I Watch Films: Bullet Train

 

Bullet Train

An American freelance criminal going under the codename Ladybug, who has given up the murder part of the game, is called in as a last minute replacement to steal a suitcase on a Japanese bullet train. As it happens the suitcase is the ransom money for the son of a notorious gangster, being returned with the son by two British freelance criminals, Lemon and Tangerine. Also aboard is the Father, a Japanese man searching for the attacker of his son, the Wolf, an assassin looking for revenge, the Hornet, a notorious poisoner, and the Prince, a young woman who has slightly more idea what it going on aboard than most. Yet even she does not have everything as all this intersects violently and occasionally hilariously.

It’s stylish and stylised. Flashbacks are both silly and entertaining and tell us more than we realise. The train itself, a linear space, has several themed carriages (the quiet one, the dining one, the ubiquitous cooking anime mascot one(?)) which begin as interesting backdrops and become crucial to resolutions, or clues hidden in plain sight. It’s a fun film, full of interesting stunts and scenes, whose conclusion can’t quite reach the heights it promises.

Watch This: Quips, explosions, stylised assassins fighting each other
Don’t Watch This: The film encourages us to cheer for mercenary thieves and murderers