A handful of independent hitmen board a fast-moving bullet train. None of them are aware that their missions each correlate with one another, pitting each of them against the other.
Alright! I have been craving a silly, stylized, action-packed movie with a super star lead. Who better than Brad Pitt? BULLET TRAIN sounds like the perfect anecdote to fill that void. And it almost is. ALMOST. Don’t get me wrong, BULLET TRAIN is a lot of fun! And Brad Pitt is incredibly funny and charismatic as the lead talented, loser hitman. But it doesn’t quite reach the level of high-octane, rewatchable fun as it should be.
The set up is so great! And the characters are equally wonderful with wicked cool code names. We have: Tangerine (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), Lemon (Brian Tyree Henry), Prince (Joey King), Wolf (Bad Bunny), The Hornet (Zazie Beetz), The Elder (Hiroyuki Sanada), White Death (Michael Shannon), and of course, Ladybug (Brad Pitt). These are just some of the characters with a couple of fun big name cameos to boot. But alas, that is only part of the sum total to make a great movie.
Director David Leitch, whose previous credits include: JOHN WICK and both DEADPOOL movies, has the right idea. Blending humor with action, using colorful characters in an interesting location is a recipe for a bloody fun ride. Unfortunately, BULLET TRAIN is another victim of poor editing. The R-rated film runs just over the two hour mark, which is about half an hour too long. This is a plea for all filmmakers to please shorten your film.
BULLET TRAIN draws out the unnecessary drama. There is no reason to linger on bad guys being sad about other bad guy partners being killed. There are far too many scenes with slow-motion, long pauses, or just forced dramatic moments. The pace should have been quicker and lighter, turning the film’s tone more consistently into a fun, brisk, romp.
Still, BULLET TRAIN does have some great moments and a few laugh out loud scenes that are triggered by an absolutely incredible, hilariously shining standout in one of our last true super stars, Brad Pitt. Many of the supporting characters are fun too, but it is definitely Brad Pitt’s movie to shine in. If anything, more scenes from other characters needed to be shortened to keep Pitt on screen. Ultimately, the energy, dynamic style, and Brad Pitt’s charismatic charm and humor gives BULLET TRAIN a passable recommendation.
