No, it’s not going to wow you compared other assassin movies, but you’re going to have a blast with Brad Pitt’s latest romp.
The premise for Bullet Train is familiar to the classic “assassins meet each other in the same location, only to find out they are either being recruited for a job, or they are likely to kill each other before they realize what’s going on.” This definitely falls more into the latter category, in hilarious fashion, as Pitt’s character Ladybug is trying to approach his life in a new way: with as little killing as possible because of mishaps that occurred in his last few jobs that left him feeling unlucky and/or that death just follows him – that he kills anyone that comes in contact with him.
While that’s functionally true, we’ll see throughout the movie how ill-prepared his rival assassins actually are. This leads to a number of fun vignettes that move the story along, revealing more and more how they all ended up on the same train and what their real purpose is together.
Most of these scenes or flashbacks are comedically great, even if the actual fight choreography leaves something to be desired. A single scene in any Tarantino movie like Kill Bill would be more memorable than most of the fights in Bullet Train, but they definitely wouldn’t be as hilarious given the situations these characters find themselves in.
Perfect Example of Chekov’s Gun
If you ever needed to explain what Chekov’s gun is, you could teach a graduate level course using this film. If you’re unaware, at its simplest, the concept coined by Anton Chekhov, is about using what you introduce. So, if you introduce that another character has a gun in a normal everyday situation, what does that make your character do? Do they try to wrestle it away from them? Are they forced to do something against their will because the gun is trained on them? The gun doesn’t even have to fire; it could be empty, but introducing it should have an impact – cause a reaction.
It also refers to closure and pay-off; when you don’t accomplish this or leave open threads, it can make your endings feel unsatisfying. This would be like introducing a bomb only for it to be forgotten completely by the end of the movie. Just like the gun example above, it doesn’t have to go off, but it needs impact. Such a big example needs resolution, it can’t go unresolved or unaddressed.
Bullet Train understands this need in spades; they are constantly setting up pins and knocking them out left and right. They really spend the first half setting up different assassins and motivations, and spend the last half of the film perfectly executing solutions and conclusions to each one. Even at the last second – credits rolling – if you thought they had forgotten about a final unresolved thread, they find another moment with Lemon (played by Atlanta’s Brian David Tyree) to seal the deal.
It’s genuinely satisfying when these moments are revealed (or if you figure something out as an audience member) which is a high mark that many films fail to achieve or can be rather lackluster in execution. The only reason you may dislike this film’s completions is that some of the reveals are predictable (though some most definitely are not and genuinely surprising) and that some of the jokes may not land for you. Again, if you’re looking for a more serious outing, you’ll need to go somewhere else for that. But Train delivers well on this silly premise.
Trope Flip & Character Moments
***Mild Spoiler***
Here’s a slight spoiler regarding Tyree’s character Lemon, but I feel it’s an important moment to discuss: I was very appreciative that the trope of Black characters dying for white characters was flipped on its head in this movie. In an assassin movie where everyone is likely to die anyway, this would be less noticeable, but the flip here was a nice nod and much appreciated. We technically get this setup twice which I won’t spoil here, but it was a very satisfying moment and a sign that the writers and crew really understood how to dissect that trope.
The film also finds a great mix of humorous flashbacks and small details that are facilitated by each new character that joins the train (or has been there the whole time). As the mystery unfolds, and Ladybug deals with an ever-growing body count, these moments just become more and more satisfying, particularly with the assassin duo Lemon (Tyree) and Aaron Taylor Johnson’s character (Clementine). They play off each other well and their dislike of Pitt’s Ladybug character is the strongest element throughout the whole film.
Lastly the core thread of the White Wolf (played by Michael Shannon), a former Yakuza member (the Elder played by Hiroyuki Sanada), and his son Kimura (played by Andrew Koji) is the weakest part of the film, but it does give Sanada an opportunity to mix it up from his more stoic roles and actually joke a bit with Pitt later on in the film. There’s a great moment towards the end where the Elder wants to explain his backstory to a hesitant and weary Ladybug. This lands for me because so many films would launch right into it and this is a playful pushback on the idea, even though are going to deliver this much-needed exposition.
Final Thoughts
If you’re looking for a fun romp to close out the summer or you’re not enjoying the current fall offering, you could hit up Top Gun: Maverick again, but you won’t be disappointed by the energy, humor, and execution doled out in Bullet Train.
Score: 7.5 out of 10