Director:Jaume Collet-Serra
Writer:T.J. Fixman
Stars:Taron EgertonJason BatemanSofia Carson
Review and Story:
2 Russians have smuggled Novichok into the USA and hand it off to the Traveler. One smuggler is killed by a nerve agent and the Traveler shoots the second and burns both their bodies before escaping with the Novichok. The Novichok is packed in a travel sized suitcase, that can fit into the overhead bin of a passenger airplane.Ethan Kopek (Taron Egerton), a 30 years old Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officer at Los Angeles International Airport, has become cynical and unambitious after failing the police academy by concealing his father's criminal history. On Christmas Eve, his pregnant girlfriend, Nora (Sofia Carson) who works at the airport as an airline manager, encourages him to reapply and pursue his dream. At work, Ethan meets his friend Jason (a fellow TSA agent), who says that Ethan is coasting at the TSA, while during the same time, Jason has got 2 promotions.
Ethan requests his supervisor, Phil Sarkowski (Dean Norris), assign him to manage a baggage-scanning lane, hoping to demonstrate his merit for a promotion. At the last minute, Jason is taken off the baggage scanning lane and Ethan replaced him.
Meanwhile, an associate of the Traveler enters Jason's home ready to abduct his wife, when the Traveler is informed by his Watcher that Jason had been replaced by Ethan at the baggage scanning lane. The Traveler asks his Watcher to pull Ethan's file and declares that the mission gets done that day. The Traveler's accomplice then enters Ethan's home to find clues about his life.
During his shift, Ethan receives an earbud, through which he is contacted by a ruthless mercenary, the Traveler (Jason Bateman), who orders him to let a specific carry-on case pass through the scanner-or Nora will be killed. The Traveler says that the man will be traveling with a boarding pass of Northwind flight 1850, non-stop to JFK.
The Traveler's accomplice, the Watcher (Theo Rossi), remotely monitors Ethan (from a van in the parking lot from where he has hacked into the airport's cameras), thwarting his attempts to alert the authorities (Ethan dials 911 but the Watcher is able to spot it). As Ethan talks to the Traveler, he realizes that the person is munching food. He then notices a passenger at the beer bar inside the airport, directly visible from Ethan's position, who seems to be munching bar snacks at the exact same time as Ethan hears the munching sound on his ear bud.
Ethan secretly warns his colleague, Lionel (Curtiss Cook), using a message written in invisible ink. However, before Lionel can act, the Traveler poisons him with Aconitine, causing a fatal heart attack. This time Ethan sees the Traveler walk away from Lionel's body after taking the message.
Due to Ethan's seemingly erratic behavior, his friend Jason (Sinqua Walls) takes over his position. The Traveler threatens Jason's life, forcing Ethan to get him fired by framing him for being drunk on the job. As instructed, Ethan lets a man pass through with the carry-on case, spying the name Mateo Flores (Tonatiuh Elizarraraz) on his boarding pass. The Traveler then reveals the case's contents: Novichok, a lethal and incurable nerve agent.
Meanwhile, Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) detective Elena Cole (Danielle Deadwyler) investigates a double homicide and discovers the victims had smuggled Novichok (a family of nerve agents, some of which are binary chemical weapons. 8 times more potent than VX gas) into the country. One of the dead smugglers had a bug planted on him, which recorded the last 72 hours of his life, and Elena was able to retrieve the file which revealed the Novichok.
Meanwhile, the Traveler meets Ethan in the restroom and asks him to maintain routine till the flight takes off. Traveler tells Ethan that the luggage had Novichok and that 250 people on the flight would die. Cole alerts the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and connects the threat to Ethan's aborted 911 call.
In response, a terminal-wide sweep is ordered. Ethan adds Mateo to the list of passengers flagged for inspection. However, the Traveler suspects Ethan's interference and confronts him in the restroom. Ethan seizes the Traveler's plastic gun. In retaliation, the Traveler arms the Novichok bomb to go off in 10 minutes. If the bomb goes off, 10,000 people in the airport die. Traveler says that the bomb can only be disarmed physically and sends Ethan to do it.
Sarkowski detains Mateo for inspection, but Ethan interrupts, holding them both at gunpoint. Mateo fatally stabs Sarkowski after Ethan refuses to shoot him, before revealing that he, too, is being coerced; the Watcher is holding Mateo's husband, Jesse, hostage. With time running out, the Traveler guides Ethan to reset the bomb. Afterward, Mateo is ordered to kill Ethan and takes the plastic gun but is killed when it overheats and explodes. This takes place inside the baggage handling section of the terminal. The Traveler retrieves the Novichok case (but only after Ethan manages to switch the Novichok bomb into a different suitcase) and orders the Watcher to kill Nora. Ethan uses Mateo's phone to warn her who sees the Watcher coming at her. Nora narrowly evades the Watcher, who is ultimately killed by Jesse, just as Ethan manages to get to Nora to save her. From Jesse, Ethan learns that Mateo had 2 tickets, and he was actually on the flight to DC and not JFK.
On route to the airport with DHS agent John Alcott (Logan Marshall-Green), Cole soon realizes the agent is an impostor-one of the Traveler's accomplices-and kills him in self-defense. Upon arriving at the airport, Cole confronts Ethan, confirms the active threat, and alerts the LAPD, initiating a terminal shutdown.
Cole uncovers that the Traveler's target is a congresswoman aboard a flight to Washington, D.C., who advocates for increased weapons funding. The Novichok attack is designed to implicate Russia, ensuring congressional approval of substantial defense spending, thereby enriching weapons manufacturers. The weapons manufacturers would not be suspected as they killed someone who advocated for their position.
The Traveler boards the flight, unaware that Ethan has switched the bomb into an identical but larger suitcase, forcing him to stow it in the plane's cargo hold. Ethan infiltrates the hold to disarm the bomb (when the plane had already reached the taxiway), while Nora persuades Cole to allow the flight to take off, preventing the Traveler from becoming suspicious and setting off the bomb on the ground resulting in many more casualties.
As Ethan begins dismantling the bomb, the Traveler receives an alert and confronts him at gunpoint. Before the Traveler can re-arm the Novichok and escape using a parachute, Ethan locks him inside an airtight refrigeration unit with the nerve agent, killing him. The plane safely returns to the airport.
One year later, Ethan, Nora, and their child pass through a TSA checkpoint as they prepare to travel to Tahiti with Jason and his family. Ethan places his LAPD badge in the scanning tray.
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