Warning: Major spoilers for Carry-On below!The streaming success of Carry-On makes a sequel a genuine possibility – but it needs to dodge a mistake that derailed the Die Hard franchise. Carry-On cast Taron Egerton as a TSA agent forced to rise to the occasion when Jason Bateman’s mercenary tries to sneak something very dangerous past airport security. Carry-On leans into its Die Hard comparisons instead of avoiding them; both feature everyman heroes trying to protect a loved one inside of a contained setting, while an intellectual villain constantly tries to outsmart them.
Carry-On stands at 85% on Rotten Tomatoes and has been a streaming success hit for Netflix. Egerton sounds like he would be up for Carry-On 2 (via Today) – but cautioned it would need a great hook to get him interested “It’s kind of like an extraordinary set of circumstances, so I think it would need a really innovative, creative idea to feel like a worthy idea for a sequel.” Of course, Die Hard managed to spawn four sequels, where Bruce Willis’ John McClane always found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time, so it wouldn’t be hard to make Carry-On 2 happen.
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Carry-On 2 Can’t Turn Taron Egerton’s Ethan Into An Invincible Supercop
John McClane was practically a Terminator by the end of the Die Hard franchise
Carry-On’s ending sees Ethan fulfill his dream of becoming a cop, which opens up all kinds of possibilities for a sequel. He could easily find himself amid another Die Hard-esque scenario – be it on a plane, a train or possibly a hot air balloon. One element that makes Carry-On work is Egerton’s winning performance, with Ethan – who is expecting a baby with girlfriend Nora (Sofia Carson) and trying to earn a promotion – feeling like a true everyman. This means Carry-On 2 can’t repeat Die Hard’s mistake of making Ethan unstoppable.
Die Hard lost sight of why audiences loved McClane, as he evolved into a standard blockbuster action hero…
The original Die Hard felt innovative as it arrived during a time when Arnie and Stallone were the dominant stars in action cinema. Instead of being an invincible, muscle-bound killing machine, McClane was just a regular guy trapped in a horrible situation. It was an underdog action movie, and that’s a formula Carry-On sticks with. With the Die Hard sequels, McClane’s feats became increasingly outlandish, including jumping on the wing of a malfunctioning fighter jet in the fourth entry.
The series lost sight of why audiences loved McClane as he evolved into a standard blockbuster action hero. If Carry-On 2 happens, it can’t go down that road. The sequel’s setpieces will likely get bigger, but Ethan still needs to feel like a normal dude, and that the threats he faces don’t stray too far outside the realm of possibility. When he gets punched, it needs to hurt; if he gets shot in the arm, he shouldn’t shrug it off, as McClane began to do in later sequels.
The Die Hard Franchise Was Ruined By John McClane’s Increasing Invulnerability
The McClane in Die Hard 5 just isn’t the same character
The appeal of sequels for actors is that they get to explore different sides of a character over time, just as Sylvester Stallone did with Rocky. The best franchises find creative ways to keep their protagonists feeling fresh, but the character of McClane moved further and further away from the original intention with each installment. Die Hard 2 and Die Hard with a Vengeance kept his scrappy, sardonic persona intact, but he could also withstand greater punishment.
Sure, he bled a lot, but he could still perform superhuman feats, including jumping onto a moving airplane from a helicopter, or outdriving a tidal wave in a dump truck. Live Free or Die Hard and A Good Day to Die Hard saw Willis remove much of the cocky warmth of the old McClane, in favor of a more generic and sullen action character. By the final sequels, McClane barely even bled anymore, despite being thrown through windows or involved in multiple crashes.
Actors who turned down the John McClane role in
Die Hard
include Frank Sinatra, Richard Gere, Burt Reynolds and Clint Eastwood.
The McClane seen in later films barely resembled the character introduced in Die Hard. The increase in action and spectacle came at the cost of character, with Willis’ wisecracking cop eventually becoming the kind of invincible 80s action hero he was created as an antidote to. Again, this is something Carry-On 2 needs to avoid.
Carry-On Can Become The Modern-Day Die Hard Franchise
Has Fallen didn’t quite reach Die Hard’s heights
Carry-On is a solid thriller elevated by some great central performances. The film doesn’t really need a sequel as the story feels complete – but Ethan’s adventures could continue with the right approach. With the Die Hard franchise having come to a close following 2013’s A Good Day to Die Hard, there is a gap in the market for a similar series. The Has Fallen movies made a stab at taking that crown, but they never fully reached their potential.
|
Every Die Hard Movie |
Rotten Tomatoes Score |
|---|---|
|
Die Hard (1988) |
94% |
|
Die Hard 2: Die Harder (1990) |
69% |
|
Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995) |
60% |
|
Live Free or Die Hard (2007) |
82% |
|
A Good Day to Die Hard (2013) |
15% |
Carry-On 2 could drop Ethan into any number of locales, though given his and his girlfriend’s connection to the TSA, an airbourne scenario feels like the natural step for a sequel. A Carry-On franchise really has the chance to pick up where Die Hard left off – while avoiding the errors that eventually brought the latter down.
Source: Rotten Tomatoes, Today, Rotten Tomatoes
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Carry-On
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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Die Hard
The Die Hard franchise, which began as a series of books in the 1960s, is an action-adventure series that chronicles the harrowing exploits of NYPD Detective John McClane. Renowned for its action-packed sequences and intricate plots, the series showcases McClane’s battles against various adversaries, especially the infamous Hans Gruber, during high-stakes crises.
