Bullet Train (2022)

Despite its fair popularity, I wasn't particularly eager to see this. Perhaps a brief clip intrigued me; more likely, I added it to my Netflix list largely for variety. In any event, I felt like watching an action flick last night, and this was the first to come up.

Most of the 126 minutes do indeed take place on a bullet train in Japan. Focus is divided among various career criminals, generally called by their code names. If there's a main one, it's Ladybug (Brad Pitt), an operative who wants to take a more peaceable course, not least because he's had a streak of questionable luck. His remote mission control contact, Maria Beetle (Sandra Bullock), tells him to swipe a briefcase full of cash -- which assassin duo Lemon (Brian Tyree Henry) and Tangerine (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) have been assigned to get to their ruthless boss, the White Death (Michael Shannon), in addition to delivering his wayward son (Logan Lerman). Meanwhile, gangster Yuichi (Andrew Koji) has boarded to kill the Prince (Joey King, heh) for hospitalizing his young son, but the tricky Prince plans to coerce him to kill the White Death -- using the same darn briefcase. And they're not the only ones who show up.

As you may have noticed, there aren't a whole lot of prominent Asians in the cast, in contrast to the Kōtarō Isaka book on which it's based, Maria Beetle. Isaka doesn't mind, because he deems such details unimportant to the story, but some Asians do mind. Incidentally, the Wikipedia article for BT describes Lemon and Tangerine as twins, in keeping with the dialogue, without noting the played-up irony that the actors aren't even the same race. Since director David Leitch also did Deadpool 2, I'm not surprised he would prefer this casting. (He and Ryan Reynolds get cameos, and Zazie Beetz has a fleeting but significant role.)

What other forms does the humor take? Well, a lot of improbable things happen, especially around Ladybug, tho he's not as consistently unlucky as he makes himself out to be. Since he no longer carries a gun, his combat focuses on improvised weaponry interspersed with attempts at truces. Lemon makes frequent references to Thomas the Tank Engine as his framework for understanding people, to Tangerine's annoyance and others' confusion. Conversations in general get gawky if not profanity-laden. The sweet-acting Prince fools almost everyone sometimes. I didn't see several twists coming.

Finally, the noncriminal passengers and personnel rarely have the slightest idea that any violence is occurring on the train, partly because fighters make a point to hide it when anyone else shows up. I'm relieved that the story is relatively big on justice. The few known innocent casualties predate the train ride.

BT is best marketed to fans of early Guy Ritchie or Quentin Tarantino. For me, it was entertaining enough that I felt little desire to check the time.