Bullet Train Explosion

If you're looking a lazy afternoon-watch this weekend that doesn't want you to think too much, this Japanese-version of 'Speed' but on a Bullet Train might be worth considering.

The film was fairly decent until the major reveal that was not really convincing at all, but if you forceful yourself to apply the logic you often see in the news about 'bad actors', you could maaaaybe see why/how it all makes sense.

But like I said, if you don't want to think too much, or at all, this might be one of the decent films for this weekend, or even for passive viewing as you do the dishes or fold your clothes away. Could have been so much better but I didn't care that it was not that and it doesn't feel like a let down.

Japanese is still Japanese. Even though they have great material, the results made me frustrated. First I saw the trailer, it seemed like the movie from 90s - Speed, Keanu Reeve and Sandra Bullock - a Japanese version. I had high expectation due to the explosion was about their high speed technology train like Shinkansen bullet train that serves many people daily. During the line, I was getting upset by boring dialog, drama-with-no-reason made me sick, and overall was pretty disappointed. The signature of Japanese movie is about their spirit, responsibility, patriotism etc. But those built overall movie worsen.

The villain supposed to hit my nerve and made me stunned, but no. There was not solid and believable; or AKA enough to convince; the motive of making the train exploded.

Critics are dumb for comparing this with Speed (1994). This is a sequel to the movie Bullet Train (1975).

Besides the explosion plot, the stories are entirely different.

Overall, this was an enjoyable action film, made for the big screen, with clever scenes and twists.

It brings new ideas to the "train" disaster genre, which are much appreciated and make everything engaging.

The performance of the main leads is solid.

Despite a few plot holes and some slightly bad acting in supporting roles, the movie carries a great intensity that keeps you hooked from the beginning to the end.

If you enjoy train movies, you will like this!

OK so it's over long (losing momentum a bit in the second half), and the villain when revealed is an eye roll that doesn't really make all that much sense. But despite that its a fun and at times tense action / disaster movie, the type of which doesn't get made all that much these days.

The cast are all good, and the sfx are generally good, although they would have benefitted from a slightly higher budget here and there. Some great cinematography too.

I think anyone who likes movies like Unstoppable, Silver Streak, Speed and other similar disaster movies will find much to enjoy in this film.

With all due respect to my fellow critics-whose insights I genuinely admire-I must gently (but firmly) tap the brakes on this recurring assertion that Bullet Train Explosion is little more than a Japanese Speed. Yes, both films hinge on the same pulse-quickening premise: a vehicle that must maintain velocity or detonate spectacularly. But before we declare Speed the originator of this trope, let's give history its proper due-and a little reverence.

Because long before Keanu Reeves fired off "Pop quiz, BLEEP," and Sandra Bullock white-knuckled her way into action-movie legend, there was The Bullet Train (Shinkansen Daibakuha, 1975). A Japanese thriller that introduced the world to a high-speed train wired to explode if it dipped below a certain speed. Sound familiar? It should. This was the first film to plant a bomb squarely under the concept of velocity. And it was brilliant.

But the lineage doesn't stop there. Even Speed's screenwriter, Graham Yost, credited his inspiration not as some divine spark, but as a cinematic handoff from Runaway Train (1985)-another nail-biter about an unstoppable locomotive hurtling toward oblivion. Here's where it gets even juicier: Runaway Train was originally the brainchild of none other than Akira Kurosawa. Yes, that Kurosawa. The auteur behind Seven Samurai and Rashomon. He wrote the screenplay in the 1960s, envisioning a deeply human, existential thriller set aboard a runaway engine. Though he never got to direct it, his vision survived and roared to life years later under Andrei Konchalovsky.

So let's be clear: Bullet Train Explosion isn't some derivative knockoff trailing behind Speed. It's part of a long, cross-cultural cinematic tradition that spans continents and decades. It stands proudly in a lineage that includes Kurosawa, Konchalovsky, and yes, Jan de Bont. To reduce it to "Speed, but Japanese" is to miss the point-and miss the artistry.

As a Gen-Xer, Speed is sacred to me. It defined a decade of action cinema. It made "mass transit terrorism" an oddly specific genre. And it will always be brilliant. But brilliance doesn't need to be first. And homage is not theft-it's a love letter. Bullet Train Explosion is exactly that: a loud, stylish, blood-soaked valentine to its forebears.

So instead of side-eyeing the similarities, let's celebrate the shared DNA. Let's honor Bullet Train Explosion as a continuation-not a copy-of a global cinematic conversation about speed, stakes, and what happens when you can't stop moving.

With admiration for my fellow Speed disciples (I am one of you), and with cinematic history riding shotgun, I rest my case.