Bullet Train
review by Bobby Blakey
Director David Leitch has already amped the quality in the action genre with films like John Wick, Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2 and Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw. His latest film Bullet Train, based on the novel “Maria Beetle” by Kōtarō Isaka, looks to keep this trend alive and features Brad Pitt stepping in to bring the star power. Coming along for the ride is a great cast including Joey King, Andrew Koji, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Zazie Beetz, Masi Oka, Michael Shannon, Logan Lerman, Hiroyuki Sanada, Karen Fukuhara, and Bad Bunny. Could this film bring the fast paced action it boasts or will it miss its stop?
Bullet Train follows trained killer Ladybug who wants to give up the life but is pulled back in by his handler Maria Beetle in order to collect a briefcase on a bullet train heading from Tokyo to Morioka. On board are fellow assassins Kimura, the Prince, Tangerine, and Lemon. Once on board the five assassins discover that their objectives are all connected.
OF all the movies that came out over the summer this is the one I was most hyped for. The cast, Leitch and quirky look of it all had me all in from the first trailer. I try not to get this hyped for something because there is a bigger chance of disappointment, but I am happy to say that this film is everything I wanted it to be and so much more.
While there is a ton of blood action throughout it also houses a significant amount of character development and story to how it all comes together. When trying to tell a story where the majority of it takes place in a single location there has to be something special about it to keep you invested
and this has it all around and most of it comes from the performances and nature of the cast of characters.
Pitt is not the typical action hero, but instead more of a snatch and grab criminal who is trying to find his own inner balance which then leads to so
many great funny moments with him interaction with the others. Make no mistake he isn’t helpless by any means and does a great job carrying the action, but his persona is what really makes him so much fun to watch. It may seem that he is leading the charge is on some level, but this is very much an ensemble film that honestly felt like Taylor-Johnson Henry led more often than not.
These two guys are so good together and the banter throughout is what helps to elevate this film beyond just another action flick. They have a love hate relationship that shines through and makes you want more of them when they are off screen, but thankfully that isn’t often. The rest of the cast shine as well with King bringing the sinister innocence to the forefront, Beetz pops in for a smaller role that kicks all kinds of ass and the always awesome Sanada bringing both the respect and mayhem to the ride.
The overall tone of the film feels like a mash-up of Tarantino type dialogue, Robert Rodriguez tone, Deadpool action and humor with some John Wick and Jackie Chan fusion topping it off. While all of these tones are there this still feels like a thing all its own with Leitch’s style shining through to make easily one of my favorite films this year. The action is fun and plenty, the blood if flowing, the heart and laughs shine through and is capped off with some fun cameos and a film that is just damn fun to watch. Sure it gets a little CGI heavy in the third act with some over the top stuff throw in, but by that time I was ready to let it do whatever it wanted and I was all in.
In addition to the film this release offers up bonus content including outtakes & bloopers, commentary and featurettes taking you behind bringing this action flick to life. Take the train and grab your copy of Bullet Train available now on digital and then on 4K, Blu-ray and DVD on October 18th from Sony Home Entertainment.
