This is a highly entertaining action-comedy that oozes style. It's extremely fun and a bit on the outrageous side, not meant to be taken too seriously. It's filled with funny and memorable moments. The action is awesome, well-shot and clear, which is no surprise coming from the guy who directed John Wick, Atomic Blonde and Deadpool 2.

There are a ton of characters and I like them all. The cast does such a great job, especially Brian Tyree Henry and Aaron Taylor-Johnson. I remember first seeing Brian Tyree Henry in Atlanta and really enjoying that role. Since then, he has taken on vastly different roles and killed all of them. And I already thought Aaron Taylor-Johnson is a great actor, but the way he completely transforms into his character is remarkable. To the point where you don't see Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Literally. I didn't realize it was him until the credits rolled.

If I had to come up with negatives, I would say it's a bit hectic at times, but not enough to take me out of it. And the story borders on being convoluted, but I was able to follow it all so I'll call it intricate instead.

In the end I had a great time with this movie and would definitely watch it again, although I'll be turning on subtitles since some dialogue was hard to understand in a Snatch kind of way.

EDIT: On second viewing, my negatives disappeared. And a couple things that stood out even more: The music is beastly and Brad Pitt's facial expressions in the reaction shots are priceless. (2 viewings, early screening UltraScreen 8/2/2022, UltraScreen 8/17/2022)

If you're fed up of dreary Oscar contenders making points and taking an age to get to them, this is for you. Entertaining, fast paced, action romp with good set pieces and plenty of fun moments.

And to the critics: no, there is no "character development" and yes, the "plot" is not that believable. It's light entertainment not Samuel Beckett.

I make a point of not watching trailers prior to watching a new film as experience tells me that rather than get me excited to watch a movie, they essentially give me an overly exposed look at a film with key plot points being shown. With this in mind, it was almost impossible to not see parts of trailers for Bullet Train, whether that was on TV or YouTube advertising etc. The marketing campaign for this film is mental, I have seen it everywhere.

The trailer makes the movie look like a massive bloated action piece - Think Nonstop meets Train to Busan. However, having watched a couple of YouTube film reviews, I was pleasantly surprised to see it described as not just a brainless action movie, but more of a dialogue-based film with clever writing and fast paced back and forth. One reviewer compared it to Guy Ritchie's Snatch and the classic Pulp Fiction - Two of my favourite and most watched movies. That was enough for me, I was going to give it a try and I booked a couple of tickets for opening day, something that I don't do very often.

Let's start with the Dialogue. If anything, it just tries too hard, far too hard. Most of the jokes didn't land for me and the delivery of the fast-paced dialogue quite often would not hit the mark. I can't quite but my finger on why that is. Is it simply poor writing? Or is it down to the delivery? Or is it simply that a number of my favourite movies are heavy, witty dialogue-based movies and my expectations were so high based on several reviews, that I just felt disappointed by this? Either way, it didn't really work for me.

As you can imagine, almost all the action scenes involved in this movie were delivered on a train, meaning that the fight scenes needed to be compact and tight. This was delivered better than I expected to be fair and plenty of the action scenes were enjoyable, if not incredibly farfetched.

The characters were relatively varied but were quite generic and cliché. Brad Pitt is essentially the lead actor and probably the best on show. Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Brian Tyree Henry (Tangerine and Lemon) were the characters which I was most excited to see, they played the east end cockney gangster/hitmen type characters. Unfortunately, they came across as just trying far too hard and the chemistry between them just wasn't as good as I imagine the director and producers thought it would be. The Thomas the Tank Engine metaphor also got repetitive after the 25th time it was mentioned. The rest of the cast are hit and miss, nothing majorly impressive and nothing majorly terrible. There are some strange cameos, and when I say cameos, I mean cameos. They literally get seconds of screen time.

Overall, Bullet Train was entertaining enough as a popcorn flick and was an inoffensive way of turning my brain off for two hours and relaxing. I do feel that it's a slightly wasted opportunity though as I can see what the director was trying to do, but it just felt flat and missed the mark on quite a few occasions. Style over substance is the best way I would describe it.

6/10.

Rare seeing Brad Pitt in a movie like this but from what I understand the director is a good friend of his. It's an action movie the reads like Smoking Aces. An ensemble cast with a few different stories in it, of which, interestingly enough Brad Pitt's story as a man named Ladybug could be considered just as important as the others despite being the star.

Unlike Smoking Aces, the Bullet Train in itself is a character and a very expensive one that makes it a blockbuster. On top of that the very cool Celebrity Cameos that prove this director makes friends with everyone he works with in Hollywood.

The Japanese back drop was cool not just because I'm an anime fan but because it made the film and the bullet train visual amazing to look at, but Hollywood needs more Japanese actors who can speak English. Hiroyuki Sanada is become the Danny Trejo of the Far East.

Its action packed and its humorous everything I want when watching a movie in theatres.

I can't remember the last time I saw a film as full on as 'Bullet Train'. It is two hours of relentless action. It's actually a little exhausting to watch (it didn't help that the theatre I saw it in was set to about 30 degrees Celsius - but that's a different matter) - in a good way though.

This is a very stylishly made film. It looks terrific. The acting is great and all the characters are very polished and cool as you would expect in a film about assassins. The train itself is an interesting setting too. It's technically a single-setting film but it never feels like it. The film moves so fast you feel like you are darting from country to country.

I would say the one let down of the film was how little of the humour landed. Time and again there was an obvious attempt at a joke and I just didn't find even a smile coming to my face. There are some laughs along the way, but the hit to miss ratio is way off.

It's a lot of fun this movie though regardless. There are endless cameos and twists and unexpected moments. The film certainly keeps you on your toes. 7/10.

Not sure what movie people watched... its a action comedy, they aren't known to be life-altering. By comparison to others in the genre however this is one of the good ones. Great comedic timing, nicely choreographed fight scenes and camera work. A lot of reviews mention a Ritchie likeness, to me it seems like a mix of Ritchie and Tarantino (Kill Bill).

People balk to quickly about storylines, pacing, acting, sound, etc... because they are writing reviews right? That's what they are supposed to do... but like probably a lot of them, I'm not in the business, I'm a movie watcher so I review based on what I know. Was I entertained? Yes, I was.

The build up was great - good action, witty dialogue and a well set up mystery.

Then the last act came and completely went over the top, just being silly rather than fun, and spoiled the goodwill the movie had until that point.

Still a good movie, and a lot of great cameos, just wish it had kept the quality through to the end.

This movie grabs you from the start and doesn't let go. Its an entertaining whirlwind of goofy character after goofy character, and awesome fight after awesome fight. Brad Pitt nails his leading role and everyone else does great.

The visuals of the film are fantastic- soaked in a beautiful neon glow. While soundtrack is fine but not too memorable outside of the film.

Overall, this is a great summer watch.

It is like a cake gone wrong a bit: all the ingredients are there, still it is not tasty.

Especially in the first half of the movie I wondered if I were in a flat copy/mix of pulp fiction and kill bill - but the dialogues and story wouldn't start to sparkle, so it kept being flat ( - and even a bit boring, such a shame...)

the second half of the movie got weirder and a zig zag of twists but I got lost.

I liked the attitude written for Brad Pitt, I liked the twins (although again no sparkling - they tried so hard to be a witty and cool duo like in pulp fiction...), all the other characters were there too short to leave an impression.

So - nice try, but not really convincing.

Worth enough to spend 2 hours - but only once.

As other reviewers have said, Bullet Train emulates Tarantino and Guy Ritchie films. Those auteurs really launched a whole class of films that mix some silliness with action, favoring lots of blood and squishy gore. At base, this film is no better or worse than those of its ilk. But the Tarantino and Ritchie films had novelty on their side. And at least with Tarantino, a sense of something richer, deeper beneath the surface. Bullet Train almost pathologically can't ever take it self seriously. Some films suffer by taking themselves too seriously; BT has the opposite problem.

Pitt is fine as ladybug, he's genuinely pretty funny at times, but his hapless character is the heart of the movie, and he's a bit of a dope, a therapy neophyte trying to see the deeper meaning of things, to be a better man, but only ever in an unserious way. Nothing really matters about him. Not even his wardrobe (is he going fishing later with that hat?)

Bullet Train is an action comedy, essentially, but the best action films and comedies always transcend the genre; Bullet Train does not, and will slide into the forgettable dust bin of movie history, cute little cameos or not.

This was like Guy Ritchie, Matthew Vaughn & Quentin Tarantino had a three-way in the late 1990s/early 2000s and Bullet Train was the result.

I really, REALLY think this movie thought it was way smarter and much more hilarious than it ever was, in any rewrite. Undeniably, I did chuckle for approximately 12 seconds of the 2 hour, 7 minute runtime. I do recognize there was humor throughout, it just didn't land for me.

Multiple strangers on a train/villain stereotype of decades past keep overlapping their stories, goals and one-liner/bullets are flying everywhere. Trying to keep up on a bullet train isn't as easy as they make it look.

This action/comedy is Fast & Furious impossible. There were a few incidences in the first half that made me do a double take in this seemingly "realistic" film. But, the stunts and way people survive the incredible got progressively cornier.

It's watchable as I was able to make it all the way to the end. I've been looking forward to this since it was released 4 months ago and I'm super glad I could watch for free on Netflix (friend pays for the service.) I would've really been let down if I had seen this in theatres. It was just meh.

When the lead (Brad Pitt) doesn't even look that interested in being on the train, it's hard to have enthusiasm to get to the end.

***

Final Thoughts: But, admittedly, the last act was better than the first two...as long as you leave your brain right at that door. It's gonna get silly crazy.

They really blew it at the start of the movie IMO, the first 25 mins are just dull and muddled; you have no clue who is who, what is happening and where it is going. That can work sometimes but really didn't here imo, some background in Act 1 would have made Act 2 more enjoyable. As for the flick as a whole, I think the writing is where it goes off the rails, it just doesn't quite pull it all off. I am going to quote another reviewer who nails it in a couple of sentences imo and echoed my exact thoughts during and after the film, really comes off as a kill bill wanna-be. PS - the funniest scene is about 1 minute into the credits don't miss it lol

"Instead of anything original, the viewer is subjected to an endless stream of sub-Tarantino and sub-Guy Ritchie guff that someone apparently thought was clever. Even cameos from Channing Tatum and a painfully face-lifted Sandra Bullock add zero to the experience.

In sum, this expensive fiasco is like an evening gown that incorporates $10,000 worth of material in a design by a JC Penney junior assistant: gaudy, vulgar and a colossal misfire."

I'll admit i've skewed my rating a bit, i've ranked it so highly rated based on the fact I knew what movie I was buying a ticket for. I'm not rating it highly because it's a modern classic, i'm doing it based on wanting to see a funny and entertaining action movie and in that respect it delivers pretty much everything I went to the cinema for.

The premise of the film is basic, the cast is solid, the characters are excellent including mini side characters. The humour has a few misses but generally it is a pretty funny movie throughout, they also pay off everything that is set up along the way which makes it a satisfying watch. Also if you are yet to see it, stay through the credits as it does tie up one or two of those loose ends.

The slight downside for me, were that the run time does sag a little toward the end but it is over 2 hours long and otherwise moved along at a steady rate.

The opposite of the Orient Express, leaves Tokyo Central packed full of excess, a veritable carriage of fruits of all kinds, who's psychotic nature helps them to unwind, with pistols and knives this journey just thrives, most occasionally passengers, pay with their lives, as the train snakes around and its venom is cast, the destination defined by their fate and their past.

It's a crazy tale that could be described as Tarantino Lite, chugs along at a fair old pace, the dialogue and the characters keep it on the rails (most of the time), although you need several pinches of salt and to suspend your disbelief, but at the end of the day, if you want a well-made, mindless action adventure that's as forgettable as the last time you saw a ladybird or ate a tangerine, then why not.

I was not surprised this movie was as good as it was with the strong cast and budget. The humor and story telling were too tier.

The action was easy to follow and there were enough twists and turns that it didn't feel like 2 hours.

Not the most restrained movie in the world, but a lot of fun. Loved Lemon (Brian Tyree Henry), with his adoration of Thomas the Tank Engine, and his ultimate fate (stick around for the credits). Brad Pitt espousing all the self-help stuff was pretty funny too. It's like a sloppy Tarantino knockoff, and it was hard to follow the overly complicated subplots at times. There were definitely holes, e.g. Why doesn't the White Death seek revenge on those who hired people like The Hornet or Tangerine and Lemon, instead of those characters directly? But this is less about a buttoned-up action film and more about comedy I think, and it made me laugh. It tried to have it both ways though, and themes like fate and luck were weakly developed. That said, sitting back and enjoying the wild ride wasn't such a bad thing.

I was a little put off by other reviews showing on social media, but never the less I went to see this today and from the first few minutes in the whole cinema was roaring with laughter. The cast are phenomenal! Where Brad Pitt can carry a film by himself you find yourself rooting for everyone (almost) in the film. The writing is amazing the direction is beautiful highly highly recommend!

I really like Brad Pitt movies....he usually is awesome with his character but this will go down as a total dislike. In my opinion this could have been cut down in length to really deliver a punch. This movie is an example that less is more.

Lots of fun and craziness along with tons of action .....i really liked Joey King's character....she stole the scenes she was in imho.

BadcBunny was also a very cool character along with Michael Shannon and the always great Hiroyuki Sanada.

Maybe you will like it more than I....give it a look. Definitely lots of action and mayhem.

Filler filler filler.

Bullet Train is a nonstop thrill ride that delivers some of the most fun I've had watching a film in ages. Don't listen to the critics. This film is a total blast and will leave you wanting to see more from this universe.

Brad Pitt has the effortlessly cool thing down to a T and remains as charismatic as ever here. Taylor-Johnson and Henry are the other obvious standouts. Dripping in style, this film is exactly what I was hoping it would be.

I was pleasantly surprised by how much depth and creativity the story ended up having. There are lots of fun callbacks for viewers who pay close attention as well. The soundtrack has some absolute bangers too that got me pretty hyped at certain key moments.

The film wears its inspirations (Tarantino, Ritchie) on its shoulders, but still manages to carve out its own niche in the action thriller genre.

"Bullet Train," is a visually stunning action thriller that excels in style but lacks substance. The plot feels tedious and the characters are hard to take any great interest in, Brad Pitt's charismatic performance saves the film from being a complete train wreck . With sleek cinematography and intense action sequences, the movie delivers an adrenaline-pumping experience. However, it is Pitt's magnetic screen presence that injects energy and keeps the audience engaged until the end. While "Bullet Train" may not deliver on all that it promises, it is worth a watch for fans of high-octane action and Pitt's puppy dog performance.

This director has such a hard on for Tarantino and Guy Ritchie that the whole thing just seems like a piece of fan art made by a 15 year old. 'Jokes' don't land, story is not nearly as clever as it thinks it is, set pieces are ok but nothing to blow your socks off. Unoriginal, churned out money-grab.

5/10 is generous but Brad Pitt is pretty watchable and ok, I may have chuckled softly once, max twice.

How dumb to they think the person watching this movie is?

First of all, live animals would be kept in a separate storage berth. There is protocol and procedure in Japan, when you board, and baggage checks.

Impossible to have a cage that open get through.

Secondly, the noise that is happening, all the crashes and broken things, the personnel working on the train would have to respond. After the Sarin gas subway attack in Japan in the 90's they have very strict anti-terrorism training,

When the guy breaks the back window, that would immediately trigger a pressure/derailment sensor, and the conductor would stop the train at the next station.

All of the other passengers just disappear when they are not in a scene. Count the people in the cars at the start of the movie, easily 55+. Yet non of them ever are shown to exit.

They couldn't even get one of the most obvious facts right about the snake venom, "The venom of the boomslang snake was analyzed and it was revealed that boomslang venom is highly potent and primarily is a hemotoxin.

Hemotoxins are toxins that destroy red blood cells, disrupt blood clotting and can also cause organ and tissue damage. Because boomslang venom is a hemotoxin it's not surprising that it can lead to major brain and muscle hemorrhage. But the venom also causes other symptoms like nausea, headaches and sleepiness. Perhaps what is most surprising is that this venom has the ability to make the victim bleed from every possible orifice. It is not uncommon for blood to seep out of the victim from the gums, nostrils, urine, saliva, stools, vomit and even through the tiniest of cuts. This is extremely unfortunate because the victim will continue to bleed until death and death from internal bleeding is a slow and lingering process that can take anywhere from three to five days.

One of the issues with boomslang venom is that symptoms emerge only several hours after being bitten. Because the venom is not fast acting, victims may not realize that they are at serious risk and require immediate medical assistance. Although records show that less than ten people have died from boomslang bites worldwide, this ought to not be taken lightly. Death came swiftly for Karl Schmidt, as he was found dead 24 hours later in his home from respiratory arrest and severe brain hemorrhaging. If Schmidt had known about the anti-venom his life might have been spared. It is imperative to act quickly otherwise Africa's most venomous snake might have the last laugh."

The snake isn't even the right color.

A fun and crazy film full of twists and turns, incredibly surprised how this managed to scrape being a 15 UK rating with that amount of swearing and gore but still a fun, Deadpool-esque, film.