Bullet Train (2022)

Bullet Train (2022)

 7/10

 

Starring

Brad Pitt

Joey King

Aaron Taylor-Johnson

Brian Tyree Henry

Andrew Koji

 

Directed by David Leitch

 

Bullet Train is one of those uselessly entertaining movies you can watch and enjoy. It has a Kill Bill vibe but leans on connecting all the action with some comedy.

For me, the fun is in the way the movie is written. Everything seems loose, and you can’t quite fit it all together to make sense—until the bad guy, White Death, ties it up for you at the end. His identity and face are revealed only at the very end (like the novel Moby Dick), when everyone involved has to face the big bad guy and his goons.

Every main character on the train is linked in one weird way or another. It was sad to see any of them die because I really enjoyed watching them all. Each was on a separate mission, but fate seemed to have brought them together—or so it seems.

The director did a great job, as did the screenwriter who adapted the Japanese novel Maria Beetle by Kōtarō Isaka. The action sequences are smooth and slick, and the fights are enjoyable, with elements of comedy added to every punch.

We’re introduced to a man codenamed Ladybug (Brad Pitt), who believes he’s one of the unluckiest men alive. He left his job as an assassin to try to find balance and overcome his belief that nothing good ever happens to him. After some unseen therapy sessions, he feels better and is ready to return to work. His handler gives him a simple snatch-and-grab job: get on a bullet train, grab a suitcase, and get off.

He boards the train, spots the suitcase easily, and immediately feels uncomfortable when he notices two other assassins, Lemon and Tangerine, onboard. Seeing them—and how simple his task seems—makes him anxious. He feels like something bad is going to happen and tries to get off the train.

Just as he’s about to leave, he’s attacked by another assassin, who coincidentally happens to be at the same door Ladybug is trying to exit. Ladybug is forced to deal with this unforeseen attack. Meanwhile, Lemon and Tangerine discover their suitcase—the ransom money they retrieved for White Death in exchange for his son—is missing. While arguing about their predicament, they also realize the man they saved has been killed during their brief distraction.

Now they suspect whoever took the suitcase was involved in the murder. Meanwhile, Ladybug, who took the suitcase, had nothing to do with their situation but is caught in a life-or-death scenario of his own.

A fun movie, definitely worth the theater money.