Bullet Train

Starring: Brad Pitt, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Sandra Bullock, Joey King, Brian Tyree Henry, Andrew Koji, Hiroyuki Sanada, Zazie Beetz, Logan Lerman, Bad Bunny

Director: David Leitch

Based on the novel Maria Beetle by Kôtarô Isaka

After taking some time off to re-evaluate his life, Ladybug (Pitt) finds himself dragged back onto the job by his handler Maria (Bullock) to board a bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto and steal a briefcase. Unbeknownst to him, that briefcase belongs to assassins Lemon (Tyree Henry) and Tangerine (Taylor-Johnson) who are on the train to deliver the money, as well as The Son (Lerman), whose father is the fearsome criminal White Death. Although he is able to secure the case, Ladybug's mission proves more and more treacherous as he begins to realize his presence on the train has been orchestrated by something outside of his control. Ladybug must unravel the truth and dodge the numerous assassins (Bad Bunny, Beetz, King) who are dead set on stopping him at all costs.

I had an absolute blast with this movie. While the trailers definitely had me feeling like it would be an enjoyable action romp, I wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did. Director David Leitch (Deadpool 2, Hobbs & Shaw) has made a film that will make fans of early Guy Ritchie proud. I could not stop thinking how similar the tone was to Snatch, which shouldn't be that much of a surprise considering star Brad Pitt was heavily featured in both.

Speaking of Pitt, he has an absolute blast in this movie. It's been a while since he has tackled a role this humorous and light but he handled the comedy with aplomb. His reactions to the events transpiring around him as well as the zen mentality of his character, who doesn't want to be around violence but somehow keeps finding himself in violent situations, makes for one of the more likable leads in an action comedy I have seen in quite some time. While many familiar faces pop up throughout the film, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Brian Tyree Henry absolutely steal the show. Playing an assassin duo who consider each other brothers, they bicker and seem like bumbling criminals but are anything but. They are incredibly intelligent and deadly when they have to be. It was refreshing that their characters never devolved from what was set up for cheap laughs. Joey King, whose character remains the most mysterious throughout the film, is great but her ultimate arc isn't as successful as it could have been. While the movie does handle the multiple characters admirably, her story feels like it is missing something the most.

While there aren't any showstopping moments of action in the film, there are some fun action set pieces in the film. The most memorable scenes, which unfortunately all feature in the trailers, are Brad Pitt's early fight with Bad Bunny, his scrap with Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and his fight with Tyree Henry in the quiet car. They all fully capture the tone of what Leitch was setting out to accomplish.

Although the film is never boring, there are moments when you think we are further along in the story than we actually are. Around the point where I thought we would be shifting towards the climax, I was surprised to find that we weren't even halfway through the movie. There are also some Ritchie-inspired moments that don't work, like cutting from the present to the past to explain how a character arrived at this point in the movie, that are messy and pump the brakes on the momentum the film was building to.

Look, it's not going to win any awards. I've even seen some better action scenes in more recent movies. But I enjoyed myself greatly watching this.

Grade: B+