BULLET TRAIN
US, 2022, 126 minutes, Colour.
Brad Pitt, Joey King, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Andrew Koji, Hiroyuki Sanada, Michael Shannon, Sandra Bullock, Benito A Martinez Ocasio, Zazie Beetz, Logan Lerman, Zazie Beetz.
Directed by David Leitch.
Excesstravaganza. This one word review leapt exuberantly to mind and imagination during the final chaos (actually there was initial chaos, mid-chaos and then, even more so, final chaos), the multiple shootings, the sword combats, the explosions, the bullet train speeding off track, crashing. (Although someone did take umbrage at the chaos and excess and label it ‘an overstuffed monstrosity!’)
This is where one leaves one’s sense of realism at the cinema door, settling into the comfortable cinema seat for over two hours of action, action, action – although, especially at the beginning there is a lot of talk, talk, talk. And, our hero, a hired hitman making a comeback after a kind of nervous breakdown, ironically nicknamed Ladybug by his handler, does a whole lot of talking throughout, very conscious of therapy, offering advice on counselling and books to read, even when he is confronting mad assassins. And this is Brad Pitt, obviously enjoying himself no end, tongue in cheek, doing all the action, making the wry remarks, thinking he is down on his luck, but doing a great deal of surviving.
Actually, he had a kind of cameo role in The Lost City of Z doing these kinds of heroics (and the hero of that film, Channing Tatum, has a very humorous and cameo appearance here as a passenger on the bullet train).
Just as one is thinking that this is to be described as Tarantino-esque, somebody remarked that it is a rip-off of Tarantino but, to give the benefit of any doubt, it might rather be positively called a homage to Tarantino and his plotting, characters, love of talk, love of action.
And, it is all aboard the bullet train hurtling its way across the Japanese countryside, stopping every so often for just one minute before hurtling off again, destination Kyoto.
And, there are all kinds of killers and criminals on the train, also a mysterious briefcase of money which is Ladybug’s target, simply to find it and get off the train. No such luck, of course. So, we have a story of a Japanese father whose little boy has been pushed off a building, is in hospital, and the boy’s grandfather, a kind of warlord, threatening. Then there are flashbacks to a confrontation with martial arts fights, and a chief criminal called the White Death, whose son has been kidnapped and is on the train. He is in the care of two criminals nicknamed the twins, Tangerine and Lemon, Tangerine a very Brit Aaron Taylor Johnson, Lemon, black, American actor, Brian Tyree Henry, playing British with a mastermind knowledge of Thomas, the Tank Engine and applying it to his meeting and analysing opponents!
And there is a precocious young girl, the Prince (her father wanted a son!) who is no slouch on the assassination level.
Finally, the White Death appears brandishing guns and sword, played by Michael Shannon.
So, based on a Japanese novel, very much graphic novel stuff, highly stylised, lots of action (understatement), lots of shooting, plenty of deaths, lots of betrayals, and the deadpan dialogue (and a glimpse of Ryan Reynolds, who was the star of director David Leitch’s Deadpool 2 which you might miss if you blinked or were distracted by the shooting).
Huge budget, big cast, lots of effects, so that fans can feel they got their money’s worth.
