Bullet Train

Bullet Train is a good action flick without much ambition, where the disparate cast of peculiar characters have fun and Brad Pitt in particular pulls it off well with his "substitute". Just the reveal of both the main villain and his motivations was like something out of a movie, like, three quality levels down. It's a bit too cluttered and unfocused at times with the exuberant wannabe cool style and numerous flashbacks, but that was probably the intention, and what the hell, it's entertaining anyway. (08/08/2022)

Overly verbose, long and overly complicated mess... Unbelievable even in the context of wacky comedies. It's nothing like a Guy Ritchie movie, though it wants to be, and it's a shame, mostly because of the impeccable cast, the good directorial ideas, and some really unexpected and funny moments that didn't go to waste or get lost in all that mess. (20/09/2022)

Overblown, epileptic postmodernism, or when the director of the most imaginative American action films of the last decade takes on a script that he wants to make into something more than action. The mix of Ritchie, Tarantino and Japanese culture can be seen at every turn, but it works at about half speed. (01/10/2022)

Rather than Tarantino, this is closer to a shabby Ritchie, unfortunately after a slight lobotomy. Too bad about the dumb explanation at the end, too bad about the repetitive dialogues between Tangerine and Lemon, which often weren't actually very funny, even though they tried to be very cool. Ritchie wouldn’t make those mistakes. But, given the director's name, you shouldn’t expect a new John Wick, the full-contact fights don't have that much juice and idea, and I could certainly do without the overdone conclusion with the shinkansen, where I just expected Tom and Jerry to come out of somewhere and start hitting each other with frying pans. But otherwise, the story was brilliantly conceived, it had a surprising twist, it all made sense by the end, and some of the scenes were so incredibly absurd and absurdly plotted that they were actually fine. Interesting postmodernism, which I wouldn't expect from a former stuntman. Of the actors, Aaron Taylor-Johnson shone the brightest, he's walking masculinity with acting talent. (22/08/2022)

For me, Bullet Train will go down as the film that, at least for a while, shattered my belief that Hollywood just isn't for me anymore and that quality films are only made elsewhere. It was really nice to go home fully satisfied by this action-packed ride, which also had me laughing unexpectedly. Even though I love the shinkansen, I freely admit that after seeing the trailer it took me a while to convince myself to go and I even tried changing the choice of movie while buying my ticket. Gee, how glad I am my fellow moviegoers insisted. A brisk, funny, charismatic, suspenseful, eye-catching film. And even a samurai turned up... I couldn’t ask for more. (11/08/2022)