By Emily-Rose Toohey
In a world where Marvel superhero movies dominate our movie-going experience, it’s refreshing to watch a new action release that is non-IP and attempting to be original.
Bullet Train, starring one of the world’s biggest movie stars, Brad Pitt, is a clear example of filmmakers trying to break the mould but despite its well-intentioned, often fun and engaging narrative, it’s hardly original.
The film follows Pitt as Ladybug, a washed-up assassin who’s tasked with what was dubbed an easy mission to recover a silver briefcase from two brothers in crime, Tangerine (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Lemon (Brian Tyree Henry).
The pair had been assigned to rescue the White Death’s son (Logan Lerman), who is reckless and unlike his big bad of a father.
Along the way, it’s revealed that the seemingly young and innocent Prince (Joey King) is pulling the strings and reveals her plan of kidnapping one of the White Death’s workers (Andrew Koji) and forcing him to murder his master.
Most of the movie is set on a Japanese bullet train and follows these characters as they journey from Tokyo across the country.
It borrows heavily from the works of Quentin Tarantino, specifically Kill Bill, and tries to stitch the film together with Marvel-like humour and a mix of American actors attempting British accents.
However, Bullet Train is stylish and action-filled, which are some of the movie’s greatest elements.
It falls most weakly in the narrative department as the story it attempts to tell is unoriginal and often tiresome.
Nonetheless, Bullet Train feels like the perfect popcorn movie with an A-list ensemble, helmed by a massive movie star (there was also a fun Sandra Bullock cameo) and is an action-packed adventure to be enjoyed by anyone (it should be noted that the film contains lots of violence and is not child friendly).
Clearly aiming to be a crowd-pleaser, there are far worse movies around than this sold three out of five-star film – so head to your local cinema to experience it.
