Bullet Train
The film is disheveled. It is one long stream of fights,
stabbing, gun shots and an occasional snake bite. The story in convoluted and a
Wikipedia cheat sheet is advised. Characters get killed or you think they get
killed. There are divergent story lines of different periods. Revenge is an undercurrent
of the film. Flashbacks strain to give the movie coherence. Mayhem is the main
ingredient.
The film is packed with stars, some long lived other not.
Brad Pitt is Ladybug an unlucky mercenary. Brad Pitt is his usual cool self but
a bit neurotic. His character wants be easy going but he is also constantly
attacked and has to brutally kill a few people. The supporting cast are
innumerable. There are feature actors and actors with brief appearances. Bad
Bunny (for the Medicare crowd that is his stage name) a Mexican assassin with a
stained white suit. Lemon and Tangerine are brothers from a different mother
(one black the other white) who are Brad Pitt’s main nemesis. There are other
nemesis. One is a faux schoolgirl, the Prince, played by Joey King who has more
longevity than the other killers and lasts to the end. Then there are the
quickies. Ryan Reynolds shows up for five seconds. Channon Tatum is a train
passenger with three short scenes. Sandra Bullock is Pitt’s handler and before
her brief appearance was the voice on his phone. Michael Shannon is White Death
and hard to recognize wearing a mop of hair.
Some of the scenes are incredulous . You can not hang on to
the outside of a speeding bullet train unless you have a big S on your chest. With
train cars packed like sardines in Japan it is difficult to believe they found
two empty cars. There was some levity in the movie but not enough to validate
the advertisements. The script tried to mesh various story lines but it tied
itself in a knot.
