New Bullet Train: A High-Speed Adventure That Fails to Pick Up Momentum

Bullet Train, as implied by its title, unfolds within the notorious Japanese high-speed rail system, more commonly known as the Shinkansen. This setting provides two major advantages for the film: unparalleled (story) momentum and a confined environment that compels its characters into a limited space. However, frustratingly, in a nod to the 2010 Kōtarō Isaka novel it adapts, Bullet Train frequently hits the brakes — both literally and thematically. The literal aspect takes shape as the Tokaido Shinkansen halts for one-minute intervals throughout the trip. Instead of utilizing these pauses merely as opportunities to introduce new aspects (which it does sparingly), they predominantly hinder the film’s progress. As for the metaphorical brakes, Bullet Train — debuting on August 4 in India — consistently interrupts itself to deliver exposition or inform us about important backstory (which is also exposition).

In an action-centric film largely set on a bullet train, creativity is key to ensuring the action resonates effectively. However, just as he stumbled in Deadpool 2 (which felt average and forgettable) and the Fast & Furious offshoot Hobbs & Shaw (which felt chaotic and purely cartoonish), director David Leitch again fails to generate excitement here. Not a single choreographed moment in Bullet Train leaves a substantial impact. The film feels like a patchwork of concepts frequently interrupted by other commuters or side characters. While there are occasional flashes of intrigue, they are swiftly extinguished in favor of quirkiness or cleverness. It seems Leitch absorbed all the wrong lessons from his experience on Deadpool 2. Despite its accomplishments, the action in that film was not among them.

While Leitch had Ryan Reynolds to lean on during Deadpool 2 — who some might say acted as a co-director in spirit — to help inject humor into the film, he lacks that support here on Bullet Train. That said, there are moments of humor present. Yet, most of the comedic attempts come off as rough drafts that clearly needed further refinement. For instance, there’s a moment where Brad Pitt delivers the cringe-worthy line “if you point one finger at me, then three point back at you.” A line like that suggests that the screenplay — penned by Zak Olkewicz (Fear Street: Part Two) — needs significant improvements. The two standout comedic elements arise from Pitt’s therapeutic self-help dialogue and Brian Tyree Henry’s Thomas & Friends references. (Both are derived from the novel.) While it might sound odd when written down, trust me, the Thomas references have a charm that grows on you.

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Guided by his handler (Sandra Bullock) through an earpiece and equipped with a fresh outlook on life courtesy of his therapist, experienced American assassin Ladybug (Brad Pitt) boards the Shinkansen in Tokyo for his initial assignment after a break. His task is straightforward: steal a briefcase and disembark at the next station. Yet, Ladybug, who perceives himself as chronically unlucky, understands that simplicity rarely prevails. (The theme of luck, both good and bad, extends throughout the film. Bullet Train employs “luck” as a clever narrative device to facilitate plot developments.) Just as he’s about to exit, he’s confronted by the Mexican thug The Wolf (Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, aka Bad Bunny), who has his own vengeful agenda. But take note, The Wolf serves merely as one of several characters who function as elaborate comedic devices.

However, due to The Wolf’s interference, Ladybug finds himself embroiled in a complex situation when the briefcase’s former “owners”—the British hitman duo Lemon (Brian Tyree Henry) and Tangerine (Aaron Taylor-Johnson)—notice its absence. The briefcase is one of two items they are supposed to escort, alongside the previously-kidnapped son of Russian-Japanese crime boss The White Death (Michael Shannon). And amidst this intertwining narrative, there’s space for The Prince (Joey King), a scheming young woman disguised as a British schoolgirl, seeking vengeance on The White Death for motives that remain fuzzy. She manipulates Yuichi Kimura (Andrew Koji), a former associate of his, to comply by threatening his sick young son. (A later twist exposes Kimura’s naiveté.)

While the original novel features Japanese characters set in Japan, the film distinctly does not adhere to that, as it becomes evident. However, when adapting a novel for a major Hollywood studio, certain constraints apply. The industry’s unwritten rules typically necessitate a predominantly Hollywood cast and a film that is mostly in English. Yet, why maintain the Japanese backdrop?

Firstly, it contributes nothing to the film’s narrative. The novel’s yakuza antagonists have been supplanted by a Russian villain. (I suspect Bullet Train was aware of the implications of featuring a Japanese antagonist falling to a group of Western protagonists in a film set in Japan.) Additionally, consider the film’s restrictive perspective where it ventures all the way to Japan, only to feature a Russian villain?! Naturally, in a film aimed at American audiences.

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Joey King in Bullet Train
Photo Credit: Scott Garfield/Sony Pictures

Secondly, high-speed trains indeed operate in Western nations. To preempt any whitewashing accusations, Leitch and his team cleverly attempt to feature characters from a variety of backgrounds (Americans represented by Pitt and African-American by Zazie Beetz, British by Johnson, Black British by Henry, Mexican by Bad Bunny, Japanese by Koji, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Karen Fukuhara, and “Russian” by Shannon and Logan Lerman).

Nevertheless, this diversity is inconsequential. Bullet Train mainly centers around the four American and English-speaking characters: Pitt, King, Johnson, and Henry. Pitt injects a relaxed demeanor into his assassin role, often clashing with the bottled-up anger that surrounds him. Henry and Johnson’s Lemon and Tangerine emerge as a dynamic duo — they are frequently bickering, yet their bond runs deep. King portrays a timid teenager convincingly, but beyond that, I found her character less compelling. Her involvement feels tangential for much of the film, and when her connection to the plot is ultimately revealed, it lands with all the weight of a stone falling into water, as Bullet Train does not commit to the narratives it aspires to explore.

In contrast, the two main Japanese actors — Koji and Sanada — are assigned serious, dramatic roles. It appears that Bullet Train assumes these performers are incapable of humor, which, to me, reflects more on the writer than anything else. They don’t seem to envision Japanese actors as individuals who can evoke laughter. Other supporting characters may as well be absent. Karen Fukuhara (The Boys) occupies a minimal role, Zazie Beetz (Joker, Deadpool 2) has a pointless part, Sandra Bullock plays a thankless character, and Bad Bunny gets a full-fledged detailed backstory for just an extended cameo — merely for the audience’s amusement at his expense. Their characters possess no real agency, serving primarily to fulfill diversity quotas or support the main characters.

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Brian Tyree Henry, Aaron Taylor-Johnson in Bullet Train
Photo Credit: Scott Garfield/Sony Pictures

Bullet Train tries to extract significance from its flashback sequences — whether profoundly sad (such as a young boy on a ventilator), comical (Lemon and Tangerine debating their kill count on a job), melodramatic (a man’s rise in the mafia, his romance, only to lose everything he cherished), or random coincidences (Ladybug encountering two other hitmen during a wedding he catered). However, in reality, these moments tend to serve more as exposition than entertainment.

Often, these asides serve to introduce Chekhov’s Guns — it’s a curious notion to think of them in multiples, but that’s the sort of movie Bullet Train is — into the sprawling plot. Three are dispersed throughout the film, and you instinctively know they must go off at some point. Yet, the outcomes are either foreseeable, borderline deceptive, or simply disappointing.

And indeed, some of these descriptors apply broadly to the movie itself. With a predominantly whitewashed and underutilized cast, a setting that fails to justify itself, and humor requiring further refinement, Bullet Train misfires on many levels. As for its central component, Leitch has shown that he lacks an understanding of what constitutes effective action for the third consecutive time. (Yet Hollywood continues to put its faith in him repeatedly; he is currently working on another action film called The Fall Guys with Ryan Gosling.) In fairness, Bullet Train aren’t nearly as bad as that another expensive summer action flick from just weeks ago. Nonetheless, it is not a strong film in its own right.

Bullet Train premieres Thursday, August 4 in 2D, IMAX, and 4DX formats. In India, Bullet Train is released in English, Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu. There’s one mid-credits scene — that’s it.