Bullet Train (2022)

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.

Fmovies: I was not surprised this movie was as good as it was with the strong cast and budget. The humor and story telling were too tier.

The action was easy to follow and there were enough twists and turns that it didn't feel like 2 hours.

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.

Bullet Train fmovies. And yet so many low rates among the commentators despite excellent direction, script and dialogue and very good acting. Too bad for those many sad and depressed people with very poor sense of humor.

I'll admit i've skewed my rating a bit, i've ranked it so highly rated based on the fact I knew what movie I was buying a ticket for. I'm not rating it highly because it's a modern classic, i'm doing it based on wanting to see a funny and entertaining action movie and in that respect it delivers pretty much everything I went to the cinema for.

The premise of the film is basic, the cast is solid, the characters are excellent including mini side characters. The humour has a few misses but generally it is a pretty funny movie throughout, they also pay off everything that is set up along the way which makes it a satisfying watch. Also if you are yet to see it, stay through the credits as it does tie up one or two of those loose ends.

The slight downside for me, were that the run time does sag a little toward the end but it is over 2 hours long and otherwise moved along at a steady rate.

This movie grabs you from the start and doesn't let go. Its an entertaining whirlwind of goofy character after goofy character, and awesome fight after awesome fight. Brad Pitt nails his leading role and everyone else does great.

The visuals of the film are fantastic- soaked in a beautiful neon glow. While soundtrack is fine but not too memorable outside of the film.

Overall, this is a great summer watch.