Bullet Train

 3/4

Starring Brad Pitt, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Joey King, Andrew Koji, Hiroyuki Sanada, Michael Shannon, Sandra Bullock, Bad Bunny, Logan Lerman, Zazie Beetz

Rated R for Strong and Bloody Violence, Pervasive Language, and Brief Sexuality

"Bullet Train" is a headfirst journey into crazy.  It's filled with wild action, screwy humor and a love of the absurd.  The story doesn't descend into ridiculousness.  Director David Leitch charges towards it full throttle.  It's not always successful and the story doesn't always make sense, but I can't deny that I had fun.

A man, codenamed Ladybug (Pitt), is on a train with a mission. An assassin by trade, he is nervous about his task but his handler Maria (Bullock) reminds him that it's a simple "snatch and grab."  He is supposed to steal a specific briefcase (with a train sticker on the handle) and get off at the next stop.  It's his bad luck that there are others who want that briefcase.  And they're willing to do anything to get it.

This is a movie so convoluted and so twisted that it can barely hold itself together.  I recently criticized "The Outfit" for this very flaw, but there are a few differences here.  One, "Bullet Train" knows its loony and wears it as a badge of honor and it is far less serious.  Leitch doesn't care about the seams in his story, the repeated use of deus ex machina and sheer impossibility of what happens.  He embraces it, and by taking things so far over the top it achieves a kind of twisted genius.

Fortunately, he's working with a strong cast knows what he is going for.  The straightforward approach works in this context and no one in the cast has any shame.  Brad Pitt reminds us why he became a movie star in the first place.  He's terrific as the laid back criminal trying to find his feelings and regain his confidence.  Aaron Taylor-Johnson (no stranger to the half action/half parody approach) and Brian Tyree Henry are in fine form as a British gangster version of Beavis and Butthead.  Their interplay is consistently amusing, particularly with Henry's belief that Thomas the Tank Engine is a fountain of life lessons.  Joey King could be Hit-Girl's evil twin.  And it's always nice to see legends like Sandra Bullock and Hiroyuki Sanada in a film.

The film's weakest portion is its set up.  The film spends too much time setting up backstories for its cartoon characters, but they're too thinly drawn for any of this to have much interest.  Granted, a lot of this is important when the film tries vainly to explain everything and how it all fits together, but it's the director's job to keep us invested while we are provided with background.  The film feels primed to explode, but the delayed sense of release grows frustrating.  The payoff is worth it, though.  Trust me.

"Bullet Train" is a loud, dumb action movie.  It knows exactly what it wants to be and there are no false illusions of having any depth or meaning.  The cast is clearly having a ball amidst all the carnage, and that translates to the audience.


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