Directed by:
David LeitchScreenplay:
Zak OlkewiczCinematography:
Jonathan SelaComposer:
Dominic LewisCast:
Brad Pitt, Joey King, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Andrew Koji, Hiroyuki Sanada, Michael Shannon, Bad Bunny, Sandra Bullock, Zazie Beetz (more)VOD (2)
Plots(1)
In Bullet Train, Brad Pitt stars as Ladybug, an unlucky assassin determined to do his job peacefully after one too many gigs gone off the rails. Fate, however, may have other plans, as Ladybug's latest mission puts him on a collision course with lethal adversaries from around the globe – all with connected, yet conflicting, objectives – on the world's fastest train...and he's got to figure out how to get off. From the director of Deadpool 2, David Leitch, the end of the line is only the beginning in a wild, non-stop thrill ride through modern-day Japan. (Sony Pictures)
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Reviews (20)
This will be an evergreen. This loud-mouthed and extremely entertaining Guy Ritchie-style gangster comedy combines with inventive Wick-style action with OTT humor. This time Leitch shows his best, not just as a great action director, but also as a good storyteller who doesn’t forget the point and somebody capable of alternating genres very naturally. The cast is wonderful. Pitt is clearly enjoying himself immensely as Ladybug, but Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Tangerine does his best at hogging the spotlight. Bullet Train is a potential cult movie which has come under greater scrutiny and been played at movie theaters only thanks to Brad Pitt’s aura. Thanks for that, Brad!
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The operating manual from Goddard’s hotel on the California-Nevada border, something from the universe around The Bride and O-Ren Ishii (but without the precise form), action from a pissed-off Lebanese Baba Yaga, and when it comes to dialogue, a lot of Deadpool. Unfortunately. It's something Guy Ritchie probably wrote at thirteen and shoved in a drawer. After about the twelfth funny mention of Thomas the Tank Engine, I wanted to pull the emergency brake or hit Zak Olkewicz over the head with a rail. Credit to the quartet of Sanada, Taylor-Johnson, Bojga, and Shannon for trying to act, even when there’s nothing to work with. As for Pitt, stuck in therapeutic clichés, I still can’t decide whether to hit him with the rail too or form a quintet.
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Rather than Tarantino, this is closer to a shabby Ritchie, unfortunately after a slight lobotomy. Too bad about the dumb explanation at the end, too bad about the repetitive dialogues between Tangerine and Lemon, which often weren't actually very funny, even though they tried to be very cool. Ritchie wouldn’t make those mistakes. But, given the director's name, you shouldn’t expect a new John Wick, the full-contact fights don't have that much juice and idea, and I could certainly do without the overdone conclusion with the shinkansen, where I just expected Tom and Jerry to come out of somewhere and start hitting each other with frying pans. But otherwise, the story was brilliantly conceived, it had a surprising twist, it all made sense by the end, and some of the scenes were so incredibly absurd and absurdly plotted that they were actually fine. Interesting postmodernism, which I wouldn't expect from a former stuntman. Of the actors, Aaron Taylor-Johnson shone the brightest, he's walking masculinity with acting talent.
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For me, Bullet Train will go down as the film that, at least for a while, shattered my belief that Hollywood just isn't for me anymore and that quality films are only made elsewhere. It was really nice to go home fully satisfied by this action-packed ride, which also had me laughing unexpectedly. Even though I love the shinkansen, I freely admit that after seeing the trailer it took me a while to convince myself to go and I even tried changing the choice of movie while buying my ticket. Gee, how glad I am my fellow moviegoers insisted. A brisk, funny, charismatic, suspenseful, eye-catching film. And even a samurai turned up... I couldn’t ask for more.
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Bullet Train can be criticised for a lot of things, but it can also be enjoyed for the same reasons. Here we have Japan literally on a high-speed train together with a furious pace and non-linear narrative that rather serves to divert the viewer’s attention and mask the screenplay’s shortcomings, as well as the simulation of depth and reach typical of the source material’s author, Kōtarō Isaka. Unlike Japanese adaptations of Isaka’s novels, here the motifs of interconnectedness, luck and fate do not evoke wonder and pathos, but are ground down into superficially entertaining attractions. Bullet Train also works with Tarantino-esque characters, i.e. absolutely unrealistic genre characters that stand out due to their exaggeration, stylishness and grounding in pop culture. Based on the described principle, Tarantino and some of his disciples create sophisticated, powerful and seemingly well-thought-out gangsters and killers that, in the best case, transcend the level of the wet dream of fictional perfection and become semi-divine ideals that viewers admire. In Bullet Train, however, they just remain unrealistic, amusing puppets with one cartoonishly exaggerated and endlessly repeated attribute. Then we have the action scenes, or rather their choreography, which was at the forefront in previous 87North (or 87Eleven) productions, drawing attention to itself through spectacular physicality, difficulty of execution and revolutionary ingenuity. This time, the action is rather in the background, always primarily in the form of slapstick gags connecting the individual plot sequences. Whatever overarching term we use for the film’s described tendencies – bastardisation, anti-sophistication, dumbing-down, assimilation or Hollywoodisation – this is what gives Bullet Train its charm and effectiveness. The film absorbed into itself every possible trend of previous years and even decades that had been valued by overly clever fans, cinephiles and devotees of alternative niches, and strained them through the mainstream filter to create a universally accessible form. It will inevitably be derided by the elites because it is not like the perfect forms that they appreciate, but it will make Bullet Train a popular box-office hit. After Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, Leitch’s subsequent project evokes the middle-of-the-road works of Hong Kong cinema’s golden era, which comprised chaotically disparate variety shows blending together a multitude of emotions and genre positions, and where the audience’s attention was constantly drawn to various attractions, including action escapades and cameo appearances by popular stars. If we recall that David Leitch and his contemporaries are great admirers of Hong Kong movies, it’s possible to see this not as a coincidence, but as a concept.
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