While in this country the delays of the Deutsche Bahn have given rise to murder in many passengers, the Japanese high-speed train Bullet Train is punctual, but has a lot of killers on board in the film of the same name. A first class action spectacle.
The Bullet Train travels through Japan at speeds of up to 320 kilometers per hour and is best known for its punctuality, stopping at each station for exactly one minute. Things that many German train passengers can only dream of and that play an essential role in the plot of the film of the same name. Stunt coordinator and director David Leitch chose such a high-speed train as the backdrop for "Bullet Train" and also cast the whole thing with Brad Pitt and Sandra Bullock.
Ladybug (Brad Pitt) is an unlucky hitman who, after a breakdown and the ensuing therapy, has had enough of his stressful job. In the absence of alternatives, he nevertheless accepts an assignment that initially seems quite uncomplicated to him. He is said to have stolen a suitcase on the Tokyo-Kyoto express train.
But that turns out to be more difficult than expected, because the professional killers Lemon (Brian Tyree Henry) and Tangerine (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), who are supposed to bring this suitcase from A to B, are not squeamish when it comes to closing it defend. And they're not the only ones aboard the Bullet Train who have their own agenda in mind, and will not shy away from violence and murder to achieve it.
Among them, for example, is a father (Andrew Koji) on board in search of the person who pushed his son off a skyscraper. The perpetrator is the psychopath The Prince (Joey King), who lured him onto the train with this inhumane act because he is a puzzle piece of her large-scale plan to eliminate the crime boss White Death (Michael Shannon).
On his behalf, Lemon and Tangerine, also known as "The Twins", are on the road, who are supposed to bring his son (Logen Lerman) back safely in addition to the suitcase with the ransom money. When the Mexican gangster Wolf (Bad Bunny) gets on board and mistakes Ladybug for his wife's killer, while her real killer The Wasp is also on board, the deadly chaos is perfect.
With "Bullet Train" David Leitch follows "Deadpool 2" and "Fast
However, what "Bullet Train" has in common with "John Wick" is the sophisticated choreography of the melee scenes, which posed a particular challenge in the tightness of the train, as the actors assured in an interview with ntv.de. Another was the fact that the filming took place in the first lockdown and was accompanied by a strict corona protocol.
In addition to the sprawling action scenes, where things really get down to business and almost everything from the toilet door to the water bottle serves as a weapon, there are dialogues reminiscent of works by Quentin Tarantino that entertain with black humor and running gags. Lemon is a big fan of "Thomas the Tank Engine" and characterizes all people based on characters from the children's series. In general, the conversations with his "twin brother" Tangerine are great fun. But Ladybug, who tells his client (Sandra Bullock) about the helpful tips of his therapist on the phone, also causes a lot of laughs and a lot of sympathy points.
"Bullet Train" was based on the 2010 book by the successful Japanese author Kotaro Isaka, which was adapted for the international market, albeit without closing any logical gaps. In the end, however, they hardly play a role anymore, as the fast-paced action pulls you in so much that there is no time to think about it anyway. There are also a few cameo appearances that you almost miss if you don't pay close attention at all times. In the end, things get a bit too much in terms of CGI, less would have been more here. But with a total of 127 mostly entertaining minutes of film, you can overlook that.
"Bullet Train" will be in German cinemas from August 4th.
