Theaters are so inundated with sequels and reboots these days when it comes to action blockbusters, that even a film like Bullet Train, which feels original despite being adapted from a Japanese novel, feels like a minor cause for celebration. Directed by David Leitch (Deadpool 2, Atomic Blonde) and helmed by Brad Pitt along with an expansive cast, it’s almost the definition of a leave-your-brain-at-home feel that’s still absurdly entertaining and doesn’t insult its audience’s intelligence.
Reformed assassin Ladybug (Brad Pitt) returns from an extended leave to replace another assassin at the last minute for a simple smash and grab operation: he has to retrieve a briefcase on a Japanese bullet train and get off at the next stop. Trouble is, Ladybug is also monumentally unlucky, and he runs into various other assassins on the train who are also after the briefcase and other different targets. These include the knife-wielding Wolf (Bad Bunny), the Boomslang-snake-carrying Hornet, bickering twins Lemon (Brian Tyree Henry) and Tangerine (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), a pair of father and son (Andrew Koji and Hiroyuki Sanada) who are looking for the person who pushed off the former’s grandson off a rooftop, and a deceptively innocent-looking teenage girl who’s manipulating almost everyone else as she waits for the train to reach Kyoto station.
Bullet Train is funny and stylized, and it strikes a good balance between the two, so that it doesn’t tip over to MCU-level forced jokes on one end or over-stylization such as seen in the likes of Sucker Punch on the other end.
Ladybug is a unique protagonist: he has sworn off the use of guns, so he has to use almost anything he can find in his environment, from briefcases to laptops and water bottles. He also keeps spouting soul-searching platitudes he heard from his therapist, which teeters on the edge of becoming trite, but thankfully, Ladybug doesn’t hog the screen enough for that to happen. The standouts of the cast are definitely Lemon and Tangerine. Aaron Taylor-Johnson is almost unrecognizable as the suave, mustachioed Tangerine while Brian Tyree Henry is the more talkative of the pair, constantly referencing Thomas the Tank Engine and trying to label everyone he meets according to the characters from the children’s show.
The action is fun and dynamic without becoming too outlandish, though there are times when characters are somehow holding onto or standing on top of a train traveling at speeds of 200+ kmh. David Leitch is quickly becoming an old hand in directing fun action movies. A stuntman turned director who got his start with John Wick, he liberally borrows from Guy Ritchie and Tarantino when it comes to the tone and 90s-inspired aesthetic of Bullet Train.
Bullet Train has no pretensions about being anything more than a thrill ride.
It could easily be 15–20 minutes shorter, and the final sequence does run a few minutes too long. But the ending, complete with a karmic death that’s confirmed to be deliberately on the nose during a mid-credits scene, makes the entire sequence worth it.
Bullet Train probably isn’t the best action blockbuster of the year- that credit probably goes to Top Gun: Maverick– but it’s definitely more entertaining than the recent tepid release, Gray Man.
Leitch has expressed interest in telling more stories in this universe. Let’s hope that doesn’t end up being too much of a good thing.