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If you dig the vibe of David Leitch’s action-comedy “Bullet Train,” snag a ticket to go on unlimited home viewing rides now.

By Douglas Davidson on October 25, 2022 • ( 0 )

Realism is overrated. We experience it every day: the fear, the frustration, the constantly moving goal posts. Sometimes, it’s really nice to experience something so off the rails, so unrealistic, that all you can do is hold on and go along for the ride. That’s more or less the requirement with director David Leitch’s (Deadpool 2) latest project, hypercolored and hyperkinetic Bullet Train, an adaptation of Kōtarō Isaka’s 2010 novel Maria Beetle. The novel is reportedly a dark humor thriller, something which fits right in Leitch’s wheelhouse given his work in Atomic Blonde (2017) and Hobbs & Shaw (2019), action films that oscillate between situational-based dark humor and outright jokes depending on the needs of the story. With a script by Zak Olkewicz (Fear Street: Part Two – 1978) and an all-star cast including Brian Tyree Henry (Widows), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (TeneT), Andrew Koji (Warriors), Hiroyuki Sanada (47 Ronin), Joey King (The Princess), Zazie Beetz (The Harder They Fall), and plenty more, Bullet Train is all but bound to hit its target on-time and on the mark. Strangely, this murder at 320kms per hour action comedy may be an embarrassment of riches in the talent department, but the execution leaves one exhausted by the trip, impatient to find their stop.

Back from a leave of absence, special operative codenamed Ladybug (Brad Pitt) is tapped by his handler Maria Beetle (Sandra Bullock) to fill-in for another operative who called in sick. Though reluctant to get back in the field as he’s working on living a life of non-violence, he takes the job as it’s supposed to be a simple snatch-and-grab of a suitcase with a train sticker on the handle. What he doesn’t realize is that he’s not the only special operative on the train with a mission of their own. As the threads start to come together, a scheme larger than Ladybug comes into clear view and it’s looking to spill some blood.

I’m not sure how long this phrase has been around referring to David Leitch, but I first heard it with the promo work for Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw: In David Leitch We Trust. The director possesses a stunt and action choreography background, meaning that when he’s directing a scene, especially when it contains an action or stunt component, he’s particularly qualified to come at it from a unique perspective. It certainly helps that the company he founded with Chad Stahelski (John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum), 87eleven Action Design, has a team of gifted stunt people that know how to use space to craft compelling sequences. So, with Leitch helming a film set inside a moving bullet train with several wetwork operatives on their own missions creating opportunities for conflict, well, the stunts more than make up for the weaknesses in other areas. To be fair, audiences aren’t coming to a film like Bullet Train for emotionally moving dialogue or thoughtful subtext, they want blood, they want carnage, and a few pithy remarks along the way. On this, Bullet Train doesn’t disappoint, a highlight sequence being the respective one-on-one fights between Ladybug and each of the Twins, Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Tangerine and Brian Tyree Henry’s Lemon. Both sequences use their set space well, allow for engaging character beats, and possess a rhythm that creates a fun flow. Not only that but these sequences exemplify how important it is for action in films to move the story forward, as each of these scenes do illustrate for the audience and illuminate for the characters important information all parties need to know.

Speaking of characters, one of the downsides to the film is the approach to cover all of them. Having not read the novel, I can’t speak to the narrative’s adaptation of Isaka’s original work. In the film, though, there’s a cheeky aspect that runs throughout wherein each new character is given their own personal flashback, effectively derailing what’s happening in the present so that the audience can understand the past. Sometimes this works seamlessly, as when the audience is introduced to the menace on the periphery, The White Death (Michael Shannon), for whom the Twins are currently working on a special one-time basis, via a speech from Tangerine to Lemon. It works here because the audience is given enough time to understand the relationship between the two characters and how one compensates for the other, like siblings. So when Lemon demonstrates that he didn’t pay attention at their mission briefing, Tangerine fills him in. It’s smooth, it keeps the forward momentum going, and is informative to us, as well. Except then, almost every time a character is introduced, it gets a flash back. As if Leitch and Olkewicz are aware of the frequency of use, even a Fiji water bottle gets one. It’s meant to be funny, but all one can do is roll their eyes and throw up their hands. Strangely, so much of the film jumps between serious stakes (Koji’s Kimura is seeking to bring justice for the attempted murder of his child) and Ladybug’s buffoonery that it’s hard to remain fully invested in the film beyond an empty-caloric amusement. The cast is clearly having a blast and audience members familiar with Leitch’s past projects are going to see a lot of familiar faces as well as some audience favorites (Karen Fukuhara (The Boys) and Masi Oka (Heroes) being two), so there’s a clear bubble gum appeal to Bullet Train. But bubble gum loses its flavor fast no matter how many sticks one shoves in their open maw to try to prolong the enjoyment. And with 30 minutes still to go in the film, I was sure this was a ride that would never end.

Let’s talk formats and the impact on bonus features.

First, be advised that the format you pick will impact what bonus features you get. There’s nothing more than feature-length commentary from Leitch, producer Kelly McCormick, and Olkewicz and Sony Pictures-related previews on the 4K UHD disc. The Blu-ray has the aforementioned features plus seven featurettes comprised of the usual making-of, blooper, easter egg, and marketing materials that typically accompany home releases. For fans of Leitch’s 87eleven, which includes a stunt team that have worked on some of the best action films in recent memory, the behind the scenes materials are going to be the most desirable. Watching Bullet Train, the stuntwork is the best part (next to the Twins) so whether it’s listening to how the cast prepared for filming or watching the stunt previsulization videos (called previs), the behind-the-scenes featurettes properly highlight the creation and execution of what makes the film so fun. The Blu-ray is also the only way to get the most comprehensive bonus materials as the DVD only includes two featurettes and the digital edition is missing “Mission Accomplished: Making of Bullet Train.” So if you dig the film and want to get the most bang for your buck out of the home release edition, any physical edition that includes the Blu-ray is the only way to get everything. If you don’t mind missing one featurette, than any of the options will do the trick.

As someone with an affinity for Asian cinema, there was some concern over the orientalism Bullet Train appears to embody: the setting is a bullet train set in Japan and the majority of the players (while international in nationality and race) are not from Japan, making them outsiders making Japan their playground. There’s a threat of superficiality via stereotyping that one doesn’t expect from Leitch, given how often the projects 87eleven engages in often invoke homages to Asian cinema. Leitch possesses a recognizable reverence for the community, their culture, and their influence on cinema. Yet, the lead is a problematic White dude, Beetz’s character dabbles in misogyny by saying “bitch” every other word, and, once more, an action film utilizes the reputation of Sanada moreso than the actor himself. He comes in clutch, to be sure, but this script just barely does the actor less dirty than Mortal Kombat (2021). Even The White Death, the big bad of the film, is played by a White actor, implying that Japan’s most dangerous criminal isn’t even of the culture. So you’ve got all of these threats and interlopers and only two are directly connected to the culture. It’s difficult not to accuse Bullet Train of evoking orientalism due to the poor optics when viewed thusly. Does it need to be viewed this way? Can this fact be ignored and just roll with it? Yes. Interestingly, Isaka stated in an August 4^th, 2022 interview via The New York Times that nationality doesn’t play into the characters of his story at all, saying “I don’t have any feeling of wanting people to understand Japanese literature or culture,” Isaka said. “It’s not like I understand that much about Japan, either.” So maybe it’s much ado about nothing. But, at least from the perspective of how it looks (a bunch of outsiders coming in and fucking up portions of Japan and this going back to wherever they came from without concern for the clean-up), it works in action films as a big trope, but doesn’t work when viewed through a real-world lens.

Sometimes, though, all people want is to just buy a ticket for a ride and go on one without consideration of anything larger than “will your favorite characters make it.” If this is your view and Bullet Train is your vibe, then delight in the freedom of enjoying it at your leisure. If not for Leitch, Taylor-Johnson, Henry, and Sanada, Bullet Train wouldn’t be worth a second go-round. Lucky for all of us, that’s not the case.

Bullet Train Special Features:

4K UHD