This film is a mixture of action, comedy and violence, especially makes much use of humor. It is a journey from Tokyo to Kyoto where 5 assassins will find themselves face to face with the custodian of a briefcase full of a large sum of money that will literally make them face a very explosive final part to those who survive the trip.
We see Ladybug the character played by Brat Pitt victim of what he calls bad luck is a murderer who does not enjoy violence at all and simply wants to stop being bothered and get off the train. He doesn't understand what is happening on this train and why he finds himself there with some dangerous characters he has interacted with in the past. His only mission was to steal a briefcase and get off the bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto. However he must face other hired assassins and a lethal snake stolen from a Japanese zoo.
Tangerine (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Lemon (Brian Tyree Henry) are the murderous twins who remind us a bit of John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction. Lemon has a fixation with Thomas the little train and his friends, this is a British animated children's fiction with locomotives as protagonists, this identifies the personalities of people through characters from this children's series. Tangerine is white-skinned and Lemon is black-skinned. The twins' mission is to escort the son of White Death, (leader of a dangerous criminal organization), after saving him from a Yakuza vendetta along with a briefcase containing a large sum of cash. White Death's inept son is played by Logan Lerman.
Andrew Koji is Yuichi Kimura, a former assassin seeking revenge after his son is in a coma due to his son being thrown from the roof of a building who is blackmailed by strangers to get the briefcase containing cash.
Joey King is The Prince, a young British assassin posing as a high school student, who is guilty of Kimura's son's coma, very manipulative and only in the last part of the film it is revealed who she really is.
Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio (better known as Bad Bunny), is Lobo, a Mexican criminal who wants revenge on Ladybug for ruining his life.
Zazie Beetz is The Hornet, an assassin specialized in poisons who is really guilty of the death of Lobo's whole family during a wedding and who here commits the murder of White Death's son.
Michael Shanon is White Death, a Russian gangster, who arrives in Japan and decides to start climbing the ranks of a Yakuza syndicate, until he takes over. He is responsible for hiring all the assassins inside the bullet train in order to execute a plan that will detonate high doses of action.
Hiroyuki Sanada is The Elder, a lieutenant of the Yakuza clan taken over by White Death, who was unable to stop the massacre within the organization and who saved himself and his son from the slaughter sponsored by White Death.
There is a nice cameo by Channing Tatum as a passenger on the bullet train, Ryan Reynolds makes a cameo as Carver, the assassin agent who is replaced at the last minute by Ladybug. Karen Fukuhara, (Katana in the superhero movie Suicide Squad and Kimiko in the series The Boys), is a Train Concession Girl.
Although we hear Sandra Bullock's voice for a large part of the film, (since she is Maria Beetle, Ladybug's boss who entrusts her with the mission involving the bullet train) it is at the end of the film when we finally get to see her.
The film is full of witty dialogue and violence is used to maintain a vibrant pace that sometimes moves the story forward or stops it to introduce some characters or simply to learn more about their intentions.
Throughout the journey, the reasons why there are so many killers on the train and what is the relationship between them are revealed, as well as why Ladybug gets involved in this journey, some characters die in the most unusual ways possible. At the end of the film everyone gets what they deserve.
David Leitch, the director of John Wick (A Good Day to Kill) and Deadpool 2, is behind the camera, which assures spectacular fights, action and lots of violence. The film is based on the novel Maria Beetle by Kotaro Isaka.
It is a wild and funny film where in a way the background of the story is the good and bad luck which can be a somewhat subjective topic depending on the point of view with which you look at it.
I would only give the movie a bad grade on three points:
I see the plot of Lobo as unnecessary, coupled with the total inexpressiveness of Bad Bunny as an actor, although I think he is in the film to attract the attention of the Latino audience.
Towards the end of the movie it seems like you are watching models of the train and the town flying through the air, and there is a lack of care in the special effects.
I think the story could have been told in less time and not in 2 hours and 8 minutes.
Overall it is a fun and enjoyable film, what they call a seasonal Blockbuster, go see it without prejudices and leaving aside logic and some brain neurons.
Thank you very much for your attention to my publication, and see you next time.
