Bullet Train

Bullet Train” is not a good movie, but the fun that radiates off Brad Pitt is magnetic enough to convince you that you're having fun, too.

“Bullet Train” may be going nowhere fast, but Pitt always seems like he’s already there, safe in the knowledge that we’ll happily watch him smile through all the chaos that crashes around him (including two standout cameos, one which nails an actor’s star power, and another which completely misapprehends it). Pitt’s stardom has never been more obvious, and it shines bright enough here for everything else to get lost in the glare. “Bullet Train” is unashamedly more animated by style than substance — the dialogue sets the bar so low that the film’s snaky plotting begins to feel impressive by comparison — but that only becomes a problem because Leitch struggles to keep things looking fresh. Logan Lerman is low-key delightful as a glorified human prop (millennials never really get the chance to go full “Weekend at Bernie’s,” and it’s great to see one of them make the most of it), but his performance proves typical of a movie in which the sets do most of the heavy lifting. Maybe he used to be a regular Agent 47, but these days he’s more into killing people with kindness (“You put peace into the world and you get peace back,” he tells the voice in his head). It’s just his usual bad luck that he was called to replace someone else for a quick snatch-and-grab job at the last minute, and that virtually every other passenger on the bullet train he boards seems to have an interest in procuring the same briefcase. Both actors commit to the saint-like working of elevating this basic Frick and Frack routine into something fun and almost real (Henry delivers another frustratingly inspired performance in his ongoing quest to squander generational talent on the likes of “Superintelligence” and “The Woman in the Window”), to the point that “Bullet Train” is sometimes able to muster some genuine personality out of its pinball machine pacing and neon-lit noise. It’s even harder to imagine how it started as a book about Japanese people, as “Bullet Train” — set along the Hayate line railway tracks that run between Tokyo and Kyoto — boasts more white cast members from “The Lost City” than it does locally born major characters.

Based on Kōtarō Isaka's 2010 novel, Bullet Train follows a hitman turned "snatch and grab guy" whose operation name is Ladybug. Brad Pitt, Sandra Bullock, ...

But without its non-stop stunts and hijinks, Bullet Train becomes a bit of a bore, right before a climax that is not only bonkers but also unapologetically dumb in its physical comedy. By contrast, Henry is the wild card of the pair, bickering in front of hostages, and resolutely tying every situation to the stories of Thomas the Tank Engine. Though this feels like a cutesy Hollywood screenwriting flourish, the Thomas and Friends stuff is actually an element from Isaka's novel. Overall, Bullet Train is a blast. But as the train hits the final leg of its trip, these flashbacks become derailing — and knowingly stupid. He's a master at finding exciting new ways to throw punches — and every possible improvised weapon — and making it cinematically stunning. Prominent in promotions for good reason are Aaron-Taylor Johnson and Brian Tyree Henry, who play "The Twins," aka a tag team of assassins who go by Tangerine and Lemon. Both boast sparkling British accents, but Johnson pops out of the mold of English gangster with a polished presentation and a refusal to get ruffled. But this incongruity is precisely the point, making Pitt the goofy grinned center of an unapologetically silly and nonetheless ultra-violent thrill ride. Based on Kōtarō Isaka's 2010 novel, Bullet Train follows a hitman turned "snatch and grab guy" whose operation name is Ladybug (Brad Pitt) — a bit of a joke as he is "biblically" unlucky. Here, it plays as unexpected fun, then a bit grating, then circles back around to bizarrely bemusing — and in no small part because of Henry's commitment to the bit. While these foes come armed with guns, knives, and deadly venom, Ladybug has opted not to carry a weapon but instead a bunch of therapy soundbites about how every conflict is an opportunity for change. On board for Bullet Train, you might well think of movies like Snatch and Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, where a cluster of quirky criminals collide in messy missions, resulting in as much violent mayhem as moments to philosophize with dynamite dialogue. But Ladybug soon runs afoul of a snarl of killers, with cool code names like The Prince, The Wolf, The Hornet, and the dastardly duo of Tangerine and Lemon (more on them in a bit).

The hyperviolent yet quippy action flick "Bullet Train" is yet another example of the pernicious influence of Quentin Tarantino on cinema.

The joke-joke-fight rhythm continues apace until a final confrontation in which the connections in “Bullet Train” are explained by way of an improbably elaborate scheme. Indeed, Tarantino’s reach extends even to Pitt’s relationship with Leitch, who has worked as Pitt’s stunt double, an unmistakable echo of Pitt’s role in Tarantino’s “ Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.” Directed by David Leitch, who has evinced impressive action chops with such films as “ Atomic Blonde” and the John Wick franchise, “Bullet Train” is reverse-engineered to satisfy an itch routinely met by the likes of Ben Wheatley, Matthew Vaughn, Guy Ritchie and Edgar Wright. If you’re craving one more variation on the well-worn theme of promiscuous bloodlettings accompanied by glib verbal filler, Leitch has served up a presentable slab of grist for an increasingly creaky mill.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry and half a dozen others duke it out en route to Kyoto in David Leitch's kinetic "Bullet Train."

Maria (as voiced by Sandra Bullock) is the bug in Pitt’s ear, guiding the newly nonviolent tough guy (a detail recently seen in “The Hitman’s Bodyguard” movies) through what’s supposed to be the cinchiest job of his career: Board the bullet train in Tokyo, grab the MacGuffin and step off at the next stop. Tangerine and Lemon are likable characters, though the latter is constantly going on about how everything he learned about people comes from “Thomas the Tank Engine” (which explains a lot about how reductive the movie’s understanding of human nature is). Similarly, Ladybug is constantly quoting trite self-help aphorisms, which invariably get a laugh. Stylistically, Leitch is trying his darnedest to channel the likes of Tarantino and Ritchie, even if the dialogue and mock-British accents aren’t nearly strong enough to earn such comparisons. Ladybug and the Wolf have a knife fight in the bar area. “Bullet Train” feels like it comes from the same brain as “Snatch,” wearing its pop style on its sleeve — a “Kill Bill”-like mix of martial arts, manga and gabby hit-man-movie influences, minus the vision or wit that implies. The bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto takes about two hours and 15 minutes — just the right amount of time to pull off a cartoonishly over-the-top action movie, in which half a dozen assassins shoot, stab and otherwise perforate each other’s pretty little faces in pursuit of a briefcase stuffed with cash.

Bullet Train isn't an unstoppable action-comedy showcase, but it's comfortably entertaining as a gunpowder milkshake of influences from Quentin Tarantino, ...

Pitt's ability to bolster his action sequences with laughs makes all the difference. There's no such thing as a surefire win, which Ladybug learns the hard way as bodies mount and his aversion to firearms becomes a bigger and bigger detriment. That's not to say Leitch's action choreography fails prior; it's just more short-burst, easily editable brawls with actors like Henry and Pitt. Koji single-handedly demolishes adversaries in Cinemax series Warrior, yet is saddled with Joey King's schoolgirl-sweet Prince here for reasons I'll leave undefined. Andrew Koji and Hiroyuki Sanada bring their martial arts mastery to railroad battlefields, but some might be disappointed to find that the big blow-ups are saved for the finale. Brad Pitt stars as a hitman codenamed "Ladybug" who returns to action for what should be a simple smash-and-snatch objective. The John Wick and Atomic Blonde filmmaker translates his brand of electric-magnetic action with all the outlandishness of prime 2000s action flicks.

Brad Pitt is having fun with fashion. The Oscar winner made headlines last month when he showed up at the Berlin premiere of his new action flick, ...

Way back in 2004, after spending time in breastplates and leather kilts for “Troy,” Pitt told British Vogue, “Men will be wearing skirts by next summer. The “Seven” actor’s fondness for skirts is nothing new. The breeze.”

The 'Fight Club' actor, 58, gave the explanation when asked why he wore the knee-length outfit to the Berlin showing of his latest film. He told Variety on ...

Brad Pitt turned heads at the Germany premiere of "Bullet Train" when he wore a brown skirt and matching top.

I can’t grasp a face and yet I come from such a design/aesthetic point of view.” Pitt told Deadline on Monday: “I was just saying, ‘I’m past middle age and I want to be specific about how I spend those last things however they may be.’ I’ve never been a five-year plan kind of guy. I still operate that way.” “I try to get out of it. He continued: “David and I had always been big fans of Jackie Chan. We’d been talking about him for decades. The breeze.”

The 'Fight Club' actor, 58, gave the explanation when asked why he wore the knee-length outfit to the Berlin showing of his latest film. He told Variety on ...

The cast - which also includes Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Sandra Bullock - got along so well that they decided to join forces for a musical group. Joey, 23, told ...

The weirdo menswear locomotive is still chugging, and Brad Pitt, Bad Bunny, and Simu Liu are all aboard.

For Pitt, maybe it’s the clothes, or maybe it’s his new lease on life. (As for the design process itself, Mott found harmony working alongside Pitt: “there is an accord between mr pitt’s vision of our shared space and my freedom to navigate within it. And maybe it’s because the movie literally takes place on Japan’s state-of-the-art high-speed rail system, but there has been a kinetic energy to the red-carpet showing for David Leitch’s newest action flick.

"Bullet Train" certainly moves at an appropriately brisk pace, with Brad Pitt heading a sprawling cast. But the breakneck action is offset by a smart-alecky ...

The claustrophobic setting actually works to the advantage of staging the fight sequences, which are brutal, bloody and frequently played for laughs. The tradeoff, though, is that some more recognizable faces appear so briefly as to barely register. Alas, he's not the only skilled assassin on board, with each pursuing different marching orders, confusion as to who's pulling the strings and a whole lot of miscommunication along the way.

See photos of celebrities including Brad Pitt, Joey King, Simu Liu and Zazie Beetz on the "Bullet Train" premiere red carpet in LA.

The cast - which also includes Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Sandra Bullock - got along so well that they decided to join forces for a musical group. Joey, 23, told ...

She said: "First of all, I loved my character, everything how she was written, how villainous she was, but then also that her name is so strong and powerful. She continued: "But working on this movie with the entire cast and of course Brad, I mean he's f****** Brad Pitt at the end of the day, we love Brad Pitt, it was truly an honor, not just because they're so talented and have such cool careers, but because they're the coolest humans to work with. I don't deserve to be here.'" "We have a whole band name and everything! Joey, 23, told Entertainment Tonight: "We get along so well, it's just really, really fun. We've got Brad, who just sets the tone.

"Bullet Train" star Aaron Taylor-Johnson had to spend the night in the hospital following a severe on-set injury.

That was an odd atmosphere, when you’ve been lucky enough to have had that intimacy in the past and that collaboration you feed off.” “I don’t know what happened, but it became a comedy!” Taylor-Johnson said. And then I came back and was like ‘Should we go again?’ And they were like ‘No, no, no.

In 2009, Aaron Johnson was cast as a teenage John Lennon in "Nowhere Boy." This reunited him with Thomas Brodie-Sangster, who played none other than Lennon's ...

In the same year that he appeared in "Godzilla," Aaron Taylor-Johnson had a short, mid-credits cameo as Pietro Maximoff in "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," again, appearing with Elizabeth Olsen as his sister, Wanda. Fans of the Marvel pantheon knew what this meant. The actor had to undergo military training for the role, and performed many of his own stunts (via Metro). Even then, what seems to have attracted Taylor-Johnson most to "Godzilla" was Edwards' auteur-esque approach to the material. He also voiced the character in the first "Kick-Ass" video game. "The 'Godzilla' crew is such a small group of people that it feels more like an independent movie than anything I've ever worked on," he told Total Film (via Digital Spy). Although the film has a "Certified Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it was also widely seen as polarizing upon its release, with negative reviews panning the core concept of young kids engaging in such ruthless violence. The film also starred Jessica Biel, Paul Giamatti, and Rufus Sewell — who, funnily enough, also played the title role in the same stage production of "Macbeth" that a young Johnson appeared in (via The Guardian). According to writer and director Neil Burger's DVD commentary, Johnson had to learn rudimentary magic tricks for his role, specifically how to balance an egg on a stick, and the disappearing ball. In 2009, Aaron Johnson was cast as a teenage John Lennon in "Nowhere Boy." This reunited him with Thomas Brodie-Sangster, who played none other than Lennon's fellow Beatle and long-time songwriting partner Paul McCartney. In preparation for the role, before he even auditioned, Johnson taught himself to sing and play guitar. His first major film role was in 2003, where he appeared as a young Charlie Chaplin in "Shanghai Knights" next to Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson. Still acting under his birth name, he continued to appear in projects in his native U.K. throughout his teenage years, including as the bully Niker in the 2004 BBC miniseries adaptation of Nicky Singer's novel "Feather Boy," a series which starred Thomas Brodie-Sangster. The film also provided a platform for many other young rising stars, including Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloë Grace Moretz, Lyndsy Fonseca, and Evan Peters. Johnson played Dave Lizewski, the film's awkward protagonist who decides to take to the streets as a costumed vigilante despite a complete lack of superpowers, skills, or even basic fighting training. Johnson also said that casting for "Nowhere Boy" was specifically looking for actors who could play, making it pretty impressive that he ended up landing the role. If you're a fan of "Atlanta" or "Eternals," Henry should most certainly look familiar to you. "Bullet Train" has been causing buzz for a while now.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson says he was hospitalized after suffering an on-set injury while shooting "Bullet Train."

“David Leitch gave us so much room to improv and ad-lib, and we really just wanted to make these characters pop. “We all just came and had fun, you know,” Taylor-Johnson said. “Some war wounds.”

Brad Pitt credited Jackie Chan for influencing David Leitch's stunt-heavy and star-studded action comedy "Bullet Train," out August 5.

Pitt’s real-life stunts in “Bullet Train” proved to be breakout scenes for the otherwise C-rated feature, as IndieWire critic David Ehlrich wrote. Leitch later directed Pitt in “Deadpool 2” when the Oscar winner had a cameo as comic book character Vanisher. But I was just blown away by him embracing me as the director and leaning into my ideas.”

Brad Pitt stars in the film "Bullet Train." Here's a preview of the 58-year-old's new flick, plus a look back at some of his other films.

Over the course of a career that stretches back to the late 1980s, Pitt has shown a gift for versatility. As you prepare for “Bullet Train,” check out several of Pitt’s most notable and diverse earlier films. • “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood . . .” (2019): Pitt won an Oscar, his first, for his performance as stuntman Cliff Booth, devoted friend and colleague of fading star Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) in Hollywood in the late 1960s.

Action movie "Bullet Train" starring Brad Pitt is pulling into its final stop - cinemas - starting on Wednesday. The film sees Pitt's hitman character, ...

"We had to get off the train for the outer circle to come on. "We had the outer circle and people could only be on the train from the inner circle," Pitt said in an interview. Unbeknownst to him, he is not the only assassin looking for the case, or for revenge.

Brad Pitt has had a blast promoting his new thriller Bullet Train — and is dressing the part, too. See the photos.

See the similarities? Berlin, July 19 He loved it."

Reviewers were less than impressed by Brad Pitt's new action-comedy flick, set on a train in Japan.

"What it isn't, in any way, is deep," he added. "He's kind of our Buster Keaton. He's so talented and underrated even. This is a tourist ride to nowhere." "[Director] David [Leitch] and I had always been big fans of Jackie Chan - we'd been talking about him for decades. "Like its transportation namesake, Bullet Train is fast, slick, and shiny - but this is less intent on going directly from A to B than it is looping back around on itself in knots of coincidences and contrivances, as a cavalcade of contract killers clash in the carriages," he wrote. The adaptation of the pulp novel makes the characters "twice as eccentric as necessary", he continued, concluding that while "this may be a fun enough ride" none of it is "particularly deep".

Sony's R-rated action comedy starring Brad Pitt is projected to lead the charts with a $26 million-plus opening.

Meanwhile, Universal’s “Easter Sunday” has a much lower bar to clear with a $17 million budget, as projections have the film earning a $5-$7 million opening with a chance to stretch to $9 million. Reviews for “Bullet Train” have been mixed with a 57% Rotten Tomatoes score, but Sony is banking on the film legging out through August with no major competition coming up. After this weekend, none of the remaining major studio releases, which include the Idris Elba thriller “Beast,” are projected to earn opening weekends of more than $15 million.

The film is based on a popular, and acclaimed, Japanese novel by Kōtarō Isaka. But considerable changes have been made by screenwriter Zak Olkewicz—and, in ...

But those moments are short lived, and then it’s back to the awkward squirm of watching talented actors debase themselves for laughs that never come. It’s a painful gag that’s returned to again and again, one of many examples of Bullet Train going for sideways erudition and falling hideously flat. The film is based on a popular, and acclaimed, Japanese novel by Kōtarō Isaka. But considerable changes have been made by screenwriter Zak Olkewicz—and, in improvisatory fashion, by the actors under Leitch’s command.

'Bullet Train' first reactions: 'a live-action cartoon'. Critics review “Bullet Train” staring Brad Pitt, ahead of its Friday release. By ...

Most reviews have been echoing similar sentiments — Brad Pitt is fun to watch, and “Bullet Train” is a mindlessly stimulating action movie. Given the action in the movie, it may come as no surprise that director David Leitch was a stuntman; formerly Brad Pitt’s double in “Fight Club” (1999) and other films. Monday, “Bullet Train” premiered at the TLC Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, giving critics the chance to review the film before it premieres across the country on Aug. 5.