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Bullet Train


Bullet Train
The director of John Wick scores with 2022's Bullet Train, a thunderous and eye popping melange of violence and black comedy that often defies logic and requires complete attention, but said attention does pay off for the most part.

The setting is contemporary Tokyo aboard a fast moving commuter train where it's revealed that five professional assassins are aboard with what they think are individual missions, but their missions are connected in myriad ways. The primary players are Prince, a female badass who looks like a teenager and uses that look when it's handy; a pair of British brothers named Lemon and Tangerine; Wolf is an intense Mexican looking to avenge his bride's death and Ladybug is a laid back American who has actually been sent to replace another agent who was unavailable. It's also revealed that Ladybug has a past with all the other assassins. Eventually, we learn that this common mission is connected to a briefcase containing 10 million dollars and a villain known as White Death.

David Leitch does an impressive job of deciphering the complex screenplay by Zak Olkewicz that presents a contemporary thriller where exposition is provided throughout the story through the utilization of elaborate flashback sequences that aren't just filler, but connect to all of our players to the story at hand, which moves at a lightning clip and, outside of these flashback sequences, doesn't explain much, especially how all the action takes place aboard this train and for the most of the running time, doesn't disturb the train or the additional passengers/bystanders, though they eventually fade deep into the background without any real explanation and that's OK.

Leitch also manages to brings us an action film of such scope and beauty that never leaves the interior of the train. He also never allows us to forget we're watching a movie, as characters' names are splattered across the screen and stylish camera techniques that provide winks to Guy Richie and Sam Peckinpah that never allow us to look away.

Brad Pitt's deliciously breezy performance as Ladybug quietly anchors the proceedings. His reluctant hero reminded me of Kurt Russell's character in Big Trouble in Little China. Standout work is also provided by Brian Tyree Henry as Lemon, Michael Shannon as White Death, and if you're paying attention you'll catch a roll on the floor funny cameo from Channing Tatum. Exhausting, non-stop action fun that will require multiple viewings.