2024, Jaume Collet-Serra (Run All Night) -- Netflix
Like I said before, without really trying, I have seen all most of Collet-Serra's movies (sans the football one) so I guess he makes a kind of thriller that is likely to suck me in from the trailer. And this was no different; it looked interesting and yes, that is primarily because it reminded me of Die Hard.
Ethan Kopek (Taron Egerton, Rocketman) works for the TSA, who I think is still seen as the Bad Guy since the previous Trump Reign? The TSA, not Taron. But no matter, even in today's ACAB world, we still have movies and TV shows where cops are the mythological Protectors of The Little Guy, so why not a movie where the TSA is seen as just a bunch of hardworking blue collar guys having to deal with the worst of the worst -- travelers at Christmas. I mean, we have to admit, every traveler (but ourselves) is pretty shitty during the holidays. Anywayz, he's also not really invested in his job, being usually late and generally checked out, but since his GF Nora told him she was pregnant, she kind of wants him to feel engaged in life, even if that means applying for the Police Academy again, having been rejected the first time. He's hesitant; that annoys her.
But, in trying to step up, he gets himself assigned to "the machine" on Xmas Eve, i.e. the luggage scanner. Meanwhile The Bad Guy (Jason Bateman, Office Christmas Party) is about to put everything in place with great precision, including kidnapping the family of Kopek's coworker Jason who should have been on the scanner, but offered up the opportunity to his friend. That wrench in the works causes The Bad Guy to pivot, doing quick research on Ethan to find some pressure point -- mainly Nora. And just like that Ethan is being extorted into helping The Bad Guy.
The best part of the movie is the play between Ethan and The Bad Guy, usually over an in-ear communicator. Ethan is desperate to derail whatever is going on, and The Bad Guy, a facilitator for whatever Evil Plan is in place, just wants things to go off without a hitch, except Ethan has a hero complex and keeps fucking with his plan. Ethan discovers said plan is to place a chemical bomb on board a flight, to kill the passengers. Ethan does not want to make a choice between Nora and the passengers, and definitely not the passengers versus the entire population of LAX at Xmas.
Like all these movies, a lone cop has to become aware, and initially suspect Ethan but eventually see that Things Are Awry and end up helping him. We get lots and lots of running and shooting (oh, cool, 3D printed gun *yawn*) and a frowningly amount of collateral damage -- never at the direct hands of Ethan, but still. Eventually it comes down to just Ethan, The Bad Guy and The Bomb which is foiled by a fridge.
Like my opinion of all of Collet-Serra's films, it was not bad. Not great, but digestible. I have been rewatching a LOT of only-digestible films during the flu-plus-xmas-break because I don't have much energy to do anything else, and not often even think/write about anything. Most of them improve "with age", as in I am less concerned about what they could have been, the second or third time round, and just enjoy the romp. This might fall into that category in the future.
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