it leaves some plot holes, questions, and moments that simply don’t make sense. Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra and written by Dylan Clark, Carry-On takes place at the Los Angeles airport on Christmas Eve, one of the most chaotic days of the year at airports. Carry-On follows Ethan Kopek (Taron Egerton), a TSA officer who, after asking his boss for a promotion as his girlfriend, Nora (Sofia Carson), is pregnant, is assigned to manage a baggage-scanning lane.

Ethan’s shift takes a disturbing turn when he’s given a supposedly forgotten earbud and is instructed to put it on. Ethan begins to receive clear instructions from a man simply referred to as the Traveler (Jason Bateman), who tells him to let his associate pass regardless of what he sees in his suitcase – and if Ethan doesn’t do this, Nora will be killed. Carry-On goes from thriller to action movie and quickly loses its ground, and while this doesn’t make it any less entertaining, it does leave many plot holes, questions, and nonsensical moments.

10

Carry-On Never Explains How Olek Was Killed

An Unsolved Dead Right At The Beginning

Olek in Carry-on

Carry-On opens with the Traveler, hiding in the shadows, entering a greenhouse where he meets a Russian man named Olek. The Traveler hands Olek a bag of money and Olek gives him the keys to a car, where he will find what he came for in the trunk. However, when Olek opens the bag to check the money, seconds later he starts coughing blood and dies on the spot. Olek’s nephew, Yuri, runs back into the greenhouse immediately, only to be killed by the Traveler before he sets the place on fire.

The police eventually get to the burned greenhouse and identify Olek and Yuri’s bodies, revealing they had been following their tracks. However, it’s never explained by the police nor anyone else in Carry-On how Olek was killed, as he didn’t have any direct contact with the Traveler, so it’s possible that the money was poisoned, but even then, there are many questions about Olek’s death.

9

Killing Nora At The Airport Isn’t The Best Idea

Not The Traveler’s Brightest Plan

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Ethan’s girlfriend, Nora Parisi, also works at the airport but in a completely different area, which makes it a lot easier for the Traveler and his people to keep an eye on both. However, threatening to kill Nora at the airport and actually having a sniper ready to shoot at her at any moment isn’t a smart idea. Unlike Jason’s (Sinqua Walls) family, who are leaving the house while being observed by the Traveler’s men, Nora is at one of the busiest places in the city – of course there would be evidence of who did it and from where.

Shooting her at the airport would have led to the whole place being on lockdown and thus the plane they planned to blow up wouldn’t have left.

In addition to that, and supposing Ethan wouldn’t have done what the Traveler told him to and they had to kill Nora, shooting her at the airport would have led to the whole place being on lockdown and thus the plane they planned to blow up wouldn’t have left. They could have still carried on with their plan and killed a lot more people at the airport, but they would have been caught a lot easier.

8

Somehow, The Traveler Never Raises Any Suspicion At The Airport

He Passes All The Filters Without Suspicion

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Airport security, especially at the biggest and busiest airports in the world, is high, but for some reason, it isn’t at the LAX on Christmas Eve in Carry-On. The Traveler has already passed security filters by the time he sets his plan into motion, and he has everything to raise suspicions at any airport: all dressed in black, wearing a cap all the time, carrying a backpack, and always looking down to not show his face.

On top of that, the Traveler carries poison in his backpack, and yet, that doesn’t raise any flags at the airport at any moment. This could be explained by adding yet another target to his plan before he started talking to Ethan, someone who would have let him pass all filters without a problem, but it still doesn’t make sense given all the cameras all over the airport.

7

The Traveler’s People Should Have Known About Ethan’s Failed Polygraph Test

They Knew Everything… Except That

Taron Egerton looking at monitors in Carry-On

The Traveler has a team that makes background checks on their targets so they can blackmail them a lot easier. Ethan isn’t supposed to be their target, but they still manage to get all his information on time. Thanks to this, the Traveler knows all about Ethan’s education, relationship, family, and more, but for some reason, he doesn’t know about his past at the police academy and why he failed. Ethan is the one who tells him about it, revealing he failed his polygraph test.

Taron Egerton in uniform touching his earpiece in Carry-On

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The reason why Ethan failed the police academy’s polygraph test is also revealed by Ethan the more he talks to the Traveler, who makes assumptions and deductions based on what Ethan reveals to him. The Traveler should have known about the polygraph test and why Ethan failed, but maybe his team wasn’t skilled enough to get that information.

6

The Traveler’s Associate Manages To Sneak In A Parachute

Another Example Of Bad Airport Security In Carry-On

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The Traveler isn’t the only one who passes through the airport’s security without a problem and never raises suspicions – so does one of his associates. While Ethan is doing his job, a young woman with blue hair shows him the tray and tells him that the earbud isn’t hers, so he takes it to keep it in “lost and found.” However, he gets a message telling him to put the earbud on and act normal while he gets instructions from the Traveler.

It’s later revealed that part of the Traveler’s plan is to escape the plane with a parachute and leave the rest to die – and for that, he’s handed a parachute by that same woman with blue hair. The woman might have stolen it from somewhere inside the airport and given it to the Traveler, but that also raises many questions about how and why she wasn’t caught.

5

They Don’t Need A Sniper If They Want To Kill Nora

If They Are Going To Do It, There Are Better Ways

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Another thing that doesn’t make sense about the Traveler’s plan in Carry-On involving Nora is how they planned to kill her. As mentioned above, shooting her from the airport’s parking lot isn’t a smart idea, as had they done so, the airport would have been closed and they would have all been caught. On top of that, and given the methods they proved to have, a sniper keeping an eye on Nora was completely unnecessary and they could have killed her in more discreet ways.

The Traveler or any of his associates could have posed as a regular traveler and approached Nora, passing the poison on to her.

The Traveler carries poison, and at one point, he uses it to kill one of the airport’s officers and Ethan’s friend. This substance is very strong and quick, and it would have been a lot more discreet than shooting Nora. The Traveler or any of his associates could have posed as a regular traveler and approached Nora, passing the poison on to her and killing her on the spot… but no.

4

Carry-On’s Lionel Is Killed Too Easily

R.I.P. Lionel

Lionel Williams TSA in Carry-On

The plan to kill Nora is unnecessarily complicated, and other deaths in Carry-On are just too easy and borderline nonsensical. Falling into the latter category is Lionel’s death, Ethan’s colleague and friend, who gives him a stain remover that Ethan later uses to write a message in “invisible” ink warning Lionel about the Traveler’s plan. However, the Traveler catches Ethan, and because he’s not supposed to say anything to anyone, he shows him the consequences of his actions.

Image of Ethan Kopek and the Traveler in Carry-On

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The Traveler bumps into Lionel, who seconds later falls to his knees and dies on the spot. It’s later revealed in Carry-On that Lionel was killed by a substance that caused him a heart attack, which was given to him through a scratch on his hand when he bumped into the Traveler. What doesn’t make sense is not just how fast and easily Lionel is killed, but also how the Traveler managed to bring the poison through the airport’s security.

3

Elena Cole Isn’t Very Smart, After All

Elena Cole Makes A Very Questionable Move

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At the beginning of the Traveler’s conversations with Ethan, the latter sneakily calls 911 but is caught by the Traveler’s watcher, forcing him to hang up when the operator picks up. This, along with the discovery of Olek’s burned greenhouse and the smuggling of Novichok into the country, leads the Los Angeles Police Department to investigate Ethan and the airport. Detective Elena Cole (Danielle Deadwyler) is on the case, and she alerts the Department of Homeland Security.

Cole is later on her way to the airport with DHS agent John Alcott (Logan Marshall-Green), but while in the car, she discovers that he’s not who he claims to be, and, instead, he’s one of the Traveler’s associates. Cole immediately reacts and attacks the fake Alcott, making way for Carry-On’s biggest action scene… but it doesn’t make sense.

As an LAPD detective, Cole should have known better and not attacked the fake Alcott while driving on a surprisingly not-very-busy highway in Los Angeles. Cole’s reckless decision made way for one of the most praised and also most criticized scenes in Carry-On, but a wiser move would have been expected from her.

2

Ethan Should Have Called 911, Not Eddie

Ethan Isn’t Thinking Straight

Eddie in Carry-On

After resetting the bomb, Ethan gives up and takes the earbud off. However, he still has to stop the Traveler from exploding an entire plane full of passengers, but he also has to make sure Nora is safe. Ethan texts his colleague (and amateur rapper) Eddie (Gil Perez-Abraham) and tells him to take Nora to a safe place, while also alerting him about the bomb. Of course, the Traveler isn’t going to let this happen and sends the Watcher (Theo Rossi) after them.

By then, Ethan no longer cares about alerting others about the bomb, so for some reason, he decides to put his colleague at risk rather than call 911. Ethan’s terrible decision leads to Eddie almost dying in the same way as Lionel, but luckily, Carry-On shows that he survives, but all that trouble could have been avoided.

1

Ethan Enters The Cargo Area Of A Moving Plane

Ethan Went Full-On Action Star

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Carry-On loses its ground the more it develops, and the cherry on top is Ethan’s final act to save the plane. Despite Ethan’s best efforts, the Traveler boards the plane with the bomb, which he’s forced to send to the cargo area after Ethan switches the bomb into an identical but slightly larger suitcase (and, somehow, he does so without setting off the bomb). Ethan then drives to the moving plane, opens the cargo area, and jumps into it. Once there, he resets the bomb and fights the Traveler.

Of course, the whole fight inside the cargo hold is pretty nonsensical, but how easily Ethan jumps inside the cargo area while the plane is moving and the pilots brushing off the alert of an open door are even more nonsensical. And yet, with all these plot holes, questions, and nonsense, Carry-On is a very entertaining action movie that is best enjoyed without giving much thought to logic.

Carry-On Official Poster

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Carry-On

PG-13

Carry On is a film directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, focusing on a young TSA agent who is coerced by a mysterious traveler into allowing a dangerous package onto a Christmas Eve flight. As events unfold, he must use his wits to resolve the perilous situation.

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*Availability in US

Release Date

December 13, 2024

Director

Jaume Collet-Serra

Cast

Taron Egerton
, Jason Bateman
, Sofia Carson
, Danielle Deadwyler
, Tonatiuh
, Theo Rossi
, Logan Marshall-Green
, Dean Norris
, Sinqua Walls
, Curtiss Cook
, Joe Williamson
, Gil Perez-Abraham
, Josh Brener
, Benito Martinez
, Edwin Kho
, Reisha Reynolds
, Adam Stephenson
, Michael Scott
, Jeff Pope
, Raymond Rehage

Runtime

119 Minutes

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