If Liam Neeson were forty years younger this is precisely the kind of role in which he would be cast today.  And he would be great.  He would be better than Taron Egerton, a good Welsh actor who sports a nondescript American accent as a troubled TSA agent at Los Angeles International Airport.  This is a movie which depends on its depth of detail to convince one of its wild premise, and yet which flouts believability at several critical junctures.

Jaume Collet-Serra’s thriller focuses on an airport TSA agent at LAX who needs to be pressured to allow a mysterious package through inspections.  Ethan Kopek (Taron Egerton) is that guy, and the master criminal facilitator known as Traveler (Jason Bateman) forces Kopek to do his bidding.  Once the package is through the suspense increases exponentially as Kopek tries to save the situation, and his own reputation, while Traveler has something truly sinister to complete.  Complicating matters is the presence of Homeland Security, having been made aware of the situation, in the form of agent Elena Cole (Danielle Deadwyler).

In many respects this is a crackerjack thriller, made at an actual airport (New Orleans) for verisimilitude and written with sharp dialogue, smart characters and a massive degree of gravitas.  It is by turns dramatic, thrilling, humorous, unsettling and harrowing.  It should have been excellent, but at crucial moments it falters a bit, starting with the Kopek character.  He is too ordinary.  That fits the script’s needs, of course, but the movie suffers.  His romantic relationship with girlfriend Nora (Sofia Carson), an airline supervisor, is not convincing, as they have almost no chemistry together.  But by the exciting climax, Kopek is smarter than the master criminal, unfazed despite being shot, twice, while trying to save thousands at the airport.  Right.

The tension relies on the criminals being able to surveil everything at the airport and being able to react to things; this was hard to accept, especially when a sniper is used to threaten Nora.  It also depends on Kopek being able to operate without interference, but nobody seeing the guy talk to himself constantly, interrupt the inspection line repeatedly, run through the airport like a madman and not be relieved of duty or fired would believe it.  On the other hand it was great seeing “TransGlobal Airlines” used again; this was the fictional airline utilized in Airport, one of my favorite films of all time.  ☆ ☆ 1/2.  18 July 2025.