Bullet Train review: Stupendous Brad Pitt and an oddball cast keep the fast-paced film on track

3/5

Brad Pitt plays Ladybug in Bullet Train, an unfortunate assassin who is determined to carry out his mission without violence after a string of jobs gone wrong. The world's fastest train puts Ladybug on a collision course with deadly enemies from all over the world who are all working toward related but opposing goals. Fate, however, may have other intentions. The director of Deadpool 2, David Leitch's nonstop thrill ride through contemporary Japan, begins at the end of the line.

The technology of Japan is so advanced that you might believe it's too good to be true. However, Bullet Train ensures that whatever happens on the fastest train on the planet can also happen in reality. The film takes place during a day on a train ride from Tokyo to Kyoto, with limited stops in between. During every stop, which lasts for a minute, the journey takes a different route in the lives of the passengers, and we just have to keep up.

The common link for everyone is the White Death, the capo of the biggest gang, played by Michael Shannon. Everyone wants to either kill him, work for him, or just ignore him. But, no matter what, they are all just involved in this multiple mission that takes place on a bullet train.

The beauty of the film is how fascinating it looks on the screen, with technology playing the game widely and brilliantly. We see every type of compartment in the train, from a quiet one to a luxurious pantry, and also a fascinating smart toilet, which impresses Ladybug (Brad Pitt), a skilled but unfortunate American assassin.

He boards the train to take one suitcase and get down to the station. But like Shah Rukh Khan in Chennai Express, Ladybug misses the platform and just has to deal with the menacing people around her in some other way. This includes siblings and British assassins, Tangerine (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Lemon (Brian Tyree Henry). They just elevate the film to the next level with their banter and have the funniest moments.

But if a film is made to look like a non-living thing as a superhero (here, a train), the humans just defy logic in every possible way. In no time, we see that the bullet train witnesses a blood bath with people dying with tears in their eyes. Furthermore, each of the assassins has blood stains on their faces and clothes, but the other passengers are unconcerned.

At one point in time, during a duel between Ladybug and Lemon in the quiet compartment, an old lady shushes them every now and then without noticing the bruises and wounds on their faces. That's just one example!

However, I think we can give that to them knowing that most of the films made today in the name of fiction defy logic despite having normal human beings doing those stunts or whatever.

Pitt shows his impeccable sense of humour and gets into Rumi mode with all the preachy lines he learnt from his therapist. You might get confused initially on seeing why an assassin is getting into non-violence mode, but you get the drill, which will leave you in splits immediately.

Another actor to watch out for in the film is Joey King, who plays Prince, a British assassin who poses as a young school girl. The actor just looks the part, and even with her wide blue-eyed and smirking, she plays the part well of hurting people without any remorse and then behaving as a victim. However, the major drawback to her character comes when she starts speaking Japanese. The dubbed voice overlaps hers and kills the joy.

David Leitch, who directed the film, is based on the adapted screenplay penned by Zak Olkewicz. He translated the book Maria Beetle (published in English as Bullet Train) by Kōtarō Isaka to the screen by making it with a non-Japanese cast. It works well knowing that the narrative has been changed, but still, Japanese characters are mostly seen as NPCs (non-player characters), whose importance was felt fully in Shawn Levy's Free Guy.

Leitch is enough for Bullet Train to get the audience to know that he is the helmer of Deadpool 2. The oddball humour is well established in the film, with every character having delivered their best. Moreover, even non-living things, namely a suitcase and a water bottle, are given importance and shown to have a backstory. Overall, the film felt like a miniature version of This Is Us, with every character given a backstory and not left hanging by a loose thread.

However, the film does get slightly stretched, and a few characters, especially Shannon's and that of Japanese assassin Yuichi Kimura, are portrayed by Andrew Koji. We see them often, but they have very little to offer despite playing pivotal roles. On the other hand, Sandra Bullock, who mainly has a voice role in the film, will urge you to see her face, and you will have to wait a little longer for that.

Bullet Train can be touted as a brainless action comedy, but mind you, the jokes don't seem forced and it has a great landing in most of the sequences. With Pitt headlining the role, it comes as a pleasant surprise, going by his previous outings. However, he definitely nails the deadpan humour with a spiritual awakening brought along with it.

Amongst the recent Hollywood outings or any movie outings per se on the big screen, Bullet Train doesn't make for a great film but surely is an entertaining one.

Bullet Train also has a few special appearances that will leave you surprised! Mind you, there's one blink-and-miss cameo, so make sure you don't blink at that time. Interestingly, the presence of Hollywood biggies is a big add-on to the film and will work well for it, for sure!