Bullet Train

BULLET TRAIN (15)

D: David Leitch

Sony / Columbia / 87 North (Antoine Fuqua, Kelly McCormick & David Leitch)

US 🇺🇸 2022

128 mins

Action/Thriller

W: Zak Olkewicz [based on the novel “Maria Beetle (Bullet Train)” by Kōtarō Isaka]

DP: Jonathan Sela

Ed: Elisabet Ronaldsdóttir 

Mus: Dominic Lewis

PD: David Scheunemann

Cos: Sarah Evelyn

Brad Pitt (Ladybug), Joey King (The Prince), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Tangerine), Brian Tyree Henry (Lemon), Andrew Koji (The Father), Hiroyuki Sanada (The Elder), Michael Shannon (The White Death)

Bullet Train is a hugely fun action-thriller which sees a group of professional hitmen onboard the eponymous vehicle, who discover their individual missions interfere with each others as the train travels through Japan.

The main focus is on Brad Pitt’s character, Ladybug, who tries to complete his missions with minimal violence and considers his luck to be cursed. The rest of the cadre include Lemon & Tangerine, two cockney gangsters who hold a briefcase that is Ladybug’s target, and Joey King’s seemingly innocent young lady, whose involvement messes with everyone.

There’s certainly a Tarantino-influence in the style of the film, though the dialogue is perhaps more in line with Guy Ritchie’s works, nevertheless it’s a film that very much has its own style & originality and it’s probably the editing & action choreography that is the major talent on show here, not that it detracts from the characterisation, humour and dialogue.

All the performances are fine, but I felt as though Joey King was certainly the weakest link, but that’s not to say that it was a poor acting performance.

High octane fun that never relents once it hits full speed, and certainly one of the most entertaining (and perhaps surprising) films of 2022.

7/10