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"Bullet Train" is an action film that could easily have been an animated movie, and often looks and feels like one. The story takes place on a bullet train careening across Japan, but most of the movie was shot on green-screened sets, and the cityscapes and countrysides that the train rides through are mainly miniatures and CGI. Its characters are a touch abstract as well, and knowingly comic-bookish. All are either paid killers or otherwise violent individuals connected with the world of crime, and the majority either have grudges against one of the other characters or are the object of a grudge and trying to escape the consequences of past actions. They tend to have tragic-sentimental backstories or be purely malevolent—and inevitably, 30 years after the great Tarantino realignment of the early nineties, most of them are chatterboxes who will monologue at anyone who doesn't point a gun at their head and order them to shut up, and the tone mixes winking black comedy and poker-faced pulp. 

Brad Pitt stars as Ladybug, a former assassin ordered to board the train, steal a briefcase, and get off. He's replacing another assassin who became unavailable at the last minute, and he refuses his handler's advice to carry a gun because he just got out of anger management and has renounced killing. Ladybug's fellow killers are a bomber crew of homicidal oddballs. Joey King is "The Prince," who poses as an innocent schoolgirl appalled by the cruelty of men, but immediately reveals herself as a clever and ruthless engine of destruction. Brian Tyree Henry and Aaron Taylor-Johnson (who's groomed to look like the evil drunk Begbie from the original " Trainspotting ") are brothers who have gone from mission to mission racking up a body count seemingly in the triple digits, and now find themselves on the train protecting the briefcase and escorting the depressed twentysomething wastrel son ( Logan Lerman ) of a terrifying crime boss known as the White Death. 

The White Death is a Russian who took over a Yakuza family. His face isn't shown until the end of the story (it's more fun for the audience to resist Googling who plays him, because his casting is one of the best surprises in the whole thing). Hiroyuki Sanada is "The Elder," a greying but still lethal assassin connected to the White Death, and Andrew Koji is " The Father "—The Elder's son, obviously; they're out for vengeance because somebody pushed The Elder's grandson off a department store roof, putting him in a coma. They believe the person responsible is on the train, mingling with all the other agents of death. 

The plot initially seems goal-driven, revolving around the comatose grandson and the metal briefcase. But as the script adds new fighters to the mix, and establishes that they're all tangentially connected, "Bullet Train" morphs into a half-assed but sincere statement on fate, luck, and karma—and Ladybug's constant (and often humorously annoying) comments on those subjects, voiced in discussions through a handler (Sandra Bullock's Maria Beetle, heard via earpiece), start to feel like an instruction manual for grokking what the movie is "actually" up to. (Ladybug is kind of a post-credits Jules from " Pulp Fiction " after having repudiated violence; but he's still stuck in the life, and it has become more challenging because he has resolved never to pick up a gun again.)

Characters are given the sorts of typeface-onscreen-followed-by-flashback-montage introductions that genre fans will recognize from directors like Quentin Tarantino ("Kill Bill" seems to be a primary influence) and Guy Ritchie (who pioneered a particular brand of "lad action" in which verbal insults become little fists and knives deployed against enemies). The fighters go after each other with guns, blades, fists and feet, and any objects they can get their hands on (the briefcase gets a workout as both a defensive weapon and a bludgeon). They banter as they struggle. Sometimes when one of them dies, the film’s tone will shift into a maudlin lament that is often affecting because of the cast's skill, but that doesn't inspire deep emotion since the rest of the movie is so glib and superficial.

The film is directed by David Leitch , a former stunt coordinator and screen double for Jean-Claude Van Damme and this film's star, Brad Pitt, and the onetime directing partner of Chad Stahleski (of the " John Wick " series). He's become a specialist in high-grade acrobatic mayhem, having directed " Deadpool 2 ," " Atomic Blonde ," and " Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw ." It's hard to deny that he's one the best when it comes to overseeing this type of production—and it's a kick seeing "Bullet Train" lean into its most ridiculous visuals, which verge on " Speed Racer ” psychedelia.

But whether this type of project is entirely worth doing is a different matter. It seems to want to have it both ways, telling us "this is all light and silly and none of it is of any consequence" and at the same time trying to whack us across the throat with a moment of dramatic power so that we cry for the characters. Henry and Taylor-Johnson's story gets there, thanks to the love expressed between the brothers even when they're breaking each other's chops, and the performances of the two actors have a direct connection with the audience despite boasting Cockney accents that might not pass muster in a college production of " My Fair Lady ." (The greatest achievement in the film is that Henry manages to take his character's relentless comparison of everyone else to Thomas the Tank Engine characters, and make you not loathe the gimmick on general principle.)

But the rest feels forced and insincere. "Bullet Train" is at its best when it's a comedy about self-styled badasses who think they're free agents but are all just passengers on a train rocketing from one station to another, oblivious to the desires of any individual riding on it. But the abstractness and "it's all a lark" humor neuter aspects that might sink roots into the viewer's mind. 

The project is abstract in another way as well: the script's source is a Japanese novel by Kōtarō Isaka, and the characters were Japanese. Leitch and company—who inherited the project from Antoine Fuqua , who had wanted to make a less jokey "Die Hard on a Train"-type film—have recast the tale "internationally," starting with Leitch's longtime screen partner Pitt. They had reportedly considered relocating the story to Europe, but decided to keep the Japanese setting anyway, and have defended this on grounds that "Bullet Train" is a fantastical film that could be set anywhere, and is basically taking place nowhere.

The explanation doesn't wash, considering how dependent "Bullet Train" is on Japanese signifiers and cultural attitudes (King's character is an anime "schoolgirl" avatar come to life)—not to mention essentially deracinating all of the core characters save for a handful of stereotypical Yakuza, who have been given a Russian chieftain modeled on Keyser Söze from " The Usual Suspects ." Even in a fantasy, the latter seems a stretch, although the actors all sell it like the professionals they are. If nothing in the movie is real—either as a justification for the casting, or as a guiding aesthetic—why not just go full "Speed Racer" or " The Matrix " with it, and own the green-screeness of the entire project, and set it in the future on another planet, or in an alternate dimension? It's practically a Marvel superhero movie anyway, except that the characters can't come back to life after being killed off. The result might've been a delirious work of art, instead of a technically and logistically ambitious movie that doesn't leave much of an emotional or intellectual footprint.

Now playing in theaters. 

Matt Zoller Seitz

Matt Zoller Seitz is the Editor at Large of RogerEbert.com, TV critic for New York Magazine and Vulture.com, and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism.

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Film credits.

Bullet Train (2022)

Rated R for strong and bloody violence, pervasive language, and brief sexuality.

127 minutes

Brad Pitt as Ladybug

Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Tangerine

Brian Tyree Henry as Lemon

Joey King as The Prince

Zazie Beetz as The Hornet

Bad Bunny as The Wolf

Andrew Koji as Kimura

Michael Shannon as The White Death

Hiroyuki Sanada as The Elder

Sandra Bullock as Maria Beetle

• David Leitch

Writer (based on the book by)

• Kotaro Isaka
• Zak Olkewicz

Cinematographer

• Jonathan Sela
• Elísabet Ronaldsdóttir
• Dominic Lewis

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‘Bullet Train’ Review: Ride and Die

Brad Pitt plays an amiable assassin who gets stuck on a Japanese high-speed train with a motley crew of other killers and no easy way out.

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By Manohla Dargis

The giddily violent bummer “Bullet Train” takes place in Japan on a high-speed train that turns into a theater of death. It’s watchable — it stars Brad Pitt — jokey, sometimes funny and predictably stupid. Hollywood has long churned out dumb, brutal stories, one difference being that today filmmakers no longer need to rationalize carnage with moralizing or blather about heroic codes. The special effects are better now, too, of course — the splatter looks real good.

The story is incidental; the vibe, Looney Tunes Tarantino-esque. Mostly it turns on villains fighting and killing and fighting some more as a loosey-goosey Pitt moves from car to car punching, joking, mugging, scheming and sprinting. His character, an assassin having a crisis of faith, has the cutesy handle Ladybug and is an underworld hireling who takes orders from a smooth talker (Sandra Bullock) who largely remains offscreen. For his new mission he has to steal a briefcase, a job he takes on with anxiety issues, serious skills and a white hat that he soon ditches, letting loose a perfect golden-boy bedhead and much violence.

Freely adapted from “Maria Beetle,” a page turner by the Japanese author Kotaro Isaka , the movie was directed by David Leitch and written by Zak Olkewicz. As might be expected from a big-ticket studio item, there have been changes in the transition to the screen, including the commercially strategic makeup of the main characters. Most are now Westerners, including Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, a.k.a. Bad Bunny, who pops up as a cartel caricature, and Brian Tyree Henry and Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who stick around longer as tag-teaming British assassins. Also onboard are Joey King, Hiroyuki Sanada, Andrew Koji, Zazie Beetz, Michael Shannon and an underused Karen Fukuhara.

The likable cast is among the movie’s attractions, as is its stunt choreography. Leitch is a former stunt man (he’s worked as a stunt double for Pitt) and his background shows throughout “Bullet Train,” which takes place largely inside the narrow confines of the train as it races from Tokyo to Kyoto. Leitch does some nice work within these severely circumscribed spaces and one of the wittiest fights finds Ladybug and Henry’s character grappling in face-to-face seats across a table, their bodies eventually intertwined as they wrestle and writhe. (They’re shushed by a sexist old-biddy cliché who looks like Garth from “Wayne’s World.”)

If Leitch doesn’t always work within the train’s tight quarters — each car a separate film set — as imaginatively as he should it’s partly because he’s too busy juggling the story’s many busy churning parts, including a glut of flashbacks. Again and again, the movie cuts away from the main action to fill in one of the characters’ backgrounds, which are never as engaging as Pitt et al. running daffily amok. These flashbacks add negligible texture and even less interest. Worse, because he repeatedly blasts back to the past, Leitch never manages to build sustained narrative momentum inside the train, which badly flattens the movie overall.

“Bullet Train” doesn’t have any ideas, beyond the geometric problems presented by all its bodies jostling within small spaces, which means that there’s not much to think about other than how good Pitt looks and how the violence lands. Certainly, much of the creative energy here has gone into finding different ways for dudes to die — and this is an almost all-male death-a-thon — or to kill one another. Some die by the sword, some are poisoned (cue the bleeding eyes), while others rocket off this mortal coil via explosions or blows that send them spiraling. One man’s throat is slit with a knife while another is shot in the neck. That poor soul vainly tries to stanch the bloody geyser that spurts like water from a fountain.

You’re not meant to care. Most of the characters are disposable, interchangeable minions who scurry around before they’re inevitably exterminated by someone else with bigger guns and brains. As you’d expect from the title, many of these underlings are shot to death with handguns and long guns of assorted sizes. Characters are riddled, shredded, annihilated; one guy loses half his face — bang-bang, ha-ha.

“Bullet Train” has its moments, a few laughs, some smooth moves, but Leitch has done better elsewhere, including in the original “ John Wick ,” which he directed (uncredited) with Chad Stahelski. A tale of vengeance, “John Wick” has an equally high body count, but it’s better structured, more modulated, and has a brittle veneer of high-mindedness. The hero of “John Wick” is on a mission; Ladybug is on a job. In other words, “John Wick,” in classic American (cinematic) fashion, presents a moral justification for its slaughter. “Bullet Train” doesn’t even bother serving up such self-elevating, audience-flattering fantasies — its blood lust is honest.

Bullet Train Rated R for extreme violence. Running time: 2 hours 6 minutes. In theaters.

Manohla Dargis has been the co-chief film critic of The Times since 2004. She started writing about movies professionally in 1987 while earning her M.A. in cinema studies at New York University, and her work has been anthologized in several books. More about Manohla Dargis

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‘Bullet Train’ Review: Brad Pitt Leads This Gleefully Overloaded, High-Speed Battle Royal

Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry and company play in-transit assassins in 'Atomic Blonde' director David Leitch's wildly complicated action vehicle.

By Peter Debruge

Peter Debruge

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The bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto takes about two hours and 15 minutes — just the right amount of time to pull off a cartoonishly over-the-top action movie, in which half a dozen assassins shoot, stab and otherwise perforate each other’s pretty little faces in pursuit of a briefcase stuffed with cash. It’s a high-stakes game of hot potato, choreographed and executed by “Atomic Blonde” director David Leitch , in which a self-deprecating Brat Pitt wears a bucket hat and oversize specs, Brian Tyree Henry and Aaron Taylor-Johnson play bickering “twin” hit men Lemon and Tangerine, and “The Princess” wedding crasher Joey King (known here as the Prince) is a cunning killer who can fake-cry on command.

These quirky characters — and a handful of others, with names like the Hornet (Zazie Beetz) and the Wolf (Benito A Martínez Ocasio, aka Bad Bunny) — are identified by giant on-screen labels superimposed over their flash-frozen mugs, the way Martin Scorsese or Guy Ritchie sometimes intro their ensembles. “Bullet Train” feels like it comes from the same brain as “Snatch,” wearing its pop style on its sleeve — a “Kill Bill”-level mix of martial arts, manga and gabby hit-man-movie influences, minus the vision or wit that implies.

Adapting the pulp Kotaro Isaka novel “MariaBeetle” for a mostly Western cast, Leitch and screenwriter Zak Olkewicz make each of these characters twice as eccentric as necessary, lest audiences’ attention wane for an instant. Maria (as voiced by Sandra Bullock) is the bug in Pitt’s ear, guiding the newly nonviolent tough guy (this anger management joke recently featured in “The Hitman’s Bodyguard” as well) through what’s supposed to be the cinchiest job of his career: Board the bullet train in Tokyo, grab the MacGuffin and step off at the next stop. Cha-ching goes the choo-choo. Except Ladybug (as Pitt’s character is dubbed) is hella unlucky, and there appear to be more murderers crammed together here than Agatha Christie could fit on the Orient Express.

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Meanwhile, innocent bystanders are at a minimum. There’s a busybody woman who keeps shushing Ladybug and Lemon when their fistfighting gets too disruptive, but after a few stops, practically the only passengers who remain aboard are ones who would kill for that briefcase. There’s also an incredibly poisonous boomslang snake, whose venom takes effect in 30 seconds, making victims bleed from their eyes, like poor Logan Lerman (the first character to bite it, serving out the rest of the film in floppy-corpsed “Weekend at Bernie’s” mode).

The movie’s strategy is to keep throwing deadly obstacles at Pitt’s character, who gets his hands on the bulletproof Tumi fairly easily early on. Ladybug’s remarkably good at improvising his way out of trouble — even when the movie literally goes off the rails at the end. Setting all this mayhem on a train wasn’t Leitch’s idea, though the stuntman-turned-director makes the most of that limitation, staging visually interesting set-pieces in different cars. Ladybug and the Wolf have a knife fight in the bar area. Later, he and Tangerine smash up the kitchen. There’s some funny stuff that happens in a neon-lit segment of the train involving the mascot for a local kids’ show, who keeps getting punched in the face. Even the lavatories are fair game.

The fight scenes feel relatively original, which is impressive unto itself, considering how many other creative filmmakers are trying to distinguish themselves in the genre. Leitch tends to approach these standoffs the way Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire once did their dance numbers: The violence needn’t be taken literally (which is tough at times, considering how brutal the bloodshed can be), but rather appreciated mostly for their choreography and capacity to surprise.

Still, there’s something callous about how casually Leitch takes human life. “Bullet Train” reps one of the first and most ambitious pandemic-made blockbusters to be released, demonstrating that Leitch and company felt confident enough the world would go back to normal that they could have the Prince push a 6-year-old off a roof just to lure the kid’s father (Andrew Koji, by far the film’s weakest link) onto the train. King’s character is a real piece of work, wearing a black bob and pink schoolgirl-style getup. She’s a heartless manipulator, frequently posing as an innocent victim to ensnare her prey.

Eventually, “Bullet Train” reveals that behind this in-no-way-coincidental roundup of assassins was an elaborate plan by fearsome underworld boss the White Death (Michael Shannon) to avenge the death of his wife. But he’s not the only one who lost a loved one, as Hiroyuki Sanada’s samurai-like the Elder demonstrates when he boards a stop or two before Kyoto.

The geographical logic of “Bullet Train” doesn’t make much sense, but then, the movie looks as like was produced without the principals so much as stepping foot in Japan. And why not? It’s essentially a live-action cartoon, with high-profile cameos sprinkled in for added laughs. Stylistically, Leitch is trying his darnedest to channel the likes of Tarantino and Ritchie, even if the dialogue and mock-British accents aren’t nearly strong enough to earn such comparisons.

Tangerine and Lemon are likable characters, though the latter is constantly going on about how everything he learned about people comes from “Thomas the Tank Engine” (which explains a lot about how reductive the movie’s understanding of human nature is). Similarly, Ladybug is always quoting trite self-help aphorisms, which invariably get a laugh. This may be a fun enough ride, but such punchlines drive home that neither the characters nor the film they inhabit are particularly deep. Quite the opposite, in fact. As Calvin and Hobbes so aptly put it, their train of thought is still boarding at the station.

Reviewed at Regency Village Theater, Los Angeles, Aug. 1, 2022. MPA Rating: R. Running time: 126 MIN.

• Production: A Sony release of a Columbia Pictures presentation of an 87North production. Producers: Kelly McCormick, David Leitch, Antoine Fuqua. Executive producers: Brent O’Connor, Ryosuke Saegusa, Yuma Terada, Kat Samick.
• Crew: Director: David Leitch. Screenplay: Zak Olkewicz, based upon the book “Maria Beetle” by Kotaro Isaka. Camera: Jonathan Sela. Editor: Elísabet Ronaldsdóttir. Music: Dominic Lewis.
• With: Brad Pitt, Joey King, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Andrew Koji, Hiroyuki Sanada, Michael Shannon, Benito A Martínez Ocasio, Sandra Bullock, Zazie Beetz.

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‘bullet train’ review: brad pitt stars in a thrill-free thrill ride.

The star plays one of a cluster of assassins on interconnected missions in David Leitch’s comedy action-thriller set aboard the Japanese high-speed train, also featuring Joey King, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Brian Tyree Henry.

By David Rooney

David Rooney

Chief Film Critic

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Keanu reeves says he and sandra bullock "would knock it out of the park" if they did 'speed 3', 'the fall guy': five ways in which the movie references the original series.

Release date : Friday, Aug. 5 Cast : Brad Pitt, Joey King, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Andrew Koji, Hiroyuki Sanada, Michael Shannon, Benito A Martinez Ocasio, Sandra Bullock Director : David Leitch Screenwriters : Zak Olkewicz, based on the novel Maria Beetle , by Kôtarô Isaka

Unlike the book, in which all the assassins who find themselves at cross-purposes on the Tokyo-to-Kyoto bullet train are Japanese, most of the principal characters have had an international makeover, raising online objections to whitewashing. Core members of the creative team, including the novelist, have defended the casting choices, maintaining that realism is not a big factor in the setting or characters. But it’s perhaps significant that only when the dependably compelling Hiroyuki Sanada steps up to play a key part in the climactic action does anyone onscreen acquire a semblance of depth.

This is a thriller about family, fate and fortune in which the stakes are neutralized by the cartoonish extremes of the storytelling. Bullet Train begins with distraught father Kimura (Andrew Koji), a low-level criminal, standing over the hospital bed where his young son lies on life support after being pushed from the roof of a building. Sanada plays the boy’s grandfather, identified only as The Elder (like all the other characters, with dual-language onscreen text), a sternly disapproving man who commands his boozing son to take revenge and restore the family’s honor.  

His mission proves more complicated than expected when it overlaps with the job of two British assassins going by the names Tangerine ( Aaron Taylor-Johnson ) and Lemon ( Brian Tyree Henry ), whose bickering doesn’t hide their lifelong fraternal bond. Also on board is The Prince ( Joey King ), a second-generation killer who makes deft use of her innocent schoolgirl appearance to disarm her foes. The Hornet (Zazie Beetz) is an expert in poisons who spends much of the action incognito. One of her victims, The Wolf (Benito A Martinez Ocasio, aka rapper Bad Bunny), boards the train to avenge the loss of his wife at their wedding in Mexico. And there’s also a deadly snake, stolen from the zoo.

Ladybug keeps working on his personal growth, empathizing with lethal adversaries by offering lame pop-psych maxims like “Hurt people hurt people.” But he doles out his share of pain, as does everyone else en route to Kyoto, where the feared Russian underworld kingpin known as The White Death ( Michael Shannon ) awaits them all with his squad of hitmen.

Likewise, the strenuous action, and the jumbled plot mechanisms devised to tie everyone together. Leitch, cinematographer Jonathan Sela and the stunt team do a serviceable job staging dynamic fights in the train’s tight compartments, with gun violence, knife and sword play, and weaponized use of anything else at hand, from laptops to water bottles to a plushy mascot. But for a movie with so much volatile physicality and bruising punishment, there’s an inertia about the whole thing, a soullessness that makes every contrived smirk grate. We don’t care about who gets pounded to a pulp or shot to pieces because there are no characters to root for — good guys or bad.

There are, of course, the obligatory ironic needle drops, including “Holding Out for a Hero” in Japanese, the early ‘60s pop crossover hit “Sukiyaki” and tracks from Englebert Humperdinck and Peter, Paul and Mary. And there are cameos — major names dropping by uncredited to add to the already overqualified ensemble. One of them, playing the root of much trouble, who dropped out of the assignment that went to Ladybug, is such groaningly obvious casting you wonder how we escaped with so little of him. At two hours-plus, escape may well be on your mind, unless you’re smart enough to dodge this bullet.

Full credits

Distribution: Sony Production companies: Columbia Pictures, 87North Cast: Brad Pitt, Joey King, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Andrew Koji, Hiroyuki Sanada, Michael Shannon, Benito A Martinez Ocasio, Sandra Bullock, Zazie Beetz, Logan Lerman, Masi Oka, Karen Fukuhara Director: David Leitch Screenwriters: Zak Olkewicz, based on the novel Maria Beetle , by Kôtarô Isaka Producers: Kelly McCormick, David Leitch, Antoine Fuqua Executive producers: Brent O’Connor, Ryosuke Saegusa, Yuma Terada, Kat Samick Director of photography: Jonathan Sela Production designer: David Scheunemann Costume designer: Sarah Evelyn Music: Dominic Lewis Editors: Elísabet Ronaldsdóttir Visual effects supervisor: Michael Brazelton Casting: Mary Vernieu

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Bullet Train Reviews

Bullet Train’s driving engine quickly loses steam. Its runtime is never justified, especially when it chooses to prioritize odd tangents over cogent and streamlined storytelling.

Full Review | Nov 2, 2023

Bullet Train is bombastic and silly, but it rarely pretends to be anything else. Is it a great movie? No, not by any stretch. Is it a fun movie? Yes, but like the rails, the bullet train goes off, mileage really may vary.

Full Review | Sep 17, 2023

And let's just say with all these stunts, gore and adrenaline-inducing sequences, it is hard to be bored.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 18, 2023

As it poorly emulates Tarantino and Guy Ritchie, the action picture ends up as a cartoonish mess and exhausting watch more than an entertaining popcorn flick.

Full Review | Original Score: C- | Jul 29, 2023

Bullet Train employs David Leitch's maximalist style in a purposefully silly narrative driven by frenetic action and distinct humor. Every second with Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Brian Tyree Henry is genuinely hilarious.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Jul 25, 2023

AWESOME. The last big ride for the summer that brought back the movie theater experience for so many people & what a film to end on. Widely entertaining from top to bottom that constantly gives you laughs, action, & insanity.

Full Review | Jul 25, 2023

Bullet Train is turbulent and chaotic but a thrilling ride nonetheless. Its illogical, blood-soaked premise may derail some, but others might find charm in its memorable cameos, wild hairstyles, and magnetic characters.

Watching Brad Pitt completely flanderize into a human golden retriever who only recites self-help sayings for 2 hours and 6 minutes was insufferable.

Bullet Train isn’t going anywhere fast. It’s self-indulgent and thinks it’s doing something entirely unique. The film gives itself far more credit than it deserves.

Full Review | Jul 24, 2023

I used “annoyingly fun” to describe Bullet Train because I don’t know what other oxymoron can best capture the delirium that transpired in its two-hour runtime.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Jul 21, 2023

It’s a waste of an interesting premise, it drags after the first act, continues to hit new levels of monotony, and, ironically, never picks up the pace.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Jul 20, 2023

Bullet Train is a mixed bag, worth seeing for action fans, but maybe at a matinee screening or when it hits VOD. There’s a tighter and better 100-minute movie in that 126-minute high-energy extravaganza...

Full Review | Original Score: C+ | May 3, 2023

With an A-list cast happily playing against type, a nonlinear storytelling approach, witty dialogue and a plethora of creative violence, Bullet Train plays out like an immensely satisfying upgrade of prime Tarantino.

Full Review | Original Score: 9.5/10 | Jan 1, 2023

A blast... The film works because Brad Pitt is a really funny and engaging guy.

Full Review | Original Score: A | Dec 16, 2022

Leitch helms his action with clarity and impact, creating a beautifully nonsensical thrill ride that could have been a trainwreck, but entertains to the end of the line.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Nov 30, 2022

If Kill Bill: Vol. 1 is wagyu steak, this is a juicy dive burger.

Full Review | Nov 30, 2022

Strangely, this murder at 320kms per hour action comedy may be an embarrassment of riches in the talent department, but the execution leaves one exhausted by the trip, impatient to find their stop.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 25, 2022

Without ebbs or flows to modulate the viewing experience and a never-ending barrage of increasingly ridiculous action (fun at first; exhausting by the end), Bullet Train proves that sometimes “more” is actually too much.

Like the titular mode of transportation, it does pick up speed as it barrels along.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Oct 23, 2022

Brad Pitt's comedic chops are what saves an otherwise exhausting Bullet Train. It is Pitt's incredible comedic deliveries and charisma that carry the film. He proves that, even with a poor script, he has the talent to keep the film on track.

Full Review | Oct 19, 2022

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Bullet Train review: Brad Pitt shines in a jokey, stylish action film

Filmmakers have been ripping off the motormouthed, jukebox-boogie style of Quentin Tarantino for so long now that the ripoffs have spawned their own ripoffs, which in turn have spawned their own ripoffs, and so on into oblivion. The latest branch of this incestual family tree of archly violent hitman comedies is Bullet Train , a hyperactive, supersized barrage of jocular kill-or-be-killed mayhem. As directed by David Leitch, folding a bunch of sixth-hand Tarantino-isms into his own identifiable John Wick schtick, the film plays like the great great great grandson of Pulp Fiction . This means that it’s also related to multiple generations of bastard offspring, straight back from Free Fire to Seven Psychopaths to Smoking Aces to some of the earliest and most idiosyncratic of the pretenders, the lads-and-cads underworld picaresques of Guy Ritchie.

Bullet Train takes all the stereotypical hallmarks of the QT school of crime caper — the ironic pop needle drops, the digressive pop-culture blather, the “I shot Marvin in the face” punchline ultra-violence—and blows them out into a neon, candy-coated Saturday morning cartoon of flippant carnage. True to its title, the film unfolds almost entirely aboard a single locomotive, racing from Tokyo to Kyoto on the Shinkansen railway. That moving backdrop is reflected in the super-sonic speed of the banter and gunplay, but not in the nonlinear path of the narrative, which keeps breaking off into flashback detours of pertinent backstory splatter, including a literal body count tallied in a fourth-wall-breaking montage and the belated payoff of a background news story that makes a slithering, unconventional deposit into Chekhov’s armory.

Zen cool is one of the trustier weapons in Pitt’s arsenal

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Holding the movie together, like superstar crazy glue, is the breezy nonchalance of its headliner, Brad Pitt. He’s been cast as a newly enlightened hired gun, coming off a long break from the killing business. Zen cool is one of the trustier weapons in Pitt’s arsenal — he recently won an Oscar trying out a relaxed, vaguely menacing variation on it — and here the actor twists that quality into a can’t-we-all-get-along agreeability meant to clash comically with his line of work. He’s the closest thing to a wrong-man everyman in a cast of characters made up almost exclusively of gangsters and murderers. In practice, that means a lot of scenes of Pitt spouting therapy lingo and shouting stuff like “Aww, c’mon man!” as he dodges death — a taste of the glib R-rated sitcom patter of the dialogue, which teeters rather constantly between funny and just plain obnoxious.

Ladybug, as Pitt’s character is codenamed, has a seemingly simple assignment: snatch a briefcase of ransom money from the train in question. Trouble is, it’s being transported by the movie’s answer to Jules and Vincent — a pair of nattering, hitmen brothers from a different mother named Tangerine (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Lemon (Brian Tyree Henry). The two are escorting the cash, along with the kidnapped screw-up crimelord scion (Logan Lerman) they’ve rescued, to the kid’s notoriously brutal Yakuza-by-way-of-Russia kingpin father, The White Death. To make matters increasingly, exponentially more complicated, the passenger manifest also includes a bunch of other assassins with crisscrossing schemes and motives, played by the likes of Joey King, Andrew Koji, the rapper Bad Bunny, and more. (There’s scarcely a single role in this movie not occupied by someone recognizable; even the bit parts facilitate big-name cameos.)

Bullet Train is a bit like a version of Murder on the Orient Express where everyone’s trying to kill everyone and no one’s trying to solve anything.

Surprisingly, this relentless cocaine binge of a yuk fest has literary roots. It’s based on Japanese author Kōtarō Isaka’s acclaimed, bestselling novel MariaBeetle . Isaka generally specializes in mysteries, which accounts for the twisty, locked-room plotting and the Clue -board eccentricity of the characterizations. Bullet Train is a bit like a version of Murder on the Orient Express where everyone’s trying to kill everyone and no one’s trying to solve anything. The script, from Fear Street adaptor Zak Olkewicz, squeezes some fun out of the convolutions, getting us guessing at how these various vendettas and subplots will intersect. It also successfully exploits some of the unique properties of the setting, including how the train pauses for only a single minute at each station, adding a periodically ticking clock to the escalating series of obstacles faced by Ladybug and company.

Leitch, the ex-stuntman relevantly responsible for pageants of action excess both balletic ( Atomic Blonde ) and jokey ( Deadpool 2 ), seems similarly drawn to the logistical limitations of the Shinkansen. The narrow passageways and cramped compartments lend themselves naturally to his taste for intense and mechanically precise close-quarters combat—the way he’ll make a miniature spectacle, for example, out of wrestling to click a clip into a magazine with a muscled forearm around your jugular. Leitch’s vastly influential choreography (“Wickian” is among the more useful recent additions to the adrenaline-junkie vernacular) has always flirted with slapstick. Bullet Train completes the pickup line, fully converting the full-contact skirmishes and gory kill shots into jokes. Here, a brawl in a quiet car becomes the broadest of farces, two men pausing their tooth-and-nail fight to the death to address the oblivious yuppie passenger shushing them.

Are we genuinely meant to care about the cold-blooded assassin with the habit of comparing his marks and mates to characters from Thomas & Friends ?

Bullet Train is at its most enjoyable in its earliest stretches, when the plot is racing to catch up with itself, the complications seem to forever be compounding, and the cast list of colorfully exaggerated comic-book killers keeps growing by leaps and bounds. It’s when all the parts are at last in place that the flimsiness of this bombastic Rube Goldberg IMAX epic comes into focus. Behind all the nihilistic snark is a soap-opera meditation on destiny that assumes a bit too much investment in the fate of characters mostly defined by their quirks of dress, speech, and preoccupation. Are we genuinely meant to care about the cold-blooded assassin with the habit of comparing his marks and mates to characters from Thomas & Friends ? (It’s a running gag that counts as either the worst parody of Tarantino TV-brain ever or just the ultimate example to kill the trend.) The late entrance of martial-arts luminary Hiroyuki Sanada is a blatant Hail Mary for gravitas, a late bid to give a generally meaningless pileup of bodies and archetypes the impression of philosophical weight.

Best to appreciate Bullet Train for the novel scale of its pastiche — the way Leitch has given three decades and counting of Tarantino worship its hugest stage yet, via an overlong live-action anime with nearly as many familiar faces as an Oscar ceremony and an aesthetic that sometimes suggests a T-Mobile commercial with a $90-million budget. Still, Leitch has failed, as nearly every QT-indebted hotshot before him has, to capture an essential truth of the master’s work: Even before he ditched the oft-imitated touchstones of his early Miramax video-clerk breakthroughs, Tarantino was a subversive storyteller, as interested in confounding the expectations set by his shuffled plot elements as he was in squeezing fresh cool from them. Bullet Train has the Jack Rabbit Slim’s moves but not the touch. It’s Pulp Distraction at best.

Bullet Train opens in theaters everywhere Friday, August 5 . For more reviews and writing by A.A. Dowd, visit his  Authory page .

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Bullet Train First Reviews: An Outrageous Thrill Ride Elevated by A Winning Brad Pitt

Critics say the cartoonish, neon-soaked action flick is funny and fast-paced, even if it eventually flies off the rails and doesn't quite stick the landing..

TAGGED AS: Action , Comedy , First Reviews , movies

From one of the directors of John Wick who also helmed Deadpool 2 , Atomic Blonde , and Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw comes another outrageous action movie that is sure to be a hit with moviegoers, according to its first reviews. David Leitch’s Bullet Train stars Brad Pitt alongside a diverse ensemble cast (not to mention cameo players), all of whom are playing assorted assassins and criminals, and it’s a cartoonishly entertaining — if convoluted and familiar — right up until, as some critics claim, it stops short or goes too off the rails in the end.

Here’s what critics are saying about Bullet Train :

Should you buy a ticket for Bullet Train ?

Strap yourself in and prepare for one entertaining blockbuster. – Matt Rodriguez, Shakefire

Bullet Train is one of the most entertaining and flashy films of 2022. – Ben Kendrick, Screen Rant

Bullet Train is so much fun… Turn off your brain and watch Brad Pitt try to kill half the cast of Atlanta . – Ross Bonaime, Collider

If you’re looking for an action flick that’s thrilling and ridiculous in equal measure, you’re in for a treat. Just don’t go in with an expectation of high art. – Joey Magidson, Awards Radar

Bullet Train is a blast. – Kristy Puchko, Mashable

(Photo by Scott Garfield/©Sony Pictures Entertainment)

How does it compare to this year’s other action movies?

Bullet Train is the most fun I’ve had at an action movie this summer. – Kristy Puchko, Mashable

Bullet Train delivers some of the best action we’ve seen this year. – Ian Sandwell, Digital Spy

Bullet Train is one of the best action movies of the year. – Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times

You can expect a lot of well-choreographed action, and the film delivers plenty. Guns, knives, swords, injections; it’s all absolutely wild. – Matt Rodriguez, Shakefire

The fight scenes feel relatively original… Leitch tends to approach these standoffs the way Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire once did their dance numbers: The violence needn’t be taken literally, but rather appreciated mostly for their choreography and capacity to surprise. – Peter Debruge, Variety

The action in Bullet Train is exhilarating with tight editing, dynamic camera movements, and excellent stuntwork. – Matt Neglia, Next Best Picture

The larger one-on-one fights featuring Pitt are fun to watch, but anything that becomes a group affair or requires multiple persons gets tiring and overly complicated. – Spencer Perry, ComicBook.com

A good chunk of the action sequences in Bullet Train is often borderline visually incomprehensible….chopped and edited within an inch of their life. – Josh Spiegel, Slashfilm

And what about director David Leitch’s other films?

The Bullet Train fight sequences recapture the delightfully manic energy of his earlier work. – Jason Bailey, The Playlist

It isn’t every director who can commandeer this amount of craziness, but David Leitch is one of them… [He] crafts some nutty fight sequences that lean closer to Jackie Chan and The Raid than they do his previous stuff. – Travis Hopson, Punch Drunk Critics

The film is packed with short and blunt action scenes like in John Wick and Atomic Blonde , but thrown into a narrative that is about as silly as Hobbs & Shaw , and with the humor, cameos, and sly nods of something like Deadpool 2 . – Ross Bonaime, Collider

This movie is much more in line with Leitch’s direction of Deadpool 2 , for good and mostly ill. – Josh Spiegel, Slashfilm

The action movie aesthete who made Atomic Blonde into such an electric Cold War gut-punch has fully surrendered to the hack-for-hire behind Deadpool 2 and Hobbs & Shaw . – David Ehrlich, IndieWire

What all of [his] movies have in common is that they bit off more than they can chew… Bullet Train follows that same pattern. – Carla Hay, Culture Mix

What other films is it reminiscent of?

Bullet Train has the saving grace of being better than other movies that have attempted something similar, like Hotel Artemis or Gunpowder Milkshake . – Spencer Perry, ComicBook.com

If there’s an easy tonal comparison it would be to last year’s Gunpowder Milkshake , which I also absolutely loved. – Travis Hopson, Punch Drunk Critics

Seven Psychopaths , Pulp Fiction / Hateful Eight , and Free Fire — pretty much any movie about murderers murdering murderers — rolled into one. – Roger Moore, Movie Nation

When the end credits roll on Bullet Train , it’s almost a shock to not see Guy Ritchie listed as the director. – Josh Spiegel, Slashfilm

The early work of a string of directors comes to mind while watching Bullet Train , among them Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, Guy Ritchie, Joe Carnahan and Timur Bekmambetov. – David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter

Bullet Train is just a slight step up from the celebrity-as-assassins-packed ludicrousness of Smokin’ Aces . – Ross Bonaime, Collider

It ends up playing like Smokin’ Aces or Boondock Saints or the desperate Tarantino knock-off of your choice. – Jason Bailey, The Playlist

How is the script?

Convoluted and wild… It’s the ridiculousness and twisty nature of Bullet Train that makes this film such a wild ride. – Ross Bonaime, Collider

An exceedingly clever script that manages to create complete story arcs for more than a half-dozen characters, is peppered with zippy and quick one-liners and is filled with a myriad of darkly funny fantastic surprises right through the closing credits. – Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times

The exposition can be a bit heavy at times, especially in the earlier half of the film when everyone is still being introduced. – Matt Rodriguez, Shakefire

The screenplay is sometimes a little too in love with itself as it attempts to pull off the “cool guy” dialogue found in Guy Ritchie and Quentin Tarantino crime films. – Matt Neglia, Next Best Picture

The Bullet Train movie removes a lot of the intrigue and personality that’s in the novel and substitutes it with an emphasis on staging scenes that are supposed to be outrageously violent. – Carla Hay, Culture Mix

There’s an inertia about the whole thing… We don’t care about who gets pounded to a pulp or shot to pieces because there are no characters to root for — good guys or bad. – David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter

Is it funny?

One of the funniest films of 2022. – Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times

Laugh-out-loud… The best gags are running gags, the funniest lines the ones repeated. – Roger Moore, Movie Nation

A laugh-a-minute… wild and funny thrill ride. – Ben Kendrick, Screen Rant

Bullet Train has some downright hilarious moments. – Matt Rodriguez, Shakefire

It’s worth it, especially for the laughs. It’s not quite The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent level of laughter but there’s still enough to enjoy the film. – Danielle Solzman, Solzy at the Movies

There’s also a ton of comedy, to the point where this is oddly funnier than it is thrilling… There’s an almost Looney Tunes quality to the zany antics. – Joey Magidson, Awards Radar

There are plenty of laughs to be had, but for every joke that lands, there might be two or more which don’t. – Matt Neglia, Next Best Picture

It has exactly three jokes… which are told and retold, and then told again. – Jason Bailey, The Playlist

The comedy here is probably the weakest aspect. – Ross Bonaime, Collider

(Photo by ©Sony Pictures Entertainment)

How is Brad Pitt?

This is Pitt’s show all the way. Riffing on his role in True Romance , mixed with Jackie Chan-style fight scenes, there’s a chance his character, Ladybug, could become iconic. – Chris Bumbray, JoBlo’s Movie Network

We haven’t seen him in a role that allows him to cut loose with this amount of physicality, while also firing off jokes at a Tarantino/Ritchie rate of fire. And he makes it look like a breeze. – Travis Hopson, Punch Drunk Critics

Bullet Train’ s biggest weapon, of the secretly funny variety, rests in the chiseled form of star Brad Pitt, who once again proves that he is as charming a buff-and-tough movie god as he is a wry, self-deprecating comedy star. – Barry Hertxz, Globe and Mail

Pitt’s stardom has never been more obvious, and it shines bright enough here for everything else to get lost in the glare. – David Ehrlich, IndieWire

His exasperated and exhausted outlook on the growing series of obstacles is fun at first but increasingly becomes irritating as the plot grows more outrageous. – Matt Neglia, Next Best Picture

Are there any other standouts in the cast?

By far my favorite characters in the film are Lemon and Tangerine, played brilliantly by Brian Tyree Henry and Aaron Taylor-Johnson. – Matt Rodriguez, Shakefire

It’s the combination of Taylor-Johnson and Lemon as Tangerine and Lemon that is the real joy of Bullet Train . – Ross Bonaime, Collider

Brian Tyree Henry and Aaron Taylor-Johnson are particularly outstanding. – Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times

Henry who is the most watchable… I was genuinely sorry to see him go the first couple of times he was murdered. – Pete Hammond, Deadline

The whole cast is excellent, with [Joey] King stealing scenes as the teenaged killer with a heart of stone. – Chris Bumbray, JoBlo’s Movie Network

The movie features Japanese movie legend Hiroyuki Sanada in a standout supporting role as the sword-wielding Elder. – Brian Truitt, USA Today

Logan Lerman is low-key delightful as a glorified human prop. – David Ehrlich, IndieWire

How is the pacing? Does the film stick the landing?

There is never a dull moment. – Matt Rodriguez, Shakefire

There are some pacing issues and repetition early to midway on that slightly derail things, but once we reach the second half, it’s very much a smooth ride. – Joey Magidson, Awards Radar

Bullet Train becomes a bit of a bore, right before a climax… the pacing fumbles for a bit. – Kristy Puchko, Mashable

Bullet Train is maybe 20 minutes too long; the movie seems to be having too much fun to reach its final station on time. – Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly

It all comes off the rails in the final act to fall short of an action classic. – Ian Sandwell, Digital Spy

I can’t say the thing ever goes off the rails because it never was on the rails to begin with. – Pete Hammond, Deadline

Should we see it in a theater?

In theaters: really the right venue for this trip. – Pete Hammond, Deadline

Bullet Train is the ideal movie to watch with a crowd if you’re in the mood for a non-stop action ride. – Ian Sandwell, Digital Spy

Bullet Train is also playing on IMAX screens. That said, an upgraded ticket is not essential for Leitch’s latest movie. – Ben Kendrick, Screen Rant

Will it leave audiences wanting more?

Bullet Train is one trip you don’t want to ever end. – Matt Rodriguez, Shakefire

Worth a one-way ticket, if not a return journey. – Ben Travis, Empire Magazine

[Pitt’s] character is one you could build a franchise around. – Spencer Perry, ComicBook.com

I would book passage aboard Bullet Train again in a heartbeat. – Travis Hopson, Punch Drunk Critics

Bullet Train opens everywhere on August 5, 2022.

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Bullet Train review: All aboard the crazy train

Brad Pitt and a crew of international assassins ride the die-hard rails in a gleeful neon thriller.

Snakes on a plane, assassins on a train: Some concepts are so blood simple, they can sell themselves in a sentence fragment. Who needs verbs when you have katanas, Bad Bunny , and Brad Pitt smirking in a bucket hat? (There is, in fact, a snake somewhere on board this Bullet Train , though its venom-tipped slithering must compete with a thousand other ways to die.)

The movie, in theaters August 5, largely delivers on the high-speed berserkery of its premise — a manic neon candygram stuffed with cameos and smash-cut chaos, hurtling breathlessly toward its gonzo end. Bullet begins without preamble by throwing a small child off a roof and spends the next two hours stacking up its snazzily soundtracked body count from there, like an Agatha Christie mystery art-directed by Guy Ritchie. It's actually helmed by David Leitch , who made the original John Wick and 2017's underrated Atomic Blonde , and his work undoubtedly owes a debt to Ritchie and many other directors working in the splattery comedic action milieu that has dominated the last two decades. But it also feels looser and more inclusive than many films in the genre, tipping as much toward the lush eye-popping absurdity of Everything Everywhere All at Once as it does the crasser testosterone antics of Kingsmen , The Gentlemen et al. Death — by gun, by sword, by pink animé plushy — is a given; the jokes, and the wasabi peas, are free.

The movie stars, though, do not come cheap: Pitt gets probably the most screen time as an affable American hitman code-named Ladybug by his unflappable handler, played by Sandra Bullock (who largely appears as a disembodied voice on his phone). Ladybug has been working on himself, and hopes one day to be a better man; in the meantime he has a lot of self-help koans of the every-wall-is-a-window variety to share, and a problem: The silver briefcase he's been dispatched to collect from a sleek commuter train headed to Kyoto is just… sitting there, unguarded, in a luggage rack. Can it really be that easy?

Dear reader, it cannot. There are many would-be contenders scattered throughout the train, including Lemon ( Brian Tyree Henry ) and Tangerine ( Aaron Taylor-Johnson ), a pair of Cockney wet-work specialists tasked with chaperoning both the case and the delinquent son (that's Logan Lerman beneath the sullen glare and scribbly cheekbone tattoos) of a crime boss auspiciously named The White Death ( Michael Shannon ). There's also a pouty sweater-vested schoolgirl ( Joey King ) who is not what she seems, a homicidal groom bent on revenge (Benito A. Martínez Ocasio, a.k.a. reggaeton god Bad Bunny ), a father and son (Andrew Koji and the great, elegant Hiroyuki Sanada ) with their own score to settle, and a German assassin with a flair for fatal intoxicants ( Zazie Beetz ).

These characters are helpfully identified by flashing supertitles splashed across the screen, though many of them hardly live long enough to enjoy their fancy signage. There are exceptions: Lemon and Tangerine, who bicker and banter like siblings (they're actually twins, or at least blood brothers), and King's scheming fille fatale are largely centered alongside Pitt, whose Ladybug often feels like a 30-years-later update on his stoned couch-lord Floyd in the cult Quentin Taraninto-penned classic True Romance . He just wants you to sit in your feelings, man, and maybe help him understand the functions on this tricked-out Japanese train toilet.

But Ladybug is obliged, like the rest of them, to kill or be killed, lest The White Death express his increasing displeasure by getting there first. (Rarely has Shannon's Beethoven hair and shark-eyed stare felt so ideally tailored to a role). And so Leitch embarks on a series of adrenalized set pieces that defy logic and physics so breezily that its relentless, ridiculous violence plays almost like a winsome ballet. At 126 minutes, Bullet Train is maybe 20 minutes too long; the movie seems to be having too much fun to reach its final station on time, and too many winky drop-ins from A-list action heroes to wedge in. (While some commentators have understandably voiced their objections to the whitewashing of Kōtarō Isaka's original 2010 novel with predominately non-Asian actors, the author himself seems to have embraced it .) Bullet Train doesn't have a destination, really, or a moral imperative other than mayhem. But it's got a ticket to ride. Grade: B+

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Run Me Over, Bullet Train

Bullet Train feels like someone crossbred Kill Bill with a Final Destination movie. And at times, David Leitch’s film is almost as glorious as that description makes it sound — elaborate and ridiculous but dedicated to making the elaborate and the ridiculous feel … well, not plausible , exactly, but certainly compelling and fun. Not to mention the film’s conviction that there is no level of baroque narrative digression a modern audience will not tolerate. I took something like 50 pages of notes, and I still feel like I caught about half of what happened.

To describe the plot of Bullet Train in any detail would send one down more than a dozen wormholes, but ultimately it’s all kind of the same thing, so here’s a general outline: The action takes place on a train speeding from Tokyo to Morioka on which a number of criminals have converged. Distraught gangster Kimura (Andrew Koji) is there to track down (and presumably kill) whoever recently pushed his young son off a roof. Tangerine (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Lemon (Brian Tyree Henry), known together as the Twins, are there to deliver to a mysterious and all-powerful Russian gangster his deadbeat son (Logan Lerman) and a briefcase full of money. There is the Prince (Joey King), a stuck-up teenage girl with some mysterious murderous plans of her own. There’s the Wolf (Bad Bunny), a Mexican assassin whose whole world was wiped out when someone poisoned the wine at his wedding; naturally, he, too, is out for revenge. Then there’s Brad Pitt’s Ladybug (that’s a code name), who has been hired to snatch and grab the aforementioned briefcase with zero idea of what’s in it, who he’s stealing it from, or to whom it ultimately belongs. There’s also a deadly snake on the loose. And a big bouncing pink mascot for a popular children’s show. There is … well, there’s more, but I’ve probably already said too much.

Not unlike a Quentin Tarantino film (and not unlike any number of Tarantino imitators that populated movie screens in the late 1990s and early 2000s, including some of Guy Ritchie’s early work), Bullet Train constantly leaps back in time — sometimes plunging into full-bore narrative digressions, sometimes skipping across brief flashbacks — to situate us in the present and explain various motivations and backstories. But whereas Tarantino uses such time-jumps to create more absorbing stories and add depth to his characters, for director Leitch and screenwriter Zak Olkewicz, adapting Kōtarō Isaka’s 2010 novel, these flashbacks are as much stylistic elements as they are narrative devices. They don’t explain so much as create a uniquely poppy dubstep rhythm to the film, as striking in its own way as the syncopated smashing, punching, kicking, and bouncing of the fight scenes.

And very often what determines the outcome of a scene is not skill or purpose but sheer chance and fate, working in all the Rube Goldberg ways that fate seems to work in movies. Ladybug laments his desperate bad luck, but of course, we get to see just how incredibly lucky he actually is. Not unlike the aforementioned Final Destination pictures, there is nothing particularly organic in this movie. It’s all manipulation and extended cinematic sleight of hand, but the film embraces its absurdly colorful, noisy, gonzo artificiality. It doesn’t take itself seriously, which helps a lot. It’s not afraid to let you simply enjoy it.

Plus it’s expertly made. To choreograph all this, both on a story level and an action-design level, and to make it make any kind of sense is a fairly impressive feat. Director Leitch, a veteran stunt coordinator who co-directed the first John Wick movie and then went on to pictures like Atomic Blonde and Deadpool 2 , understands how to stage creative action scenes, and he makes fine use of the train’s geography and design elements in his fights — everything from fixed tray tables to seatbelts to snack compartments to catering carts. One marvelous beatdown takes place in the train’s quiet car, and it’s filled with muffled gun-grabbing, throat-punching, and window-slamming, all of it punctuated with an occasional angry “shhh” from an annoyed passenger. It’s the sort of thing that will work wonderfully if you’re on its wavelength — and boy, was I — but will surely drive you crazy if you’re not into it. The brazen intricacy is the point, taking precedence over realism or narrative purpose. Bullet Train carries you along through sheer verve and audacity.

Through it all, some ideas do emerge, hazily and lightly. Everybody on the train is there, in some ways, because family led them there. Some are there to avenge their loved ones, some to kill them. Some are there because they are family. All of the film’s coincidences, in other words, start to look like they were actually fated. And the only person there without any real connections, Ladybug himself, is also the one who seems the most adrift. He’s been reevaluating his violent ways and is nowadays more interested in conflict resolution than he is in shooting people. That makes for a few funny lines, but it also presents us with a character whose unmoored quality allows him, at least for a significant portion of the film, to survive. It’s clever casting, to be sure, leaning into the hippie-dippie, happy-go-lucky side of Pitt’s persona. There’s also a moving conflict here between a world of duty and responsibility and a world free of attachments. And amid all the shooting and slicing and punching and stabbing, we can almost make out the contours of an interesting philosophical question: Is it better to care and die or to have nothing to live for and survive? But then someone’s head accidentally blows up or they suddenly get run over by a truck, and it’s on to the next thing.

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Bullet Train (2022)

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‘Bullet Train’ Would Be Better If They’d Just Named It ‘Kill Brad, Vol. 1’

By David Fear

Let us now praise Brad Pitt . Or rather, the whole repertory company of Brad Pitts — the leading man who chased kooky character-actor roles, the matinee idol who stopped worrying and learned to love movie stardom, the wild-card outlier, the endlessly snacking comic relief, the grungy sex symbol, the All-American Adonis next door, the A-list veteran who lets his supernova aura do the talking. You get every single one of them in Bullet Train, the ballistics-and-whistles blockbuster adaptation of Kotaro Isaka’s 2010 crime novel about a commuter train filled with killers; there’s a lot of Brad for your buck here. But it’s that last guy, the just-shy-of-sixtysomething Hollywood elder, who keeps edging his way into this particular spotlight. Peruse the past seven years’ worth of acting work: neo-vanity projects ( By the Sea ) and old-school star vehicles ( Allied ), the lows ( War Machine ) and the nosebleed highs ( Ad Astra and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, in the same year!). What connects them is a performer who’s figured out exactly how to use an autumnal presence to his advantage without pandering or playing things up. It’s been three decades since a walking, talking abs-delivery-service sauntered into Thelma and Louise. The man has not just aged well, he’s aged perfectly for the screen.

And Pitt can still carry the weight of a movie on those protein-shake shoulders, which is good, because Bullet Train needs a lot of carrying. A candy-colored concoction of carnage with a substantial body count and even higher empty-calorie count, director David Leitch and screenwriter Zak Olkewicz’s attempt to weave the book’s intersecting narratives into a singular piece of pulp fiction has a tendency to jump the rails at regular intervals. At the center of it all — in more ways than one — is Ladybug, a professional killer coming off a personal funk. He’s had some bad luck on a few jobs, which has given him a bit of a Job complex; he’s convinced some higher power has cursed him for reasons unknown. Thanks to some time off and therapy, however, he’s ready to roll again. His handler, Maria, has started him off on something simple. Get on the bullet train heading out of Tokyo, the disembodied voice on his phone tells him. Grab a briefcase — it’s got a sticker on the handle, you can’t miss it. Get off at the next stop. What could go wrong?

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For starters, there are the two men transporting the item. They’re Lemon (Brian Tyree Henry) and Tangerine (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), a pair of idiosyncratic British hit men whose reputation precedes them. The former adheres to a philosophy based on Thomas the Tank Engine, complete with archetype breakdowns and sticker sheets. The latter is just your run-of-the-mill asshole. This bickering duo had been hired to retrieve the kidnapped son (Logan Lerman) of a notorious, feared Russian gangster known as “White Death.” That coveted case contains his ransom money. One massacre of either 16 or 17 people later — the exact number is disputed, and thus requires an elaborate flashback counting off murders to settle the argument — Lemon and Tangerine leave with both the manchild and the money. They must hand over both to Dad’s cronies at one of the stops. Except someone’s taken the case. Worse, when the citrus-y pair return to their seats after searching for it, there’s a corpse waiting for them.

Plus there’s Kimura ( Warrior ‘s Andrew Koji), a yakuza’s son whose own young boy is in the hospital after being pushed off a roof. He’s been tipped off the bastard who did the deed is on the train, which turns out to be an ambush by the Prince (Joey King), a snarky teen with her own respective plan for payback. And there’s the Wolf ( Bad Bunny ), a young man decked out in gauche cartel-chic couture who, once upon a time, lost his bride on a very bloody wedding day and has vengeance on his mind, too. And the news keeps reporting the theft of a venomous viper from the zoo, which might be aboard as well — snakes on a train! — and people keep popping up poisoned, blood streaming from their eyes, and also another mythical assassin named the Hornet could be lurking around as well, and the closer everyone gets to their final destination, the more likely that Mr. White Death will make a personal appearance, which tends to end very badly….

Most of this comes straight from the source material, minus a few gender flips and bonus plot additions, and if you’ve read Isaka’s recently translated page-turner, you’ll recognize enough of the novel’s tone to make it a faithful page-to-screen transition. That’s both a feature and a bug: The book itself brims filled with neurotic psychotics and Pop Culture debris, kooky killers with offbeat nicknames and more spilled Type O than a blood bank in a Mack Sennett two-reeler. That Thomas the Tank obsession? It’s part of the original text, next to quirky musings about Virginia Woolf and German silent cinema. The book was first published in 2010, but the dream of the Nineties is alive of Bullet Train, specifically the fever dreams of one American writer-director  in particular from that decade.

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So it wasn’t surprising when Isaka said he wasn’t bothered by his Japanese novel getting the full Hollywood treatment , because the influence of Hollywood feels far stronger in his book than anything culturally related to Japan, Shinkansen setting or not. There’s a strong sense that what you’re really watching is Kill Bill, Quentin Tarantino’s valentine to psychotronic J-cinema, get translated from English to Japanese then back to English. All of this sound and fury and Caro syrup and irony, slathered in Kawaii -cutesiness, conjures up an odd déjà vu effect — it’s like being in an echo chamber reverberating someone’s else’s second-generation love and theft right back at you, with diminishing returns. The snake-eating-its-own-tale vibe is strong with this one. They could have just been honest and called it Kill Brad, Vol. 1.

All of which might have been fine if Bullet Train had delivered the goods, the thrills and chills and steroidal summer-flick highs you expect from a dark comedy set on an all-star murder express. Leitch has logged in years as an action co-ordinator and stunt man — he was Pitt’s double on Fight Club — before co-creating John Wick , still the greatest action franchise of the past decade. He was the guy who put Charlize Theron through her paces in Atomic Blonde ; he also made Deadpool 2 , and you can feel that movie’s sniggering nihilism coursing through this film’s veins as well. And while Leitch clearly knows a million different recipes for mayhem, the delirium itself never gets up to its proper speed. Fight sequences and CGI-heavy ballyhoo fizzles to an end before they even begin. Any expectations that Pitt will get the full gun fu/UFC-fighter makeover should be left at the door — a “Brad Wick” joint this ain’t. The overall sense is to simply keep everything else moving so zippity-quick that people will mistake the manic pacing for actual Grand Guignol fun, though a train going nowhere at 285 kilometers per hour is still going nowhere, just faster than usual.

As for the rest of the cast, some deal with their accents and action scenes better than others. Hopefully, Brian Tyree Henry got hazard pay for rocking his atomic-blonde ‘do, and you can feel him and Taylor-Johnson working extra hard to give their curdled-cool banter some sort of electro-shock treatment. Zazie Beetz is forced to end all of her lines with an exclamatory “bitch,” and she deserves better. Michael Shannon shows up late in the game to remind us that we do not deserve him — nobody does more with the less that is the movie’s sketch of a glaring, unhinged eccentric, a.k.a. his sweet spot. It’s not a spoiler to say that Sandra Bullock plays Ladybug’s boss, given she’s in the trailers. A few other famous-face cameos are best left unrevealed, and you’ll leave Bullet Train convinced there’s an informal network of a half-dozen celebrities one phone call away from popping into each other’s movies at a moment’s notice.

But back to that name above the title for a second. It takes a certain type of actor to transcend mediocre-to-massively-disappointing material. It takes a truly rare movie star to not only rise above a mess, however, but convince you that his or her mere presence is what’s keeping it from turning into a complete trainwreck. The amount of casual charisma and commitment Pitt is bringing to this is the one thing that actually differentiates this from being just another stylishly lit, stupid-hip snarkfest. It’s impossible to overestimate how unwatchable this might have been without him injecting a sense of Pittitude into every scene he’s in — whether it’s tossing off Ladybug’s post-therapy platitudes (“Hurt people hurt people”), or gracefully moving through some uncharacteristically clunky set pieces, or simply displaying a WTF-dude? bewilderment when a case of mistaken identity almost gets him gutted. The sheer pleasure of watching him do what he does best comes close to balancing out you suffering through everything else. At every stop along the line, you’ll want to get off. He’s the only thing keeping you on til the bitter end of the line.

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Bullet train, common sense media reviewers.

Pitt action thriller is a fun but exceedingly violent ride.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Discussions about possibility of finding peace as

While characters are sometimes heroic and are cert

Of the four most central characters, two are White

Extreme, over-the-top, comic book-style violence.

Brief but graphic sex scene, viewed through window

Strong, frequent language includes "f--k," "mother

Corona beer and Fiji Water prominently displayed.

Wine at wedding. Sleeping powder in bottle of wate

Parents need to know that Bullet Train is an extremely bloody, violent action thriller starring Brad Pitt about criminals and murderers who are trying to kill each other and stay alive on a high-speed Japanese train. It's weightless but well made and a fun ride, if you're mature enough for the content…

Positive Messages

Discussions about possibility of finding peace as the result of a violent situation, although characters are rarely, if ever, successful at this. A discussion about luck (one character is said to have bad luck, another to have good luck) -- and about whether such a thing is real. It could be outlook and attitude instead. But these things aside, the movie is really mostly about adrenaline and carnage.

Positive Role Models

While characters are sometimes heroic and are certainly skilled warriors, they are all on the wrong side of the law, killing and causing damage without repercussions.

Diverse Representations

Of the four most central characters, two are White men; otherwise, cast is quite diverse, including a clever, fierce woman, a Black man, several Japanese characters, and a Latino character. They're all criminals of a sort, but they're interesting and likable too.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

Extreme, over-the-top, comic book-style violence. Guns and shooting. Huge blood spurts, lots and lots of blood. Poisoned characters bleed from eye sockets and vomit. Deaths. Exploding gun blows character's face off. Sword fighting; characters are stabbed and sliced open. Meat hook through man's head. Characters slammed into walls, solid objects. Heavy punching and fighting. Hitting with blunt objects. Knives, stabbing, knife throwing. Car crash. Strangling person with plastic bag. Child with bruised, bloody face is in the hospital (he was thrown from a rooftop); child in peril. Taser gun. Character falls onto roof of car. House on fire. Poisonous snake.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Brief but graphic sex scene, viewed through window, shows a woman on all fours and a man thrusting from behind. Another couple kiss while lying in bed.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Strong, frequent language includes "f--k," "motherf----r," "s--t," "bulls--t," "c--ksucker," "t-ts," "a--hole," "son of a bitch," "ass," "goddamn," "bastard," "d--k," "pr--k," "damn," "douche bag."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Drinking, drugs & smoking.

Wine at wedding. Sleeping powder in bottle of water. Brief drug-related dialogue.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Bullet Train is an extremely bloody, violent action thriller starring Brad Pitt about criminals and murderers who are trying to kill each other and stay alive on a high-speed Japanese train. It's weightless but well made and a fun ride, if you're mature enough for the content. Violence is almost comically intense, with guns and shooting, heavy blood sprays, knives, swords, and punching. Characters die, and a child is in peril. A person's face is blown off, and another's face is impaled with a meat hook. Poisoned characters bleed from their eye sockets and vomit before dying. Language is also strong, with frequent use of "f--k," "motherf----r," "s--t," "a--hole," and more. There's a brief but graphic sex scene that shows a woman on all fours and a man thrusting from behind her. Another couple kiss in bed. There's brief drug-related dialogue, wine at a wedding, and sleeping powder in a bottle of water. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Community Reviews

• Parents say (27)
• Kids say (54)

Based on 27 parent reviews

Silly good fun! But the violence is a bit much...

What's the story.

In BULLET TRAIN, a career criminal codenamed "Ladybug" ( Brad Pitt ) has spent some time working on self-reflection and trying to live a more peaceful existence. But now he's preparing for his latest job: snatching a briefcase from a bullet train that runs between Tokyo and Kyoto. Unfortunately, the gig isn't so simple. "Tangerine" ( Aaron Taylor-Johnson ) and "Lemon" ( Brian Tyree Henry ) are supposed to deliver the case, along with a warlord's son ( Logan Lerman ), but they lose both. And "The Prince" ( Joey King ) is blackmailing a man ( Andrew Koji ) into helping assassinate the warlord, who's also known as The White Death. Meanwhile, someone is poisoning people with snake venom, and a killer is seeking revenge. Is all of it somehow connected? And can Ladybug get out of this mess alive?

Is It Any Good?

With gleefully excessive violence and little depth, this oversized action thriller executes its many moving parts with skill, but it's Pitt's dopey, languid performance that keeps the balance. Directed by David Leitch and based on a novel by Kotaro Isaka, Bullet Train is a little like a multiple-character heist movie such as Ocean's Eleven or Logan Lucky , except that the why and how is less important than the what, which in this case is the fight scenes. The movie delights in pitting its many trained fighters and killers against as many obstacles as possible. Suspense is generated when characters sometimes come back from certain defeat (such as one who's thrown off the train, jumps back onto its tail end, and then tries to work his way back inside) or when a previously planted item -- like a poisonous snake -- pops up again.

Thunderous, nonstop movies filled with constant fighting can get exhausting -- see Free Fire , for example -- but director Leitch, a former stunt performer and coordinator who turned to filmmaking with John Wick , has a good sense of rhythm. His stops and starts, flashbacks and reveals all effectively build a rhythm that flows and doesn't feel oppressive. But Pitt is the secret weapon. Ladybug can certainly fight, but the character is more of a talker than a fighter, and he's forever looking for ways to make things easier on himself. His laid-back quality adds a soft, sweet center to a hard, crunchy movie. (Henry's character's passion for Thomas the Tank Engine is also a nice, sweet touch.) All in all, Bullet Train may disappear into the horizon fairly soon after viewing, but it's a fun ride while it lasts.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about Bullet Train 's violence . How did it make you feel? Was it exciting? Shocking? What did the movie show or not show to achieve this effect? Why is that important?

Ladybug is convinced that he has "biblically" bad luck, while The Prince is convinced that she has equally good luck. Is good or bad luck real, or does one's fortune have more to do with outlook and attitude?

Ladybug talks a great deal about finding opportunities for peace within violence. Is he ever able to do that? If so, how?

What is the nature of revenge? What is, or isn't, achieved by an act of revenge?

Lemon talks about how everyone is a character from Thomas the Tank Engine . Do you agree with this view? Why, or why not?

Movie Details

• In theaters : August 5, 2022
• On DVD or streaming : December 3, 2022
• Cast : Brad Pitt , Sandra Bullock , Zazie Beetz
• Director : David Leitch
• Inclusion Information : Female actors, Black actors
• Studios : Columbia Pictures , Sony Pictures Entertainment
• Genre : Action/Adventure
• Topics : Book Characters , Trains
• Run time : 152 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• MPAA explanation : strong and bloody violence, pervasive language, and brief sexuality
• Last updated : February 17, 2023

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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5 Hit Men Board A 'Bullet Train' In This Fast And Fun Japanese Thriller

John Powers

Back in the 1960s, the late, great film critic Pauline Kael wrote an influential essay called, " Trash, Art and the Movies ." In it she championed the pleasure we take from movies with no artistic claims or pretensions. Among other things, Kael noted that, for many people, loving trash actually creates an appetite for art.

She could've been describing me. My lifelong love of books, movies and TV was born of my boyhood thrill at disreputable pop culture — Hardy Boys novels, James Bond pictures, Spider Man comics. They opened up my imagination. Although my standards have gotten higher as I've grown older, each time I go to the movies or pick up a novel, I still long for that same kind of teenage excitement.

All of this is my roundabout way of praising a new book that did delight me in the old trashy way. It's a thriller called Bullet Train by the bestselling Japanese writer Kotaro Isaka. Zippily translated by Sam Malissa for The Overlook Press, this is one novel that lives up to its title. Fueled by a seductively explosive premise, it's fast, deadly and loads of fun.

The action takes place aboard a high-speed Japanese bullet train, known as a shinkansen , heading from Tokyo to the northern city of Morioka. There aren't many passengers, but they include no fewer than five hit men. Kimura, a recovering alcoholic, aims to murder the person who put his young son into a coma. The goofy duo nicknamed "Tangerine" and "Lemon" have rescued a gangster's kidnapped son and are taking him back to dad — along with a suitcase full of cash. Nanao, known as "Ladybug," is the world's unluckiest assassin — every assignment goes wrong. And finally, the Prince is a teenager who plays the innocent schoolboy but is actually a sociopath. He likes to ask adults why it's wrong to kill people — then feel contempt for their answers.

I hardly need to tell you that these five strangers on a train — plus some juicy side characters — are there with conflicting agendas, and within pages, they're going after each other.

There is a large subgenre of thrillers whose main action is set aboard moving vehicles — you know, the train in The Lady Vanishes , the bus in Speed , or the plane in Air Force One . It's easy to understand their popularity. Beyond offering an inherent sense of forward momentum, such enclosed locations impose limits on what the characters can do, and much of our enjoyment lies in seeing how wittily the story unfolds within these constraints. Isaka neatly deploys his locomotive setting — everything from the luggage racks and toilets to the train's occasional stops — to keep his characters, and us, guessing.

One British critic compared Bullet Train to Quentin Tarantino and the Coen Brothers , and the book does share some of their dark-comic glee. Indeed, it's already being made into a Hollywood movie starring Brad Pitt . I recommend you read it first, for its light touch with violence will surely be coarsened on film. The novel has time to take us inside the characters, be it Kimura's shame at how his old-school father sees him, Lemon's habit of seeing everything in terms of the Thomas the Tank Engine universe — which drives his partner crazy — or the arrogant Prince's learning to manipulate his schoolmates and teachers by studying the Rwandan genocide.

By the final page, several characters have been killed, tiny details have had big consequences, and some folks turn out not to be what they seem. I wouldn't dream of telling you more, for this isn't one of those thrillers that's grappling with serious themes. The shinkansen here isn't like the train in Snowpiercer which is actually a microcosm of society.

Isaka isn't trying to express some grand cultural idea. He wants to give us the irresponsible pleasure of sheer entertainment. And he does. At once outlandish and virtuoso, Bullet Train is like one of those dazzling balance beam routines that keep you hoping the gymnast will stick the landing.

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Unfortunately, from my vantage point this just seems like a lark for star Brad Pitt , coming off an Oscar for the far superior Quentin Tarantino masterpiece Once Upon a Time in Hollywood , also from Sony, and the underrated Ad Astra , both pre-pandemic in 2019. His most notable appearance since has been in a comedic supporting role in The Lost City with Sandra Bullock, who returns the favor here in a mostly voice-over role as his “handler,” therapist, self-help guide, guru — whatever you want to call her — who is constantly guiding him through the messes he gets himself into.

I am not at all sure what it looked like on the page, but on the screen it is little more than a live-action cartoon, or should I say anime. Leitch stages one badass action scene after another and Pitt navigates it all with a measure of wit and snappy one-liners at every turn. I can’t say the thing ever goes off the rails because it never was on the rails to begin with. It all seems like an attempt to draw an undemanding international audience with a well-chosen and game cast that has something for everyone who wants to submit to mindless adventure.

None of the characters, Pitt’s included, remotely resembles actual human beings, but they give it the old college try. Still, movies tend to work best when the characters have some semblance of credible relation to actual living people. This one doesn’t seem to care one whit, going for laughs instead. Aside from the star whose natural charisma carries him through as well as his too often underused comedic talents , it is Henry who is the most watchable even if his Lemon must profess allegiance to a children’s book Thomas the Tank Engine as his guide to life. I was genuinely sorry to see him go the first couple of times he was murdered. Taylor-Johnson does his best impression of Michael Caine circa Get Carter. Shannon chews whatever scenery isn’t blown up. Koji scores a few points for his sheer alcoholic morose take on things. The great Japanese star Sanada, who plays his father, is a very welcome presence here. Bad Bunny (the rap star Sony is grooming for his own upcoming starring vehicle) never escapes the stereotype of his role, but it is more in the writing than in the playing. King as the sociopathic Prince got on my nerves. Beetz’s Hornet is undercover a lot but I have to say her reveals are a highlight. As for Bullock, it was nice of her to reimburse Pitt for Lost City. You can be on the lookout as well for a couple of superstar surprise cameos that are just thrown into the mix as inside jokes (hint: both have co-starred with Bullock in past movies).

No one can complain about the look of this enterprise. The cinematography by Jonathan Sela is aces, as is that aforementioned and spectacular production design. Dominic Lewis has delivered a sharp score, and film editor Elizbet Ronaldsdottir keeps it moving, though at just over two hours it felt repetitive after a while. Producers are Leitch, Kelly McCormick and Antoine Fuqua. Sony takes the Columbia Pictures release out wide Friday exclusively in theaters, really the right venue for this trip.

Check out my video review above with scenes from the film. Do you plan to see Bullet Train ? Let us know what you think.

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Bullet Train Review

03 Aug 2022

Bullet Train

When John Wick ’s co-director boards a film about a high-speed train packed with assassins, certain things are expected. Bullet-spraying brawls? Check. Creatively choreographed set-pieces, shot with precision and clarity? Check. A charismatic A-lister’s action comeback? Check. But if Bullet Train ’s set-up sounds like ‘ John Wick on rails’, David Leitch ’s latest surprisingly isn’t that movie — instead, it continues his post- Wick trajectory into bigger, splashier, more cartoonish territory.

Following Deadpool 2 and Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw , Leitch’s tongue remains lodged firmly in his cheek for a screwball summer movie with samurai swords and psycho killers — an ultraviolent farce. Like its transportation namesake, Bullet Train is fast, slick, and shiny — but this is less intent on going directly from A to B than it is looping back around on itself in knots of coincidences and contrivances, as a cavalcade of contract killers clash in the carriages. Think Kill Bill Vol. 1 filtered through early Guy Ritchie , both for better and worse.

Style over substance feels like the whole point here, but Bullet Train only ever operates on a surface level.

Locked neatly into that loose, aloof rhythm is Brad Pitt as ‘Ladybug’, a hired gun attempting to practice mindfulness while (ah-ah-ah-ah) stayin’ alive (the film opens with a Japanese-language cover of that very Bee Gees song). But his seemingly simple job — hop on board, grab a silver briefcase, hop off — is not so straightforward, and he’s soon beset by other hit-people with their own overlapping agendas. Among them, Cockney duo Tangerine ( Brian Tyree Henry , his accent veering between stellar and shaky) and Lemon ( Aaron Taylor-Johnson , supremely enjoyable), whose bickering conveys a genuine brotherhood; Joey King ’s The Prince, who uses her youthful appearance as a weapon (among other actual weapons); Bad Bunny’s The Wolf, desperate for vengeance; and Andrew Koji’s Yuichi, forced into action when his son’s life is threatened. Bullet Train ’s primary focus is setting them on criss-crossing tracks, flashing backwards and forwards to tell the story of their interlinked grievances as the bodies pile high.

The results are frequently fun, especially whenever Pitt is on screen – blow-drying his hair with a tricked-out Japanese toilet, repeating his therapy mantras (“Hurt people hurt people”), and silently scuffling with Lemon in the quiet carriage. His chemistry, too, with Sandra Bullock ’s largely-offscreen handler is charming.

What it isn’t, in any way, is deep. Style over substance feels like the whole point here (and the style itself is substantial), but Bullet Train only ever operates on a surface level — the screenplay’s explorations of surrendering to fate versus attempting to seize control feel shallow at best. Plus, its appropriation of Japanese culture feels uncomfortably tokenistic, revelling in East Asian iconography while presenting a sprawling cast of largely non-Asian actors, wasting Karen Fukuhara and Masi Oka in bit-parts, and sidelining legends like Hiroyuki Sanada (stuck speaking in ‘Wise Old Man’ tropes when he does enter the film).

Expect a ride and nothing more, though, and Bullet Train largely delivers — its excesses sometimes smug (an Engelbert Humperdinck murder-montage is overplayed), sometimes sublime (a bottle of water and a venomous snake get their own intro-montages). Worth a one-way ticket, if not a return journey.

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Bullet Train (Japan/United States, 2022)

There’s a time and a place for mayhem, and that’s essentially what Bullet Train is: two hours of fights, carnage, and witty repartee. Oh, it’s too long, to be sure – probably at least by 20 minutes. And its puzzle-like structure is too complicated for its own good. But, taken on its own terms, it’s fun and energetic as only this sort of film can be. The characters are comic book-thin and speak like their lines were half-scripted by Quentin Tarantino and Guy Ritchie. Characters bear monikers like “Ladybug,” “Tangerine,” “Lemon,” “The Elder,” and “White Death.” And there’s a distinct John Wick vibe, which isn’t surprising since David Leitch co-directed (without attribution) the first of those Keanu Reeves movies before moving on to other things (including Deadpool 2 ).

I’d wager that expectations will play a large part in an individual’s reaction to Bullet Train . The trailer is an accurate representation of the film. There’s a lot of fighting, much of it distinctly martial arts-flavored and in defiance of the laws of physics. The characters talk like they’re auditioning for a sequel to Pulp Fiction . And there are twists and turns aplenty. That may not sound like a ringing endorsement, but the film works better on a visceral level than when seen through a critic’s lens.

Ladybug has an extraordinary super-power: he’s a magnet for bad luck, a veritable walking testimonial to the validity of Murphy’s Law. And he’s not the only criminal on the train. Far too many of his fellow passengers are equally as lethal (if not more so). There are guns, knives, and a poisonous viper. The only two who, like Ladybug, are doing a job are the “twins,” Tangerine (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Lemon (Brian Tyree Henry). (They have a discussion about their names that was inspired by Reservoir Dogs .) Everyone else is out for revenge: the seemingly innocent Prince (Joey King), who looks like a grown-up Boo from Monsters Inc . ; the glum Kimura (Andrew Koji); his sage father (the legendary Hiroyuki Sanada, now entering his seventh decade in front of cameras); the somewhat unhinged Wolf (Benito A Martinez Osasio, a.k.a. Bad Bunny); and the more-than-somewhat unhinged White Death (Michael Shannon). Throw in Zazie Beetz and the Cameo Who Won’t Be Mentioned and you have quite a cast.

It's easy to be snarky about a movie like Bullet Train and undoubtedly some critics are going to hate it (primarily those who wax poetic about some of the most boring shit out there). But, hey, it’s more enjoyable than at least 50% of the superhero films in the market and comes with zero pretentions. It knows what it is and is proud of it. And, damn it, I stayed alert and attentive for the entirety of the production and didn’t check my watch until past the 100-minute mark. Does Bullet Train go off the tracks? It sure as hell does, but that’s the point. Why make a movie about a speeding train if it doesn’t derail?

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Screen Rant

“people don’t understand”: why a seated fight scene in brad pitt’s $239m action movie was a major challenge.

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Bullet Train's Easter Eggs & References Explained

Jason statham's next movie could become the franchise tom cruise's jack reacher failed to be, after 25 years, i finally understand why george lucas made coruscant the galactic capital.

• Director David Leitch faced a major challenge choreographing a seated fight scene in the Brad Pitt-led Bullet Train , leading to a memorable sequence in the movie.
• The film is notable for its complex action sequences that blend hand-to-hand combat with comedic elements.
• Leitch's attention to detail and unique style of action comedy set Bullet Train apart as a memorable film.

Director David Leitch has opened up about how big of a challenge it was to choreograph a seated fight scene in the Brad Pitt-led action movie Bullet Train . The 2022 film stars Pitt as Ladybug, delivering a suitcase via a bullet train in Japan on a mission that spans plenty of wild, action-packed moments. One of the most memorable moments in the film is a fight between Ladybug and Lemon (Brian Tyree Henry) while both of them are sitting down, their comedic battle silent the whole time.

While on Corridor Crew 's Stuntmen React series, Leitch explained how much effort went into how the highly-praised Bullet Train took a lot of time to perfect its action scenes, especially the sitting fight between Ladybug and Lemon.

At 14:50, the director explained how there were close to 60 different camera setups to make that fight happen , revealing how even the smallest moment of the movie required lots of effort to bring to life. Check out what Leitch had to say about filming this part of the movie below:

I think people don't understand how many specific setups we shoot in one camera. There is probably, I'm guessing, there's probably 60 setups in that whole sequence. And it's all based on the comedic timing of these beats, right? The camera's in a different spot to catch the moment. It's part of the sensibility of Bullet Train. It was a live-action anime. This moment tells this, this moment tells that, this moment tells this. It's one way to make a movie, and it was the right way to make the version we were trying to tell.

A fun, star-studded spin on the action genre, Bullet Train features various Easter Eggs and references to different franchises and properties.

Bullet Train's Unique Fight Scenes Make It A Standout Action Comedy

Creative fight sequences make the movie stand out.

The effort Leitch says went into making just the sit-down fight scene in the action comedy isn't surprising, as the movie features a plethora of impressive action sequences between its major characters. Most of these involve hand-to-hand combat, often involving anything from knives to a variety of creative weapons aboard the train. This culminates in a major action sequence at the end of Bullet Train , which includes everything from guns being fired to swords being slashed.

As Leitch states, though, the action also serves the purpose of being comedic, using slapstick and anime-inspired fight choreography to make them both tense and enjoyable at the same time. This visual combination meshes with the movie's consistent comedy, making the fights between the variety of creative characters all the more memorable. This is assisted by the setting, as the bullet train speeding across Japan acts as a visual metaphor for the fast-paced action throughout. These additional elements help the movie stand out and make the effort that went into making it more noticeable.

It also seems Leitch leaned into Bullet Train 's style of action comedy in the critically acclaimed The Fall Guy , which also has many complex action sequences. These only serve to make the movie better, showing off the director's visual style and willingness to go the extra mile for a perfect scene. Without scenes like the fight between Ladybug and Lemon, his movies may not have been as memorable. However, it's clear from his 2022 action film just how much to expect from future movies he directs.

Bullet Train is based on the 2010 Japanese novel Maria Beetle by Kōtarō Isaka.

How Bullet Train Can Influence Other Action Movies

Bullet train's unique style is perfect for action-packed storytelling.

Since the action comedy was only released in 2022, its detailed choreography and heavy use of fast-paced, visual storytelling hasn't had time yet to be a major influence on other action movies. While there are plenty of movies like Bullet Train that have a mix of high-octane action and humor, such as Kill Bill or Mr. and Mrs. Smith , Leitch's unique style isn't replicated by these films. The way he weaves the action and story of the movie together keeps the momentum going , with scenes like Ladybug and Lemon's battle contributing uniquely.

While Leitch's The Fall Guy pulls inspiration from his previous movie with its approach to comedic action, it doesn't seem many other action creatives have embraced a similar feel to their movies just yet. While doing so keeps every director's vision of their action movies fresh, it also negates some experimentation of other directors trying to emulate Bullet Train . While it helps the movie stand on its own, it also makes it seem like there won't be another movie like it in the near future.

Will There Ever Be A Bullet Train 2?

Bullet train's novel has a corresponding series.

Because of the success of the first movie, Bullet Train 2 is possible and would make for an equally fun action comedy. While the story may not take place in Japan nor on a bullet train, it could still include a handful of returning characters coupled with newcomers that are just as memorable. Since the original movie is adapted from a novel in Kōtarō Isaka's Hitman series, its story could pull from a different book in the series. This could give Leitch the opportunity to continue showing off his directorial skills in the same fictional setting.

For now, though, it seems Bullet Train will maintain its status as a unique action film, with Leitch pulling inspiration from his work on it for his future projects. Ladybug and Lemon's silent fight is a perfect representation of this vision , teasing what to expect as the director continues to develop even more action-focused stories moving forward. With a clear dedication to making his films stand out from other action comedies, whatever he plans to direct next will surely stand out just as much as his Pitt-led action movie does.

Source: Corridor Crew

Bullet Train

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Packing a stellar cast with the likes of Brad Pitt, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, and Zazie Beetz, David Leitch's Bullet Train tells the story of an assassin for hire who bumps into multiple dangerous criminals aboard a high-speed Shinkansen trip from Tokyo to Kyoto. The 2022 action comedy is an adaptation of Kōtarō Isaka's novel "Maria Beetle".

One Bullet Train Sequence That Was A Giant Pain To Film With Brad Pitt And Brian Tyree Henry

One fight scene in Bullet Train was especially complex to film.

David Leitch is a former stuntman who has become an accomplished director, so we can expect that any action in his movies is going to go the extra mile. That was certainly the case with Bullet Train which had some incredible action including a complex fight sequence with Brad Pitt and Brian Tyree Henry that, despite it's fixed location, took a lot of extra work to film.

Appearing on Corridor Crew , David Leitch spoke about the “silent” fight scene in Bullet Tain , which sees Brad Pitt and Brian Tyree Henry attempt to kill each other while trying not to bother the rest of the people in the quiet car. Leitch explained that the setup for the sequence was incredibly complex because, in addition to being a good action sequence, the scene also had to serve the comedy. Leitch explained…

I'm glad you see that. You know I think people don't understand how many specific setups. We're shooting one camera, there is probably I'm guessing like 60 setups in that whole sequence. And it's all based on the comedic timing of these beats. The camera's in a different spot to catch the moment. It's part of the sensibility of Bullet Train. It was a live-action anime. This moment tells this, this moment tells that... it was the right way to make the version we were trying to tell.

Action sequences usually require a lot of setups to get the action from many different angles, unless there’s a particular design to do more impressive one-shot sequences or otherwise long takes. But 60 setups is a lot considering the actual fight scene in Bullet Train is all of about a minute long. Still, the sequence is both beautifully choreographed as an action scene, and also quite funny, so the movie balances the two things quite well.

The scene sees Brad Pitt and Bryan Tyree Henry as two hired guns chasing the same goal. This leads to an altercation where the two try to kill each other in public view of others while trying to go unnoticed, especially since the pair are sitting in the “quiet car” of a high-speed train. Check it out.

David Leitch says he's always been a fan of comedy, but he credits his time on Deadpool 2 and working with Ryan Reynolds for helping him hone his abilities when it comes to doing action and comedy in equal measure. He says that experience will “never leave” him and he’s carrying it forward into his other projects. That certainly worked here.

Leitch’s newest film, The Fall Guy certainly follows in the footsteps of Deadpool 2 and Bullet Train as it never slows down when it comes to the action and then stunts, but it never sacrifices the comedy of the film either.

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18 Movies Like 'Bullet Train' That'll Get Your Heart Pumping

Posted: March 25, 2024 | Last updated: March 25, 2024

Bullet Train is hardly Citizen Kane but it's undeniably a fun time at the movies . The 2022 action-comedy, boasting a star-studded cast including Brad Pitt , Brian Tyree Henry , Joey King , Hiroyuki Sanada , and Michael Shannon , follows a bunch of eclectic assassins all fighting over a mysterious case as they ride one of Japan's high-speed bullet trains. Filled with almost as many jokes as it has explosions, Bullet Train is a rollicking new entry into the pantheon of pulpy action flicks.

If you like Bullet Train and want to keep riding that vibe, check out one of the many films that will scratch the same itch. Some of them are pure dumb fun. Others are actually in the same realm as the all-time classic film canon—albeit if Citizen Kane had sick fight scenes and stuff blew up.

Read on for 18 movies like  Bullet Train  that will get your heart pumping. All aboard!

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1. John Wick

It's hard to overstate just how important John Wick , from stuntman-turned-director Chad Stahelski , is to action cinema. It was the start of a career resurgence for Keanu Reeves , who plays the title character. Once the most legendary and feared hitman in a secret society of hired killers, John Wick has left the business behind. However, when some punks (who don't know who they're dealing with) kill his dog, he comes out of retirement to get revenge.

Featuring long takes of choreographed gunplay and martial arts that eschew the once-popular shaky-cam style of fight cinematography that obscured the action behind lots of cuts, John Wick is a new action classic. The 2014 movie was not expected to be a big deal when it came out but ended up being a genre-defining surprise hit that has already spawned three sequels, the most recent being last year's John Wick: Chapter 4 , and a TV series.

2. Fight Club

The first rule of Fight Club is you do not talk about Fight Club , but we've got to break that edict in order to recommend David Fincher's 1999 thriller. Edward Norton stars as a dissatisfied, white-collar Gen X office worker who meets a rebellious, anti-capitalist anarchist named Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt). The two become friends, establishing an underground fight club where others like them can throw blows just to feel something, but a larger conspiracy looms and Tyler might not be all he appears. Fight Club is less of a straightforward action movie than the name would imply—it's more focused on the psychological aspects than the physical fisticuffs—but it's a hugely influential (and entertaining) film.

3. Terminator 2: Judgment Day

The great James Cameron directs the second Terminator movie, reimagining Arnold Schwarzenegger's once-terrifying cyborg killer as a beefy guardian, sent back in time to protect Sarah Connor ( Linda Hamilton ) and her son from an even more advanced robot assassin, The T-1000, played by Robert Patrick .

1991's Terminator 2: Judgement Day is a near-perfect action movie, filled with thrilling moments and sequences that have been understandably imitated to varying degrees of success in the years and decades since. How can you watch Arnold reload a shotgun with one hand while riding a motorcycle and not say "hell yeah?"

The success of John Wick spawned many imitators, some of which are better than others. Nobody , a 2021 movie starring  Better Call Saul 's  Bob Odenkirk in an against-type role as retired assassin Hutch Mansell, is probably the best of them, full of dark humor and impressive stunts. When a gang of unwitting thieves rob Hutch's house, frightening his wife, son, and young daughter, he sets out to get revenge, in the process getting the Russian mob involved. (Whoops.) A knockout (literally and figuratively) fight that takes place on a bus is by far the highlight of Nobody , and it's one of the better fight scenes of the decade so far.

5. Mad Max: Fury Road

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6. The Quick and the Dead

A criminally under-watched film from Spider-Man and Evil Dead director Sam Raimi , The Quick and the Dead from 1995 is a pulpy, stylish Western about a quick-draw competition in the Wild West. Sharon Stone leads a cast that's full of stars, including two who were just about to become huge deals: Russell Crowe and a young Leonardo DiCaprio . The three play gunslingers who are facing off in an attempt to get a shot at the powerful, corrupt outlaw who runs the town and organizes the competition, played by Gene Hackman . Full of suspense, wit, and a ton of kooky Dutch angles, The Quick and the Dead deserves a shot.

7. Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)

One of the last big movies to open in theaters before the COVID-19 pandemic through the rest of the movie release calendar out of whack, 2020's Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) is Margot Robbie's second outing as the Joker's lovably insane ex-girlfriend. A scrappy, silly, take on the often overly somber DC Extended Universe, Birds of Prey pairs Harley with three other heroines, the Huntress ( Mary Elizabeth Winstead ), Black Canary ( Jurnee Smollett ), and Renee Montoya ( Rosie Perez ) as they battle a Gotham City crime lord, Ewan McGregor's Black Mask. It's quietly one of the better superhero movies out there, with a clear aesthetic and a sense of humor that's backed up by some truly impressive action setpieces.

8. The Beekeeper

January is always a rough time for new movies, but the biggest one to come out of the first month of 2024 was this Jason Statham -led actioner. Like John Wick and Nobody , The Beekeeper is about a professional killer who comes out of retirement to get revenge.

In this case, Statham plays a humble beekeeper who is actually a former member of a secret clandestine agency, also called the Beekeepers. When his lovely landlord dies by her own hand after she loses everything in a phishing scam, Statham does what Statham does best (kick some butt) to bring down the criminals who wronged her—and those criminals have connections in very high places.

9. Unstoppable

Sure, Bullet Train is good, but did it boast the tagline "a missile the size of the Chrysler Building?" 2010's Unstoppable , the last film from the great action director Tony Scott , stars Chris Pine and Denzel Washington as two engineers who are the only chance at stopping a runaway freight train that's filled with explosive chemicals and on track to derail in a populated area, causing a massive disaster. Loosely based on a real-life incident , Unstoppable is a high-octane thrill ride.

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11. Air Force One

Harrison Ford plays the President of the United States in this 1997 action thriller classic, as he must single-handedly take back Air Force One from the terrorists (led by Gary Oldman ) who have hijacked it. Glenn Close co-stars as the loyal vice president on the ground monitoring the situation. It's Die Hard in a plane, with POTUS in the John McClane role. What's not to love?

2022's Sisu is another movie that features a John Wick -esque premise. That's not an issue at all, because 1) that premise is very good, and 2) Sisu rules. When a Nazi death squad in the waning days of WWII tries to take a massive haul of gold from an unassuming old miner in Finland, they soon learn that he is actually a legendary and terrifying former commando—and he'll have his revenge. This Finnish flick keeps finding new, innovative ways to kill Nazis, and it's a fist-pumping good time.

13. Edge of Tomorrow

Any number of Tom Cruise movies could go on this list ( Mission: Impossible — Fallout , for instance, is a modern action classic). We're going to go with 2014's Edge of Tomorrow , an adaptation of a Japanese novel with the incredibly metal name of All You Need Is Kill . Cruise plays a smarmy military PR person who is sent to the front lines in humanity's losing battle against alien invaders. However, when one of the aliens bleeds on him, he gains the ability to "re-start" the day each time he dies. Along with Emily Blunt as a badass soldier who used to have this same power but lost it, he must fight the aliens again and again and again, getting a little bit better each time. It never gets old.

14. Ambulance

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15. The Ice Road

One of the better original action movies hiding in Netflix's vast library, 2021's The Ice Road stars Liam Neeson as a truck driver who, along with three others, accepts an incredibly dangerous job to drive explosives across frozen ice in the hopes of freeing a group of trapped miners. He'll have to brave not only the elements but the other drivers, who are all competing for the reward money, and the owners of the mine, who don't necessarily have their employees' best interests at heart.

16. Shin Kamen Rider

An absolutely befuddling (in a good way) action movie from 2023, Shin Kamen Rider is a film adaptation of the long-running Japanese sci-fi manga and TV show about a motorcycle-riding mutant cyborg who fights back against the evil terrorist organization that created him. It stuffs what feels like 50 years' worth of story into a breakneck two-hour movie in such an overwhelming way that the onslaught of action and plot feels like a feature, not a bug.

If you're in the mood for something gonzo, Shin Kamen Rider should be your movie pick. There's really nothing else quite like it.

Having already hunted Arnold Schwarzenegger and fought against the Xenomorphs from the Alien movies, the next thing for the Predator franchise to do was go back in time. In 2022's Prey , Amber Midthunder stars as a Comanche woman in the early 1700s who finds herself fighting a member of the Predator species who has come to earth to hunt dangerous game. While the Predator has all of the usual alien technology, Midthunder's Naru doesn't have the benefit of a big gun or explosives, forcing her to use her wits and her cunning to survive. Prey is such a good premise that the second after you finish it, you'll start thinking of other historical periods that could be improved by adding a Predator. Predator vs. gladiators, Predator vs. ninjas, Predator vs. pirates… the possibilities are endless.

18. The General

Typically, when the average modern moviegoer is looking for a film that will have them on the edge of their seat, they tend not to consider titles from the Silent Era. And yet, The General , a 1926 film by the legendary Buster Keaton , is both an incredible action movie and a delightful comedy despite not having a single spoken word.

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