Movie Details
Movie: Bullet Train (2022)
Director: David Leitch
Cast: Brad Pitt, Joey King and Aaron Taylor-Johnson
Genres: Action/Comedy
Release date: 5 August 2022
IMDB Rating: 7.3/10
Languages: English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu
Duration: 2h 06m
Trailer
Synopsis
We’ve already written a lot about how Chad Stahelski and David Leitch picked up the action genre from the bottom and made it relevant in Hollywood again. The former stuntmen made John Wick, and it was a success, so they both have great careers, and the biggest acting stars take turns in their gym, where the two and their team turn them into action superstars. In addition, they also have their own production company 87North Productions, so no one interferes with their work. In addition to John Wick, films such as Nobody or Atomic Blonde were born here. And also the current Bullet Train, their biggest and most expensive project so far. We’ll see in a few days if it will do well in theaters like the previous ones. But when it comes to quality, 87North Productions did not disappoint this time either.
Bullet Train was expected to be an action thriller starring Brad Pitt. Instead, it looked like we were going to get an action comedy with an emphasis on the comedian. Well… that’s pretty much it. Pitt’s hero, nicknamed Ladybug, is a hired killer who is accompanied by bad luck at every turn. So, to be sure, he nods to the trade, which should do without corpses and should not be difficult to manage. But the Japanese high-speed train does not only carry Ladybug and a briefcase with mysterious contents, but also many other killers, and it soon becomes clear that this is not a coincidence. And that, not everyone will reach the final station.
It’s understandable to expect Bullet Train to be a pure action banger. David Leitch behind the camera, a train full of killers, Brad Pitt in the role of a hitman… you don’t need much humor with this. But a few hours after the screening, I have to say that without the humor it wouldn’t be nearly as interesting. As far as the action is concerned, there is plenty of it here and, unsurprisingly, it is again the best that contemporary Hollywood produces. But Leitch is not trying to follow in the footsteps of John Wick, experimenting with battles and shootouts and pushing the level of action scenes to a new level. That’s not so much the point this time. The fight with the Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, called the Wolf went damn well, as did any brutal Pitt vs. Aaron Taylor-Johnson, but overall Bullet Train is more of an action film, not an outright actioner.
Bullet Train is similar to Tarantino’s western The Horrible Eight with its concept, Kill Bill with its style, and Guy Ritchie’s Podfu(c)k with its pace. A closed space, a lot of heroes, and a lot of coincidences that are not coincidences… I probably won’t surprise anyone when I write that the killers didn’t meet on the train by chance. At the same time, Leitch has no problem letting Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Brian Tyree Henry talk about everything for an hour or so, so that the viewer can find out what they are. At the same time send a Mexican butcher to the stage and present his entire life story in a two-minute montage full of fate, moments of happiness, and absolute violence. And then brutally clean him out of the scene moments later.
Here, Leitch bets on playfulness and a fast pace, but at the same time – which may come as a surprise to many people – he manages to alternate downright twisted and darkly humorous moments with serious dramatic scenes. He never really got to the latter during his career, even Atomic Blonde is too stylized to be taken seriously, but it works here. Probably also because they are sparing with it and a minute after the debate about fate and karma, Hiroyuki Sanada starts cutting people with a katana. Leitch did not manage to maintain a fast and brisk pace until the end, and in the last third before the final murder of his novel, the chain falls a little, but we still find so many ideas here that one is happy to forgive him.
The Bullet Train travels most of the time at the speed of the Japanese Shinkansen, and it rattles along pleasantly. It’s hard to guess what will happen in the next scene because there can be a touching flashback, extremely black and brutal humor, a delicious fight, or grotesque violence. And almost until the end, it pedals perfectly. In addition to Leitch, who pleasantly surprised me personally as a director, the great actors are also to blame for this, without exception. Pitt is visibly having fun, Taylor-Johnson perfectly manages the tough guy who has the ground under his feet, and practically everyone else manages to surprise enough with their little stories and twists to make you wonder what will happen to them in the next scene.
Leaving aside the slower pace before the finale, I can imagine that Bullet Train might be problematic for some due to its fast pace and even faster genre switching. But I’m sure it’s nice that it’s not just a thresher/shooter from a train and 87North Productions is sending something a little more ambitious into the world. At least in the way the story is told. They are great at events, we know that and they know it too. So it’s nice that they’re not afraid to try something a little different than what fans expect from them. And that they are unexpectedly doing well.
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