Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2024: Jason Bateman in Carry-On

Jason Bateman did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying The Traveler in Carry-On. 

Carry-On is a fairly stupid, but often enjoyable, action movie following a TSA agent Ethan (Taron Egerton) as he’s made the pawn of a mercenary executing a terrorist plot. 

Jason Bateman made his name for his various comedic sitcom roles with his particularly wry and dry energy, though the last decade or so has been expanding his range including his very impressive work in The Gift and his said to be strong work in Ozark. So I suppose what better to show off a bit more range by playing the villain in a stupid action movie, which I think actually is in many ways a fine art, separating the real coaster actors to the ones who really will devote themselves even to fairly dumb material. Well Bateman proves himself in the latter category, and a particularly clever casting for the film as while Bateman is playing an atypical role for himself, it utilizes aspects of his presence effectively. Bateman isn’t just playing the role as he would Michael Bluth in Arrested Development, but certain elements of that performance are utilized by him however to an alternative impact. Although we get a brief scene as a shadowy figure murdering someone in the opening of the film, we also get The Traveler briefly deciding on a new target for the plan, the real introduction of the character comes via voice role, to the point I pondered if he was going to be full Kiefer Sutherland in Phone Booth, which this film heavily lifts from, by being a largely vocal performance, after our hero Ethan puts in an earpiece from the Traveler, where he begins his evil scheme. Bateman’s vocal performance alone is great because while he doesn’t use his dry sitcom energy much of the time, Bateman does have a matter of fact quality in his performance that cuts right down to it in a rather effective fashion. The menace in the character comes really from the innate confidence in Bateman’s voice in that he never really raises his voice during this period as he threatens Ethan’s wife. Bateman yet has a very easy menace within his performance largely through his very acerbic vocal delivery where there’s a slightly hectoring tone more than anything when threatening Ethan to get him to do what he wants. Bateman’s approach creates menace through the ease in which he speaks essentially as a man of much experience in this sort of process and the way he goes about it with Ethan is just another easy target for him. 

Naturally because clearly in addition to watching Phone Booth, the Traveler also watched Collateral, his manipulations of Ethan to do what he says, also must go along with some moral insults on Ethan’s lowly place in his life in addition to constantly and as calmly threatening Ethan as much as he can. Bateman really makes these lines sing which honestly would have easily been absurdly over the top if played straight into the villainy. Bateman’s though easy going approach where he very much is offering commentary where Bateman emphasizes the casual game he’s playing when insulting Ethan about his failures to be a cop. Bateman’s tone creates a convincing menace through the character’s insidious approach even ties into his bothering Ethan about his whole life, as Bateman’s approach emphasizes that as much as he’s doing his job, this is what he enjoys very much doing. Bateman’s aggressively cynical lines he throws at Ethan that are both browbeating and misanthropic, as someone with particular comfort with his whole existence and his general selfishness and hatred is just a casual thing for him. Even when giving a long speech about a tribe killing a thief’s children, Bateman’s avoids the easy potential pretentious villain speech by unraveling like a teacher of many years, only amplifying his voice just a bit at the end as he finally threatens, but even then Bateman builds to it so naturally that makes his villainy convincing rather than fanciful. Something that continues when he does finally appear in person, where Bateman doesn’t lose his menace, despite Bateman not looking like the most physically imposing guy innately. But Bateman’s callousness he makes so natural with all his villain exposition makes it all work as he manages to elevate every bit of writing he gets, while also making the Traveler properly hateable not trying to force the hand. When the plan starts getting trickier as Ethan fights back, however the Traveler finds a way to get back in control each time. Bateman manages to finely adjust his Michael Bluth in some ways, in playing the frustrations of the traveler when Ethan temporarily gets the upper hand, even getting to say “buddy” once in his annoyance. Which as much as Bateman is playing with his presence, he does so successfully while still maintaining tension and instead amplifies it with his dryness making the Traveler far less generic than he would’ve been if you put even a decent standard villain actor in the role. Even doing so mostly without going for comedy, though I will say the one time he does so directly with his delivery of “setting up my parachute and my bomb” is a rather hilarious bit of weaponized dryness on his part. And it wouldn’t be a proper action movie villain performance without a satisfying death scene, which Bateman gets a good one where he gets locked into a sealed freezer with his biological weapon bomb, and Bateman’s most effective in just completely losing any dryness whatsoever and bringing the raw physical intensity of someone fighting for his life as he decays from the inside out. Bateman makes this whole film better by his presence, as it would’ve been easy enough to be like his co-star Theo Rossi who plays into the worst of the genre and just takes a dumb action role as an excuse to overact. Bateman makes no such excuses giving a genuinely devoted turn that easily elevates his material and creates a proper antagonist.