Brad Pitt in Bullet Train movie

Movie Review: Bullet Train (2022)

By peerynt | Whizzing Tripod | 6 Aug 2022


[All images in this post are from movieinsider.com, used here on Fair Use basis.]

These days it’s important for a blockbuster movie to have characters that say and do something potentially worthy a meme or an animated gif. The highest status in pop culture is a meme; like the one sporting Sean Bean who’s saying “one does not simply walk into Mordor...” in Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
It seems that every so often the importance of the interactive side of performances of actors comes after those moments where they theoretically might be saying something memorable to the audience. Or, at the very minimum, something that’s got a good chance to be mentioned in comments on social media. So when the well known author of crime thriller novels in Japan Kōtarō Isaka says he’s grateful to have the story’s extreme violence removed from any kind of realistic setting in the new film Bullet Train, based on the author’s 2010 novel Maria Beetle, the online trends and hype potential is what I see as having been the guiding light for Sony Pictures as well the director David Leitch and screenwriter Zak Olkewicz, when adapting Isaka’s novel for contemporary cinema screens and their audiences.

When setting the online trends as a criteria, one can certainly sing praises to both, Mr. Olkewicz and Brian Tyree Henry (plays “Lemon”) for creating and handling the “diesel” label in an indeed memorable, genuine manner. Same kind of praise can be sung to Joey King for faking the Moekko type of anime girl called “The Prince” – a character that is made all the more memorable by the fact she’s in the midst of the gathering of dangerous assassins. Yet, all this comes at a cost. Joey King’s initial half an hour comes across as a performance where she is just reciting what her character is supposed to say (kudos for the British accent though, incredibly well done), basically doing her own thing, leaving the spectator wondering if Andrew Koji’s character is real or imaginary – at that point “The Prince” is like those people who look as if they talk to themselves, but in reality they say something to a person they think is there next to them. Meanwhile “Lemon”’s fixation and self absorption doesn’t make for a very convincing dangerous hit person, and the idea he is supposed to be the twin brother of “Tangerine” (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) gets less credibility; it is more the case of “Tangerine” being the older brother who looks after “Lemon”. In fact, “Lemon” and “Tangerine” leave an impression they are old pals working in the same field rather than blood relatives.

Joey King as The Prince in Bullet Train movie.

Joey King as The Prince in Bullet Train movie.

One might argue that nothing is supposed to be taken too seriously as Bullet Train is a comedy in the first place, and suspension of disbelief is the rule (the closer the train gets to its final destination, the more that proves to be the case), however no character is supposed to be an island and yet, only half the characters don’t seem to be struggling with that issue all throughout the film: “Tangerine”, “Hornet” (Zazie Beetz), “White Death” (Michael Shannon) and “Ladybug” (Brad Pitt). Pitt’s character has got Maria (Sandra Bullock) he can talk to, who is more a voice giving him advice and instructions over the phone than a visual character, while “White Death” fulfils a somewhat similar role in regards to “Tangerine” and “Lemon”.

One of the highlights in Bullet Train is the confrontation between “Tangerine” and “Ladybug”, which is the only good old fashioned fight scene with a dialogue one would expect from this sort of action film. The context however is one that makes it all different from what you might have seen before – it is a fight between characters each of whom you’re not sure if you want to root for. “Ladybug” just wants to get a briefcase, and get off the train with no harm to anyone. In a way he is like Louis from 1994 Interview with the Vampire, who gets dragged into situations, where he has to do bad things to people and things just happen, independently of his will. But the above briefcase is not his to have. That would then make “Tangerine”’s case just, but he, and his boss are not particularly great people, so there – not an easy choice when it comes to rooting for a character. At least not from the point of view of fairness.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Brad Pitt in Bullet Train movie.

The words “fate” and “luck” are what the audience is going to hear a few times when watching Bullet Train. “Ladybug”’s fate in this movie involves Brad Pitt’s experience gained in Mr. & Mrs. Smith and Fight Club. Equally, and as already suggested before, his fate is one of getting more unwanted trouble while doing all he can to be able to get off the train. Along the way that includes punching someone who wears a fantasy mascot costume, getting acquainted with how elaborate the toilets on bullet trains are and performing some simple but weird rituals of warding off evil spirits (?). It seems those same spirits are relentless though as somewhere along the way a dangerous snake gets involved. This is by far not all the Bullet Train’s creators have in store for the audience – this whole Twilight Zone-ish affair on the backdrop of Japan has also got a proper kung fu martial arts movie type boss, where Hiroyuki Sanada’s “The Elder” with a sword gets actively involved.

Hiroyuki Sanada as The Elder in Bullet Train movie

All in all, a fun ride full of twists and turns, but, for better or worse, with attention seeking from those among the movie going audience who like to leave comments online.

If you like this type of cinematic frolicsomeness, I can recommend Takashi Miike’s Yakuza Apocalypse.

Btw, there is also a Bullet Train NFT out there – a wink at blockchain and crypto community from Sony Pictures, I suppose.

Read my review of 2021 movie Prisoners of the Ghostland by Japanese filmmaker Sion Sono here.

Peer Ynt


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peerynt
peerynt

Translator, interpreter turned small time investor and crypto enthusiast during the Covid pandemic. Areas that interest me: visual arts, writing, history; everything you see in a good horror film.


Whizzing Tripod
Whizzing Tripod

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