Bullet Train

I can't remember the last time I saw a film as full on as 'Bullet Train'. It is two hours of relentless action. It's actually a little exhausting to watch (it didn't help that the theatre I saw it in was set to about 30 degrees Celsius - but that's a different matter) - in a good way though.

This is a very stylishly made film. It looks terrific. The acting is great and all the characters are very polished and cool as you would expect in a film about assassins. The train itself is an interesting setting too. It's technically a single-setting film but it never feels like it. The film moves so fast you feel like you are darting from country to country.

I would say the one let down of the film was how little of the humour landed. Time and again there was an obvious attempt at a joke and I just didn't find even a smile coming to my face. There are some laughs along the way, but the hit to miss ratio is way off.

It's a lot of fun this movie though regardless. There are endless cameos and twists and unexpected moments. The film certainly keeps you on your toes. 7/10.

Not sure what movie people watched... its a action comedy, they aren't known to be life-altering. By comparison to others in the genre however this is one of the good ones. Great comedic timing, nicely choreographed fight scenes and camera work. A lot of reviews mention a Ritchie likeness, to me it seems like a mix of Ritchie and Tarantino (Kill Bill).

People balk to quickly about storylines, pacing, acting, sound, etc... because they are writing reviews right? That's what they are supposed to do... but like probably a lot of them, I'm not in the business, I'm a movie watcher so I review based on what I know. Was I entertained? Yes, I was.

I make a point of not watching trailers prior to watching a new film as experience tells me that rather than get me excited to watch a movie, they essentially give me an overly exposed look at a film with key plot points being shown. With this in mind, it was almost impossible to not see parts of trailers for Bullet Train, whether that was on TV or YouTube advertising etc. The marketing campaign for this film is mental, I have seen it everywhere.

The trailer makes the movie look like a massive bloated action piece - Think Nonstop meets Train to Busan. However, having watched a couple of YouTube film reviews, I was pleasantly surprised to see it described as not just a brainless action movie, but more of a dialogue-based film with clever writing and fast paced back and forth. One reviewer compared it to Guy Ritchie's Snatch and the classic Pulp Fiction - Two of my favourite and most watched movies. That was enough for me, I was going to give it a try and I booked a couple of tickets for opening day, something that I don't do very often.

Let's start with the Dialogue. If anything, it just tries too hard, far too hard. Most of the jokes didn't land for me and the delivery of the fast-paced dialogue quite often would not hit the mark. I can't quite but my finger on why that is. Is it simply poor writing? Or is it down to the delivery? Or is it simply that a number of my favourite movies are heavy, witty dialogue-based movies and my expectations were so high based on several reviews, that I just felt disappointed by this? Either way, it didn't really work for me.

As you can imagine, almost all the action scenes involved in this movie were delivered on a train, meaning that the fight scenes needed to be compact and tight. This was delivered better than I expected to be fair and plenty of the action scenes were enjoyable, if not incredibly farfetched.

The characters were relatively varied but were quite generic and cliché. Brad Pitt is essentially the lead actor and probably the best on show. Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Brian Tyree Henry (Tangerine and Lemon) were the characters which I was most excited to see, they played the east end cockney gangster/hitmen type characters. Unfortunately, they came across as just trying far too hard and the chemistry between them just wasn't as good as I imagine the director and producers thought it would be. The Thomas the Tank Engine metaphor also got repetitive after the 25th time it was mentioned. The rest of the cast are hit and miss, nothing majorly impressive and nothing majorly terrible. There are some strange cameos, and when I say cameos, I mean cameos. They literally get seconds of screen time.

Overall, Bullet Train was entertaining enough as a popcorn flick and was an inoffensive way of turning my brain off for two hours and relaxing. I do feel that it's a slightly wasted opportunity though as I can see what the director was trying to do, but it just felt flat and missed the mark on quite a few occasions. Style over substance is the best way I would describe it.

6/10.

This is a highly entertaining action-comedy that oozes style. It's extremely fun and a bit on the outrageous side, not meant to be taken too seriously. It's filled with funny and memorable moments. The action is awesome, well-shot and clear, which is no surprise coming from the guy who directed John Wick, Atomic Blonde and Deadpool 2.

There are a ton of characters and I like them all. The cast does such a great job, especially Brian Tyree Henry and Aaron Taylor-Johnson. I remember first seeing Brian Tyree Henry in Atlanta and really enjoying that role. Since then, he has taken on vastly different roles and killed all of them. And I already thought Aaron Taylor-Johnson is a great actor, but the way he completely transforms into his character is remarkable. To the point where you don't see Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Literally. I didn't realize it was him until the credits rolled.

If I had to come up with negatives, I would say it's a bit hectic at times, but not enough to take me out of it. And the story borders on being convoluted, but I was able to follow it all so I'll call it intricate instead.

In the end I had a great time with this movie and would definitely watch it again, although I'll be turning on subtitles since some dialogue was hard to understand in a Snatch kind of way.

EDIT: On second viewing, my negatives disappeared. And a couple things that stood out even more: The music is beastly and Brad Pitt's facial expressions in the reaction shots are priceless. (2 viewings, early screening UltraScreen 8/2/2022, UltraScreen 8/17/2022)

If you're fed up of dreary Oscar contenders making points and taking an age to get to them, this is for you. Entertaining, fast paced, action romp with good set pieces and plenty of fun moments.

And to the critics: no, there is no "character development" and yes, the "plot" is not that believable. It's light entertainment not Samuel Beckett.