Review: ‘Bullet Train’
Elevated by an impressive supporting cast, particularly Brian Tyree Henry, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Andrew Koji and Bad Bunny, Bullet Train is a fun but overall forgettable action comedy that ultimately leaves a lot to be desired.
Despite the existence of a sizeable ensemble cast, Bullet Train was clearly designed as a star vehicle (pardon the pun) for Brad Pitt, a movie star who has never quite been sure whether he wanted to be an action star or a character actor, frequently alternating between action-heavy films such as World War Z and more prestigious fare like The Tree of Life. Fresh off of his Oscar-winning turn in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and the criminally overlooked Ad Astra, Pitt, who has spoken at lengths about how he feels like he’s on the “last leg” of his acting career, is giving the action star label one last go with David Leitch‘s action comedy Bullet Train. It’s a shame, then, that he’s easily the worst part of it.
Bullet Train centers on Ladybug (Pitt), an unlucky assassin determined to do his job peacefully after one too many gigs gone off the rails. Fate, however, may have other plans, as Ladybug’s latest mission puts him on a collision course with lethal adversaries from around the globe-all with connected, yet conflicting, objectives-on the world’s fastest train, taking him on a non-stop ride through modern-day Japan.
Leitch is known for co-directing the first John Wick film alongside Chad Stahelski (although he remains uncredited) so it’s no surprise that Bullet Train attempts to follow the same formula set forth in John Wick; a middle-aged assassin must fight to stay alive after he is unwittingly caught up in a plot that is much bigger (and more complex) than him. But where we were able to easily empathize with John Wick thanks to a tragic backstory and a surprisingly nuanced performance from star Keanu Reeves, who was able to humanize him far beyond the script’s pages, we aren’t given any reason to care about Ladybug.
He isn’t given a backstory, any characterization, or even any discerning traits aside from the fact that he is unlucky, a gimmick that grows well and truly tired as the film progresses. Another actor may have been able to add some layers to what is essentially a paper-thin character but Pitt decides to coast on his presumed charisma instead, delivering a series of one-liners and wise-cracking jokes that are mostly hit and miss. By the end of the film’s runtime, Pitt’s supposed charm eventually runs dry, making it hard to root for Ladybug at all.
In fact, a few exceptions aside, none of the characters in Bullet Train feel like real people, but rather archetypes whose only purpose is to support the plot rather than have the plot support them. It’s not all bad though. Brian Tyree Henry and Aaron Taylor Johnson are a riot as assassins Lemon and Tangerine respectively, while Zazie Beetz is a delight as another assassin Ladybug encounters on his journey, despite the little screentime she has. Bad Bunny, meanwhile, comes close to stealing the show as The Wolf, a mysterious figure with a vendetta against Ladybug. Despite his lack of screentime, he manages to imbue the character with real edge and pathos. In a perfect world, he would have been the film’s lead.
The aforementioned exceptions to the film’s one-note characters, however, are Yuichi Kimura and his father The Elder, played by Andrew Koji and Hiroyuki Sanada respectively. As a father desperate to save his son and the grandfather who will stop at nothing to assist him, they are by far the heart and soul of the film, and the only reason to keep watching when the humor and charm start to run dry. Koji, in particular, is phenomenal, and it’s only a matter of time before he lands his own leading role.
Overall, Bullet Train feels like a series of fun sketches rather than a fully-formed film; one can’t help but wonder if it would’ve fared better as an anthology series with one episode dedicated to each of the assassins Ladybug encounters on his journey. As it stands, however, and despite the best efforts of some of its cast members, the experience of watching Bullet Train very much feels like the experience of taking one; initially fun and thrilling, but overall inconsequential and forgettable.
Rating: 2.5/5
Bullet Train will be released in theaters in the UK on August 3, 2022 and in the US on August 5, 2022.