From filmmaker David Leitch, the director who brought us John Wick, Deadpool 2, and Atomic Blonde, comes another insane and explosive offering from the action filmmaker. Adapted from the Japanese novel Maria Beetle, Bullet Train is an action comedy that often feels like the marriage of Quentin Tarantino and early Guy Ritchie. And through in an onslaught of incredible action, bloody and gory visceral violence, along with some smartly written and conceived storytelling and uproarious humor and this recipe results in what I consider to be the wildest ride of the summer. Bullet Train might not be an outstanding movie, as it has its flaws, but it is most certainly the most entertaining flick to conclude the summer season.
Brad Pitt stars as a very unlucky criminal whose code name is Ladybug. Despite his constant problems with something usually going wrong, Ladybug is assigned what seems to be a simple theft of a very coveted brief case. The mission, as he accepted it, is to board a bullet train, heading from Tokyo to Kyoto, grab the brief case from the luggage compartment and exit the vehicle at the next stop. As luck always seems to have it in for him, things don’t go according to plan.
As it turns out there are multiple criminal passengers on the train, each with missions of their own. This includes the duo known as “The Twins,” with code names Lemon (Brian Tyree-Henry) and Tangerine (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). These two are tasked with protecting the very troublesome son (Logan Lerman) of the infamous criminal leader known as “White Death.” Their other responsibility is to deliver a silver briefcase, whose contents are very valuable to the crime boss. But this is only just the tip of the iceberg, as their are other various villain, of varying talents and skills on board to really make a mess for just about everyone.
I had an absolute blast with this movie. While I have my issues with some of the writing and director’s choices, this is the most fun I have had at the movies this summer. The screenplay by Zak Olkewicz is nevertheless impressive when it comes to storytelling and character development. Olkewicz and Leitch, based on the source material weave together a rather intricate web of vignettes that focus on the villains and their backstories, and brings everything together rather impressively.
My biggest gripes come from the fact that the movie is a bit overstuffed and would have been so much better with more efficient trimming. I can honestly envision a more streamlined version of this movie that still works beautifully on an entertaining level, but without overstaying its welcome. There is one particular vignette that is absolutely unnecessary and feels crammed in at the end. It does little to advance the story and acts more like an additional and an over-indulgent gag.
As for the action, and the direction, choreography, stunts, and editing. Leitch continues to impress. The movie does rely a little too much on weak CGi, but this is mostly forgivable. The fighting scenes, the disturbing violence, and the other varieties of incendiary action sequences are often jaw-dropping, and thoroughly thrilling.
As for the cast, I cannot think of one single weak link. I would have to say that Brad Pitt, Brian Tyree-Henry Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Joey King are the real superstars here. I hadn’t mentioned King’s character earlier, but let’s just say she portrays a very frightening and unnerving brand of criminal on the train. She is one that is not to be trifled with, or underestimated. She desceptively looks sweet and innocent, but will strike when one’s defenses are down. And King absolutely rocks this part so hard. It is probably the most impressive performance I have seen from her so far.
There are loads of other actors and characters in the movie, but the less one knows about them, the better. This movie is best enjoyed knowing as little as possible. There are plenty of awesome surprises and the discovery of these elements really add to the experience. I must definitely highly recommend Bullet Train as the movie of the summer. Complement this movie with a tall order of buttery popcorn, because this is popcorn cinema at its finest this year.