David Leitch has ended up one of the premiere current directors of Hollywood action film industry, delivering repeatedly now fun and exciting action films that do all for the most part have a comedic edge. Looking at his slate of five films now, can it however be said that in actuality his best are those without this forced comedy angle? I would probably say, yes. The latest of these films is 2022’s Bullet Train. A film based upon a book that by all accounts is very serious. Would a completely serious version of this film be better? In this case it’s not an easy answer, with a lot of the comedy working, however this is one of those cases I feel where the straw to break the back has landed unfortunately on the wrong camel.
Just like with Ghostbusters: Afterlife, which is in no way, shape or form, the worst of soft-reboots, Bullet Train has ended up undoubtedly being the break for me when it comes to the glib and slightly meta and self-conscious comedy that has infected all films with a wink and nudge sensibility that I have grown to quite frankly abhor. I love comedies, but since when does every action film we get with stars and the like, have to have this bullsh*t unfunny Marvel formula infected into it. Now Marvel is undoubtedly the worst and Bullet Train has only ended up the end straw due to a current over-preponderance of material. I’ve still given up on Marvel by the way, no more time wasted and it feels wonderful, it really does, I feel free. Now again this is unfortunate, because Bullet Train really is funny from time to time. It really is a film of extremes in every way, for even in its comedy, when it lands for me, it really lands and when it fails, it really, really fails. Extended sequences and flashbacks and painfully ongoing running gags seem to last eternities, and overall for me it does nothing to better this film whose strengths are many. Many of these strengths lie of course with David Leitch as a director. His action is visceral, tactile and tangible and makes this film sing when that’s what we’re watching. But for the first hour of the film these sequences are surprisingly few and far between. Now this is all set-up for genuinely laugh-out loud pay-offs later on – one in particular that made me sit laughing for some time, however to get there we have to sit through, again, many of these very un-funny ‘bits’ – one in particular that feels almost like a parody of the pop culture obsessions of certain figures in these glib modern block-busters. Can’t John McLane just be a little bit witty and have a few good lines here and there? Does John McLane now have to react to every single thing with a joke, or a biting line and take nothing seriously, whilst also have an unfunny trait for every conversation he enters ... I could go on. I’ll reiterate once more; when the film is funny, it’s surprisingly very good, this surprise comes chiefly from the amount of times the film is horrendously un-funny.
The film of course boats perhaps as its main selling point its lead and ensemble; with Brad Pitt and a true array of stars for him to go up against and ally with. Pitt himself is terrific as always, fun and charming in all the right ways, elevating one of the tired running gags into something somewhat enjoyable (still would have been better without of course, but Pitt makes it work). I don’t exactly know who the standouts were from the supporting cast, however the cast is stacked with stars and for the most part everybody does a great job, again I don’t think anybody could have delivered some of the lines that these people were given to deliver in any way to land the comedy. Joey King, Aaron Taylor Johnson, Brian Tyre Henry, Andrew Koji and Kiroyuki Sanada are all terrific and deliver their action believably and again when the comedy’s good, they’re all good. There are other fun turns that I feel despite the marketing, are better off as surprises. But overall I can’t fault the cast, nor can I really fault the direction itself, the film’s biggest issues lie for me undoubtedly with its uneven comedy and perhaps some of the film’s overly convoluted plotting. Some of these things pay off, some of them just don’t, and that’s ultimately all that can be said.
Overall by the time it’s over, Bullet Train finds itself to be a rollicking 7/10 blast that once it gets into a pace does fly by as fast as the train it’s setting is, however when it’s comedy doesn’t land (which is often) or when it’s exposition feels forced (which is often), Leitch’s film repeatedly feels completely halted and waiting to get going once more. But once the train goes off the rails – NO MORE PUNS – Once the film’s narrative and actions hits its stride, Leitch proves once again that he is one of the great current director’s of action on film. Even if in the future I would like him to return more so to his John Wick and Atomic Blonde mould, rather than his Deapool one.
P.S. I hate trailers. Far too much revealed as always. Do I always have this experience? Yes. Do I still watch trailers, of course I do. What made this worse? Because I was sat next my friend for this film (who thought the film was “excellent”) and the whole time with every surprise casting or cameo, they laughed or got excited. I had no such experience, other than wondering “is that the kid from Perks of Being a Wallflower” at one point.
- - Thomas Carruthers
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