Bullet Train Review

Bullet Train is the latest film from the production company 87North, the minds behind John Wick, Atomic Blonde, and Nobody. This comedic action film sees a group of stars battling for survival whilst on a train journey from Tokyo to Kyoto.

“Ladybug” (Brad Pitt) is an unlucky assassin who’s given a simple assignment for his first job back in the business. He needs to steal a briefcase from a pair of assassins travelling to Kyoto. However, fate conspires to make the mission a lot more complicated and keeps Ladybug on the train.

On the train are numerous assassins who have their own missions and agendas. There’s “Tangerine” (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and “Lemon” (Brian Tyree Henry), a pair of Cockney assassins transporting a crime boss’ son (Logan Lerman) back to Kyoto. “The Father” (Andrew Koji) goes on the train with the intention to get revenge against the person who tried to kill his young son. Whilst “The Prince” (Joey King) sets out to use “The Father” for her own plan. All these rogues are linked to a mysterious crime boss called “The White Devil.”

Bullet Train is the fourth film directed by David Leitch (fifth if you include his uncredited work on John Wick). Leitch built up a reputation as a stunt man and coordinator before becoming a director. He has made some entertaining films and worked on two big franchises, Deadpool and Fast & Furious. With Bullet Train Leitch brought out his inner Guy Ritchie.

Bullet Train’s plotting and style were like a Ritchie gangster film. They showed a load of different characters who had their own goals yet they were all heading for the same destination. Leitch and his team used a lot of Ritchie’s tricks. There was a non-linear style of editing where the film had flashbacks and showed how certain actions and events came to be. This was a film that had an arsenal of Chekov’s Guns.

Bullet Train’s characters were given nicknames, like the characters in Lock, Stock, Snatch, and Rocknrolla. Tangerine and Lemon did look and sound like they came off the set of one of Ritchie’s films. Lemon had the quirk of being obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine and how he used the show as his guide to life. Throughout the film there was humour, violence, and dark comedy.

Bullet Train also had one of the worst traits from Guy Ritchie: convoluted storytelling. Bullet Train had a simple setup, but it was told in the most complicated way possible. It was a film stuffed with characters, backstory, and story elements. It made the film hard to follow at times, and certain characters did disappear for long stretches. There were plot ideas and characters who were added for the sake of it and it required a lot of suspension of disbelief to accept the connections and reveals.

Due to the breezy style and pacing, and the overly complicated storytelling, Bullet Train did feel like an action film from the noughties. Films like Smokin’ Aces, The Boondock Saints, and Lucky Number Slevin were chaotic crime actioners that are seen as Tarantino/Ritchie-lite and suffered from negative critical reviews but gained cult followings. Bullet Train will probably have a similar fate because the critical action was mixed but the audience I was with enjoyed it.

Bullet Train does stand in contrast to 87North’s previous Japanese film, Kate. Kate was a smaller-scale film that was made for Netflix and had a grit to it. Bullet Train was a bigger, more bombastic film that was filled with larger-than-life characters. Tangerine and Lemon were called The Twins despite not looking like they were related. Prince was an innocent-looking teenager but in reality was a sadist who disarmed people with her scared girl act.

Bullet Train has faced accusations of whitewashing. The film was based on a Japanese novel by Kōtarō Isaka. Whilst Bullet Train kept the Japanese setting yet many of the characters were changed to be played by white actors. The film even needed to justify why some characters were foreign instead of Japanese. Even many of the extras playing passengers looked a bit more cosmopolitan than expected in Japan. This was due to Bullet Train being filmed in California, an ocean away from Japan.

The most prominent Japanese characters in the film were The Father and “The Elder” (Hiroyuki Sanada). Western audiences will recognise Sanada from films like The Wolverine, and Army of the Dead and in Bullet Train he was playing a Japanese stereotype because he was a thoughtful man who talked about fate and honour. However, there are worse stereotypes and it was fun to see Sanada weld a katana and a kama.

Due to Leitch’s reputation, one of Bullet Train’s big draws was the action. Early in the film was a fun montage showing Tangerine and Lemon how they rescued The Son and Ladybug’s first fight had a slapstick quality to it. The final 40 minutes were utter carnage as it had gun battles, sword fights, and fast-moving transport. Leitch delivered on this front.

Bullet Train was a film made for a young male audience and fans of highly stylised actioners will get some joy from the film. The action and flash were required to overcome the overly complicated plotting.