BULLET TRAIN – Review

Fans of frenetic, bloody action comedies like SMOKIN’ ACES, SHOOT ‘EM UP, KUNG FU HUSTLE or just about anything from Guy Ritchie are gifted this summer with a likely candidate for their list of escapist favorites. The title of BULLET TRAIN refers not only to Japan’s ultra-modern railway system, but to the collection of assassins and thugs who wend their way through the cars and each other for a variety of reasons. The mix of players and agendas will make little sense… until it does.

David Leitch enhances his credentials as stunt man who worked his way up to becoming a first-rate director, following the examples of Clint Eastwood, Hal Needham, John Ford, John Landis and others. After nearly 20 years of stunt work, with a bevy of acting gigs in the mix, he got his first chance to direct parts of JOHN WICK. Since then, he’s helmed ATOMIC BLONDE, DEADPOOL 2, and FAST & FURIOUS PRESENTS: HOBBS & SHAW. The dude knows how to serve up slam-bang action laced with humor, and does it here in fine style.

A bunch of hired guns are given assignments that put them all on one train from Tokyo to Kyoto. Two of them, code named Tangerine and Lemon (Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Brian Tyree Henley) for this mission, are tasked with retrieving both the kidnapped son and the briefcase of his ransom money for the country’s biggest baddest crime boss, not so affectionately known as “White Death.” Brad Pitt (code name Ladybug) is hired to grab the briefcase, returning to duty after a hiatus of a Zen-like quest for meaning and inner peace. Several others are on hand seeking to avenge an assortment of wrongs. All that plus a supremely deadly boomslang snake that would have ruined air travel for Samuel L. Jackson if he had been making this trip by rail.

The action on board as these disparate, and increasingly desperate, thugs keep stumbling all over each other is supplemented by a batch of hilariously bloody flashbacks and contemporaneous developments outside the train than shape the action within. Those sequences fill in backstories and advance the plot quite smoothly.

Leitch’s pacing and scene switching makes the film seem shorter than its 126-minute running time. Parts of the score enhance the action, while others add to the comedic side. The script by Zak Olkewics, based on Kotaro Isaka’s novel, gives us an excellent set of highly diverse personalities and agendas, balancing the laughs with the mayhem, and eventually ‘splaining all coherently enough to please most genre fans with the product they’ve just seen.

A couple of side notes: Brad Pitt reportedly did most of his own stunts. If so, that’s quite an achievement for anyone – more so by a guy on the far side of 50. Also, don’t leave when the credits start. There’s a scene in the middle you shouldn’t miss.

BULLET TRAIN opens Friday, Aug. 5, in theaters.

RATING: 3.5 out of 4 stars