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Flash Movie Review: Carry-On

ON MY RECENT FLIGHT, I WAS flagged by TSA. I could not believe it because I purposely do not wear a belt, wristbands, watch or shoes with any kind of metal on them. Everything is stuffed in my jacket which I take off to put through the X-ray machine. I normally do not take my wedding ring off, but in this case, we were wearing our traveling silicon ones; so even that could not set off any alarms. And I must add, as a passenger I am fine taking off jackets and shoes, only checking through liquids in 3-ounce containers, no bottled water; whatever they want us to do to keep safe I will do it. Having arrived at the airport early enough so I would not have to fret about being late for my flight, I was more annoyed that I was randomly picked for further scanning. The TSA agent asked me to step out of line and stand in front of that machine that looked like the machine Jeff Goldblum was in that turned him into a fly. Of course, my first thought was what the other people in line were thinking about me. For some reason, my first thought is what did I do wrong; did I look like an evil person, was I blinking too much or fidgeting too much. I could have gone through a multitude of reasons but chose to remain calm and let the agents do their job.      THERE WERE TWO PASSENGERS AHEAD OF me, waiting for the glass X-ray booth. The first one, I could see, was agitated; they complained they were going to be late for their flight. When it was the second person’s turn, it must have been their first time because they wanted to know exactly what the agent could see from the scan. After being reassured, they stepped in and let the scanner do its thing. When I was told to step in, I smiled and lifted my arms up above my head. I figured it would earn me points though I was not sure for what. While I retrieved my items, I watched the TSA agents working. I wanted to see the screen they sat in front of that shows the inside of everyone’s carry-on bag. It intrigues me, how can they quickly decide whether something is illegal or not. From the many times I have flown, I have seen all kinds of behavior on display and do not understand why people take their frustrations out on the TSA agents. Why get an agent so angry that they might want to do something like what the agent was asked to do in this action, crime mystery.      A MYSTERIOUS TRAVELER DEMANDS A TSA agent allows their carry-on bag to go through without any conflict. If the agent refuses, then his girlfriend will die. With Taron Egerton (Rocketman, Eddie the Eagle) as Ethan Kopek, Jason Bateman (Air, Game Night) as Traveler, Sofia Carson (Purple Hearts, Feel the Beat) as Nora Parisi, Danielle Deadwyler (The Harder They Fall, Till) as Elena Cole, and Theo Rossi (Emily the Criminal, Sons of Anarchy-TV) as Watcher; this film had a strong vibe reminiscent of those older action films like The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno. I was quickly hooked on the story, despite the script not always being believable. It did not matter, because the action and mystery started right up and kept up a strong tension throughout the story. The cast worked so well together, where Taron and Jason pushed everyone to dig deeper into their characters. This was such an entertaining movie watching experience; I enjoyed every minute of it, though a small part of me was wondering if this could ever happen. Hopefully not.

3 ½ stars