New Netflix highlight: Put Brad Pitt and Aaron Taylor-Johnson on a tight, fast train with a bunch of hitmen and you’re sure to get plenty of good fights.
Sitting a dozen hitmen on a Japanese train … That’s how a really stupid joke could start. Or a really entertaining, superbly choreographed action movie. In this case, fortunately, the latter is the case. Because we’ve gathered here today to talk about breathtaking fights, Brad Pitt and the next Spider-Man villain.
Bullet Train owes its name to the super-fast Shinkansen train. In this very Japanese train, the conditions are wonderfully cramped for an action comedy that is as exciting as it is absurd – and perhaps also riddled with bullets – and definitely travels first class. And which you can stream on Netflix from today
In Bullet Train, Brad Pitt must survive a deadly train ride with a whole host of hitmen
Ladybug (Pitt) isn’t quite as cuddly as the ladybug he’s named after. He’s a paid killer, and right now he’s being paid to get on the Shinkansen and finish a new job. Little does he know that not only the object of his professional desire – a seemingly harmless suitcase – but also several other murderers are waiting in this movie.
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Ladybug just wants to get everything over with quickly, because he is actually striving for a more peaceful life. He wants to send good things out into the world to get good things back. But what he gets on board the train is not just a good beating. Not just two either. Because he’s caught up in the chaos of different motivations, missions and killers.
(Brad Pitt in Bullet Train)
These include, for example, the “brothers” Lemon (Brian Tyree Henry) and Tangerine (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), the nasty Hornet (Zazie Beetz) and Kimura (Andrew Koji). Soon Ladybug no longer knows which way is up and which is down. Although he wants nothing to do with the whole thing, he has to pull out all the stops to get out of this moving sardine can full of danger.
In Bullet Train on Netflix, Brad Pitt and Spider-Man villain Aaron Taylor-Johnson prove just how brilliant they really are
Bullet Train has one thing above all: a ridiculously brilliant cast. Without exception, every one of its members is clearly having the time of his or her life. No one is afraid to bring characters to life that shouldn’t work at all in their absurdity. And yet they do, and the entertainment value created under the direction of Deadpool 2 director David Leitch is enormous
Pitt shines first and foremost, rarely proving so well why he should actually be in comedies much more often. His wacky Ladybug stumbles from one impossible situation to the next and his overwhelmed reaction to this constant mess is always hilarious. The good man just wants to be Zen and peaceful! Honestly,
(Brian Tyree Henry and Aaron Taylor-Johnson in Bullet Train)
However, the on-screen brothers Lemon and Tangerine are also worth their weight in gold. Even before his debut as Spider-Man villain Kraven the Hunter, Taylor-Johnson in particular shows his enormous talent for great action (in picture-book fight choreography worth seeing) on the one hand and an unexpected comic streak on the other.
When the brothers casually have a Tarantino-esque conversation about Thomas the Tank Engine while killing, you have to be very humorless not to have fun. Everyone involved stirs colorful confetti into their action-packed blood soup, sprinkles anime glitter on top and in the end everything escalates into a wonderfully fast-paced high-speed finale
