I was mildly wary of Bullet Train when I first heard about it. A movie based on a Japanese novel starring mostly Western actors, led by Brad Pitt? I usually like Pitt, but even setting aside the whitewashing issue, I was somewhat concerned about how well the Japanese book would translate into an American movie. I am not overly familiar with Japanese novels, but I do know there are bound to be cultural differences between the source and its adaptation. But then I saw the trailer and it was the right kind of nuts for me. Even knowing there are a huge number of new movies hitting different streaming services, many of which I will be watching and reviewing in the next few days, I still took the time to go see Bullet Train on a Saturday afternoon.
Now, if only the movie matches the sort of crazy tempo of the trailer. Trailers are not always the most faithful of representations…
Pitt stars as a character known only as “Ladybug,” an underworld contractor who believes himself to be phenomenally unlucky. He has been away from his job for a while seeking therapy since every mission he goes on seems to end with someone dead whether he wants it to or not. Instead, he’s seeking nonviolent solutions and being as zen as possible despite his profession, no doubt thanks to a lot of therapy he apparently sought out. He has a new mission from his handler (Sandra Bullock) that seems simple enough: board a bullet train, find a specific briefcase, get off again at the earliest station. Despite being told he should take a gun, he prefers things like sleep drugs and firecrackers. Essentially, he wants to do this as nonviolently as possible, preferring to use words to diffuse situations instead of his fists or any sort of weapon despite the fact he is probably highly capable of using both.
Ladybug maybe should have listened to the handler. He’s not the only hired killer type on the train. Lemon and Tangerine (Brian Tyree Henry and Aaron Taylor-Johnson), referred to as twins, are escorting the son of a mob boss (Logan Lerman) back to his father along with a large ransom paid for his return. The Prince (Joey King) looks like a schoolgirl and uses that to her advantage while being something of mastermind and stone cold sociopath, the kind of character a viewer would love to hate, and she has a plan in motion of her own. Meanwhile, the Father (Andrew Koji) is looking to get back at the person who shoved his young son off a tall building’s roof. And somewhere behind the scenes is the White Death, a monster of a man from Russia who took over the Japanese mafia and has connections to many of the characters on the train. Can Ladybug get the job done without dying? Or killing for that matter?
And yes, the majority of the characters are known only by code names.
Bullet Train at first glance is something of a hard experience to describe. It’s tempo does, at times, match the trailer, but this is a very plot-heavy movie. There are more killers on the train or boarding at various points beyond the ones I mentioned, a highly poisonous snake is involved at various points, and there are a couple of unbilled cameos that I largely found amusing. Pitt’s Ladybug really is an incredibly unlucky character while King’s Prince revels in her own perceived good luck while other characters meditate on fate and the like. The action sequences are done well, and there’s even a sense of their working with their respective characters. That’s most prominent with Ladybug, whose moves are more defensive than anything else. He really doesn’t want to hurt anybody for the most part, and often when he does so, it is accidental and humorously so.
With that in mind, a note on the grade: I enjoyed this movie far more than the grade would suggest, but this movie is a lot. Many of the negative reviews I have seen seem to come from people who think it is not so much a lot as too much. I didn’t have that problem and liked the way the movie threaded a lot of ideas and even what looked like throw-away dialogue together. Look at the grade as a general recommendation. The best way to enjoy Bullet Train might be to see it in the right frame of mind and with a likeminded group. That’s actually the big reason why I rank the second John Wick higher than the first. I was just in a screening room filled with likeminded fans as opposed to the original that I saw at home alone. So, keep that in mind if you head out to the multiplex to see it.
Grade: C+
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