‘You look like every white homeless man I’ve ever seen…’
The action genre is in a bad place right now. For every John Wick there is a forgettable Jason Statham movie, or something starring The Rock, or some other nonsense. Studios simply won’t spend the big bucks on an action movie that isn’t tied to a comic book in some way. In that respect, Bullet Train is a throwback to the golden age of action movies. Big budgets. Big stars. Big fight scenes. And boy, is it fun…
I could spend many paragraphs on the fairly labyrinthine plot, but it’s easier just to say that a bunch of dangerous assassins are all on the same bullet train to Kyoto, and shit is about to go down. Our ensemble cast includes Ladybug (Brad Pitt), a veteran killer trying to change his ways; Lemon (Brian Tyree Henry) and Tangerine (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), a pair of brothers all the way from London; Prince (Joey King), a sweet-looking girl with a heart of ice; and Kimura (Andrew Koji), the son of someone important. There are also a load of wonderful cameos that I won’t spoil here.
Director David Leitch has a great cast to play with, and they all clearly enjoy working together. Zak Olkewicz’s script is not quite as funny or as clever as it thinks it is, but seasoned comic performers Pitt and Taylor-Johnson have an absolute field day with their increasingly manic one-liners, and the action sequences going on around them are truly thrilling. Leitch makes the most of the train setting, and while the inevitable sequel will probably fall short of what has been created here, there is no denying that he sets up a second entry nicely here.
As with a number of other recent releases, Bullet Train highlights the growing gulf that is emerging between critics and audiences. Well, forget the bad reviews, Bullet Train is a high-octane rollercoaster that remains entertaining throughout. Think Tarantino at his most unhinged and you’re somewhere close. Turn off brain. Put feet up. Enjoy.