Empty threats

How to be taken seriously

I’m going to start this post with an example from the movie Carry-On. Don’t worry—it’s not a spoiler. It happens early in the movie, and it’s in the trailer. 

Ethan Kopek (played by Taron Egerton) is working at a baggage-scanning lane at LAX airport. Someone hands him an earbud, and he gets a text telling him to put it in his ear. He is then in contact with a ruthless mercenary (played against type by Jason Bateman). Ethan is told that he has to let an associate of the mercenary get a carry-on case through the scanner. If he doesn’t, Ethan’s pregnant girlfriend, who also works at the airport, will be killed.

We learn two things right away. First, what’s in the case is deadly. Second, these men are violent criminals; we (and Ethan) watch as the mercenary murders a man in the airport to protect his plan. So when they say they can kill Nora whenever they want to, you know they mean business.

Here, watch the trailer:

What would you do in Ethan’s position? Let the bag go through? Or hit the alarm, stop the bag from getting onto a plane, and save countless lives—but be responsible for the murder of the person you love the most.

Ethan was under pressure, but you’re not. Take your time.

Ready? Here’s my answer.

He should stop the bag.

This way, he will save the lives of hundreds of people. And the good thing is that there’s no cost. Nora isn’t at risk. Once the bag has been stopped and the plot has been foiled, there is no point in killing her. Nothing would be gained, and even ruthless criminals don’t murder people for no reason. (Putting aside the moral issues around taking an innocent life, killing someone inside an airport carries a lot of risk for the killer.) The mercenary is making an empty threat.

I know it’s a movie, so to make it especially cool, Ethan can look resigned as the bag passes through the scanner so that we think the mercenary has succeeded, and then, at the last second, he hits the alarm and tackles the guy with the carry-on. Then he can shout: “That’ll teach you to make an empty threat!”. The movie would last about half an hour, which is unusual, but it would make people think, and isn’t that what really matters?

Great advice, right?