There’s a bit in Bullet Train where the train, which hurdles along at 200 mph, opens its doors at each stop for exactly 60 seconds, and only 60 seconds, before lurching forward to its next destination. Unfortunately, that’s also how the film treats its characters.
Bullet Train comes from director David Leitch, who’s quickly established himself as a go-to candidate for big, splashy action comedies (his last two films being Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw and Deadpool 2). Bullet Train is certainly better than Hobbs & Shaw, but Leitch’s schtick, and specifically his jokey, wink-wink tone, is showing signs of diminishing returns.
That tone simply feels off when pasted over the background of Bullet Train’s incredible amount of violence and chaos. To use two of Leitch’s prior entries, John Wick (as an uncredited director) and Deadpool 2, as more successful exemplary ends of the spectrum, a hyper violent action movie can go one of two ways.
It can go the John Wick route and take itself extremely seriously, which produces an intense thrill ride that complements technical action. Or it can go the Deadpool 2 route and take itself incredibly un-seriously, which produces a fun romp where everyone involved, including the audience, revels in the sheer ridiculosity of it all.
Bullet Train split the baby. Through its quippy dialogue and banter, it tells its audience that this is all just a big joke. But through its action sequences, some of which are quite brutal, it shows that it takes itself seriously. It’s really tough for a film to have recurring Thomas the Tank Engine gags and also throw a small child off a building and into the ICU, and Bullet Train doesn’t pull it off.
The tonal misfires don’t sink the film completely, thanks largely to a stellar cast that’s clearly having a good time. There are so many talented actors involved (including a surprise cameo or two), and they all know exactly what movie they’re in, even if the script doesn’t. Frustratingly, that script frequently doesn’t give the performances room to breathe.
That shows up more obviously with a couple characters (most notably, those played by Zazie Beetz and Bad Bunny), who make flashy entrances and unceremonious departures within what feels like 60 seconds of screen time. But it also shows up in the main cast, starting at the top. This is billed as a Brad Pitt vehicle, but you wouldn’t know that just watching the film.
He blends into the ensemble, and we get as much (and maybe more) time with Tangerine and Lemon (Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Brian Tyree Henry) than Ladybug (Pitt). Those other performances are truly fun, but this is Brad Pitt in an action comedy, and it feels like the filmmakers didn’t take advantage of that.
These types of films often fall into two camps: less is more, and more is more. Restraint, and exuberance. Both can work in the right hands; Bullet Train falls into the latter, but its ver- sion of “more” washes everything out, which led to a forgettable, if still passably entertaining, product.
This review originally appeared in the August 17, 2022, edition of the Martin City Telegraph.
