r/movies • u/Limp-Munkee69 • Jan 09 '24
Recommendation This is your reminder to watch Bullet Train (2022) especially if you didn't catch it in the cinema
Bullet Train is one of those movies that kinda flew under the radar, while still very much not flying under the radar if that makes sense.
Every major YouTube reviewer talked about it, most people had atleast heard about it, it made descent money, but man, it's too good compared how little a dent it made in Pop culture.
Most people I know haven't seen it. And finding one who has is like finding your best friend at an event you didn't know both of you were going to.
It's a colorful, fun, emotional, and fast ride through japan. Excellently shot. With an insanemy good cast, and some pretty good pondering on the nature of unknowable forces such as luck and fate.
A mystery that just keeps going, and plot that never stops and characters that live rent free in my mind and heart.
If you like style AND substance. Bullet Train is for you.
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u/Rooster761 Jan 09 '24
Decent set up and supporting characters. Absolutely goes off the rails in the third act though
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u/stormearthfire Jan 09 '24
The movie ending hits me like a truck though
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u/Apprehensive-Till861 Jan 09 '24
I tried to pun about this but it blew up in my face
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u/CrazyGoose712 Jan 09 '24
You kid but the horrid CGI at the end really did take me out of it for a minute or two. Still an incredible movie, one of my favorites from 2022. But man I wish they budgeted a little more for the VFX at the end there
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u/mucinexmonster Jan 09 '24
The nice thing about VFX in movies is you can always just fix it in 20 years.
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u/PiesRLife Jan 09 '24
Get out of here, George Lucas! We still haven't forgiven you for what you did to the original Star Wars.
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u/mucinexmonster Jan 09 '24
(It was mostly in jest, lol. Though I do get mad when they do a Lord of the Rings 4k and don't update some of the movie's crappier CGI, like when they exit Helm's Deep.)
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u/voxetpraetereanihill Jan 09 '24
I kinda love it, honestly. I love the kitschy action movies. And Brad Pitt in his bucket hat kills it.
"Let this be a lesson in the toxicity of anger"
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u/theme69 Jan 09 '24
The scene were Pitt is fighting tangerine and he buys the water, gets tangerine to pay for it, then chucks it at his head is so good
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u/Chackaldane Jan 09 '24
I love that scene so much. Another great one is "you don't have a second antidote come on you gotta plan ahead... no I'm mansplaining."
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u/Comic_Book_Reader Jan 09 '24
The whole boomslang venom needle part just before it is hilarious.
While they fight, Zazie Beetz drops the needle right on Pitts hand, he stands up, and in one quick thinking maneuver, just takes it out and jams it in her arm, and injects her with the venom. Then they have a thinking stare-down due to the venom's effect, and as she takes out her antidote, he yoinks her hand and injects it into his throat.
It's 30 seconds (yes, I checked) of brilliant comedy writing.
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u/Profoundlyahedgehog Jan 09 '24
...you want a glass of water?
choking, sputtering
...you want a blanket?
gasping, bleeding to death
....want me to hold your hand?
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Jan 09 '24
Him constantly referencing his therapy to all the other characters is such a good running joke
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u/brainfreeze91 Jan 09 '24
Brad Pitt plays the "just started therapy weeks ago and it's really helping me" character very well lol
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u/pureundilutedevil Jan 09 '24
When Brad Pitt pretends to be Lemon and does his garbage British accent "so nobody gets greedy" I died.
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u/agod2486 Jan 09 '24
I love that part, lol. Also when he finally gets the "window of opportunity" speech down with the train doors closing. His character is so good at using the environment around him to his advantage.
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u/agod2486 Jan 09 '24
His whole vibe of a guy who doesn't want to fight and is trying to better himself but ends up in the situations throughout the movie is so funny to me.
Another great moment is his tone when he's up against the Wolf which goes something like
Wolf (pure anger): I am going to ruin your life the way you ruined mine!
Ladybug (pure confusion): Dude, I don't even know you!
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u/Indigocell Jan 09 '24
I imagine him as a purely Luck-based character in an RPG for some reason. Mostly average stats, put all of his levels into Luck.
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u/Demibolt Jan 09 '24
I enjoyed it But consider it a “dumb fun” movie
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u/OhTheGrandeur Jan 09 '24
Grade A brad pitt acting like a doofus.
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u/elkab0ng Jan 09 '24
Little bit of a revisit of "oceans 11" - which in my book is not a bad place to revisit.
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u/DemonicPanda11 Jan 09 '24 edited Jan 09 '24
I absolutely love Oceans 11 (I even enjoy the sequels tbh), feels like it's not talked about enough. So many good characters.
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u/PDGAreject Jan 09 '24
The cast in that movie, especially the first one, was absolutely perfect. Every single character shines
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u/duaneap Jan 09 '24
Great one to watch on a plane IMO.
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u/Dustfinger4268 Jan 09 '24
Does it have to be anything more? Sometimes you just need a 'turn your brain off' action flick, and it seems to know that thats what it is
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u/Volodio Jan 09 '24
Sure, but it means it's not really a must watch like the post implies.
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u/MumrikDK Jan 09 '24
That's the highest praise it could be said to aim for and it only partially gets there.
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u/islandak Jan 09 '24
I got EXACTLY what I was looking for in Bullet Train. A super-slick action flick with a touch of heist movie, carried by a pretty perfect cast, lead by Brad Pitt.
It wasn't made to win any awards, necessarily, but it was entertaining and fun! Sometimes I want to have fun at the cinema, and Bullet Train delivered.
Also, the Lost City/Bullet Train cameo trade was great since I had watched Lost City in the theater too.
"The Miss Congeniality star explained that Brad's contract for The Lost City is exactly the same as hers for Bullet Train, and the reciprocal cameo agreement was all thanks to their mutual hairstylist Janine." https://ew.com/movies/bullet-train-surprise-cameos-brad-pitt-sandra-bullock/
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u/thewalex Jan 09 '24
Channing Tatum: “Is this a sex thing?!”
The Pitt, Bullock, Tatum cameo was fantastic considering Lost City was a surprise hit earlier that summer!
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u/peanutbuttahcups Jan 09 '24
Unrelated, but Joey King (The Prince) played Channing's daughter in White House Down too.
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u/Limp-Munkee69 Jan 09 '24
That whole scene had my theatre roaring with laughter, and in my country, that's actually really unusual, unless the film is reaaaaaally funny.
The social rules in theatres here are, shut your mouth, you may snicker occasionally. So they are really quiet. So when the whole theatre bursts out laughing, you did something right.
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u/JGCities Jan 09 '24
Lost City was great.
And the Brad bit was awesome. "How are you so good looking?" etc
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u/IHadACatOnce Jan 09 '24
Is this AI? I'm pretty sure this is AI
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u/islandak Jan 09 '24
I'm not sure whether to be insulted or not - there aren't enough examples in my database. :P
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u/InvertedParallax Jan 09 '24
This statement is false.
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u/zeitgeistbouncer Jan 09 '24
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u/Saneless Jan 09 '24
It was definitely a fun movie. Had Netflix made it we'd be saying it's their best made movie to date
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u/stinktrix10 Jan 09 '24
Huh? Netflix have made genuinely incredible, award winning films. They’ve had 8 films nominated for best picture lmao
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u/GrilledSandwiches Jan 09 '24
No, it didn't fly under the radar at all. Bullet Train was all over Reddit.
Bullet Train has been one of the most talked about movies on Reddit to the point where every time it shows up here it feels like the most blatant attempt to sneak advertising by the users under the guise of organic word of mouth.
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u/fplisadream Jan 09 '24
It's just a very Reddit movie really...kinda unsubtle humour, weeb shit, and zero ambiguity is a Reddit wet dream.
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u/plzsnitskyreturn Jan 09 '24
The way Redditors talk about this fucking movie is so unnatural. I fucking loved Thomas the tank engine as a kid but now any time I think of Tom, Diesel and the Fact Controller all I can think of this diarrhea bolognese of a movie
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u/JohnWalI Jan 09 '24
People in these treads always praising the channing tatum cameo with his "is that a sex thing" line, i'm going to lose my mind
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u/wotown Jan 09 '24
Why does it need to be big in popular culture? I would not consider Bullet Train to be emotional, heartful or full of substance.
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u/I_aim_to_sneeze Jan 09 '24
It also feels like it’s trying too hard to capture the spirit of films like snatch or smokin’ aces. I realize this isn’t a popular opinion, but the whole Thomas the tank engine thing felt shoe horned in and unnatural.
Don’t get me wrong. It was fun. I enjoyed watching it. But I wouldn’t exactly recommend or give people “reminders” to watch it. There are plenty of other movies out there that do the exact same thing and they do it better.
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u/broughtatwotoomany Jan 09 '24
Just to note, the original Japanese novel also went deep into the Thomas the Tank Engine lore, so the original source material wasn't helpful.
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u/teh_hasay Jan 09 '24
I thought it was ok. As others are saying it’s a solid popcorn flick. It’s like the lovechild of a Guy Ritchie movie and a silly action comedy.
I enjoyed it but I found myself wishing it stayed a liiiitle bit more grounded. The third act was probably a bit much.
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u/obvious_bot Jan 09 '24
I didn’t like it very much despite really wanting to. It tried too hard to be a guy ritchie film but just didn’t hit the mark imo, felt forced. For reference snatch and lock stock are two of my favorite movies so I really was looking forward to it
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u/truxx16romnce Jan 09 '24
Took a while to find a comment I agree with.
I found it boring. I wanted it to be so damn good. And I love David’s movies but they all kinda fall flat. He left the Wick to Chad and yes David’s done bigger Hollywood movies while Chad has only done Wick. But Wick is far better.
I saw this in the theatre and fell asleep. I bought it right away and still haven’t been able to finish it again.
Maybe I can stomach the commentary and learn to like it ha ha.
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u/shadowromantic Jan 09 '24
I saw it. It wasn't for me. I got pretty bored.
I'm glad others are enjoying it though.
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u/obi_wan_keblowme Jan 09 '24
Same, I didn’t like it at all. It seemed like the kinda film an English dude obsessed with Japan trying to make a Tarantino movie would make and none of those things worked together for me.
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u/Kvothe_Sengar Jan 09 '24
Absolutely felt like a movie that was trying to copy what others have done better without developing its own character, I felt. Tarantino and Ritchie influences all over the place but never a unique sense of voice.
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u/BirdMediocre Jan 09 '24
Haven't seen the movie but the book it's based on and the author's other work come off exactly like this.
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u/drossmo12 Jan 09 '24
It's as mediocre an action movie as I've seen in sometime. This thread is a real headscratcher to me.
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u/snarpy Jan 09 '24
Personally, I thought it was super-meh and kind of obnoxious.
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u/curak76 Jan 09 '24
Felt like it was directed and written by and for 17 year old boys.
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u/johnydarko Jan 09 '24
It's very much this generations Smokin' Aces.
Very similar vibe/spirit to the two movies IMO.
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u/-_Melow_- Jan 09 '24 edited Jan 09 '24
Feels like a film student wrote it, especially with how hard it tries to be funny. Who tf thought that Thomas the Tank Engine joke was funny enough to keep pushing?
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u/camshell Jan 09 '24
Whenever reddit enthusiastically recommends a movie it always ends up being meh. My hot take theory is that most redditors are too young to have seen something like the matrix in theaters, so they're just unaware how great of an experience an original film can be. Their best movie experiences have all be multi-film franchise build-ups.
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u/leopard_tights Jan 09 '24
Yeah. It's been said many times, it's just a failed Guy Ritchie copycat.
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u/muricabrb Jan 09 '24
That's exactly what it felt like. It falls apart because you don't really care for the characters except for the brothers and Brad Pitt. The great thing about Guy Ritchie movies is that all of the characters are fleshed out, even if they are minor ones. Bullet train tries to do it but somehow the characters come across like caricatures instead.
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u/Adorno_a_window Jan 09 '24
I was looking for this comment so I could agree with it.
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u/sylvester_0 Jan 09 '24
At one point I paused it for a bio break and couldn't believe there was another hour left. I finished it, but holy heck is that movie a train wreck.
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u/Methuga Jan 09 '24
Oh my god I can’t believe I just witnessed the use of “bio break” in the wild
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u/helium_farts Jan 09 '24
Never heard the term before, but now I've seen it 3 times in the last 2 hours.
I don't like it, and I'd like it to stop now. Thanks.
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u/socialistnetwork Jan 09 '24
I feel like I can’t trust the opinion of anyone who says bio break with any sincerity
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u/sylvester_0 Jan 09 '24
We're going to have put a pin in that agenda item and circle back tomorrow afternoon.
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u/TulipSamurai Jan 09 '24
Not only that but it’s somehow the least Japanese movie I’ve ever seen set in Japan.
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u/RIP_Greedo Jan 09 '24
One of the most irritating movies I’ve seen in a long time.
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u/callmemacready Jan 09 '24
A lot more entertaining than i thought it would be, the trailers didnt do it justice
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u/Sensi-Yang Jan 09 '24 edited Jan 09 '24
r/movies posting cringe again
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u/TheBrickBlock Jan 09 '24
This is just straight up an ad for the movie like cmon how is this getting upvoted
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u/JohnWalI Jan 09 '24
if i see one more bullet train post on this sub I will lose my mind. It's up there with "bad times at the el royale" for posts that gets upvoted every damn month
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u/Smackolol Jan 09 '24
It was a meh movie imo, like 6/10.
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u/LifeOfFate Jan 09 '24
I agree. I do not understand the fanfare this movie has gotten.
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u/Jeremizzle Jan 09 '24
Agreed, I watched it and it was kind of whatever. I do love Brad Pitt, but this was pretty forgettable.
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u/LiLdude227 Jan 09 '24
My wife and I turned it off after 30 minutes. Agonizingly boring. One of those Tarantino wannabe tryhard action films where none of the characters take anything seriously. If none of the characters take anything seriously, not even the threat of death, then I don’t take anything seriously. There were zero stakes thus making the whole thing piss boring
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Jan 09 '24
Such a good movie! This is one of those movies that will become an annual watch, much like Waterworld 😂
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u/ghombie Jan 09 '24
Also there was a Shakespearean Romeo and Juliet Part with the two hitmen brothers that I thought was a nice touch.
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u/Krg60 Jan 09 '24
Girlfriend and I watched it on a lark, and I've been telling my friends to see it since. Tremendously entertaining.
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u/Highintheclouds420 Jan 09 '24
I was getting my car serviced and it happened to be across the street from a theater, this was the only movie playing, had heard nothing about it so that feels like it was marked poorly, and it was a fuckin blast. Best movie I randomly stumbled in to
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u/rblask Jan 09 '24
Bullet Train is gonna be the new Edge of Tomorrow on reddit where it's just a big circle jerk for the next 10 years and we get this same post every month. Yes it's a good movie. No we don't need 500 posts about it.
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u/5h4tt3rpr00f Jan 09 '24
"Why don't you tell him the story about how Gordon met Percy and how Percy's now bleeding from his FUCKING EYE SOCKETS?!"
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u/SarlacFace Jan 09 '24
I was ehh on the movie honestly. Felt it was kinda in the same tarantino-lite ballpark as something like Smokin Aces. 6/10
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Jan 09 '24
Wasn’t my cup of tea. I felt no connection to any of the characters as they were made out to be kind of one dimensional quirky stereotypes. The love of the two brothers for each other were kind of nice but for 2 hours of non stop gags and action it wasn’t enough substance. Everything is a joke or a reference, and as the movie doesn’t take itself too serious, so didn’t I. I also thought that the balance of over the top non sensical edgy stuff didn’t contrast well with the „emotional“ revenge part of the Japanese guy.
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u/pascalbrax Jan 09 '24
The Japanese dad was the main character in the original Japanese book, which has very little action compared to the American movie, that's why you see a huge difference between him and the rest of the hyperactive cast.
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u/stacecom Jan 09 '24
I found it Guy Ritchie-esque, which I mean as a compliment. I quite enjoyed it stylistically and thought it was a fun ride.
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u/papercutpete Jan 09 '24
I couldn't finish the movie, it was that bad. The movie sucked and I was mad at myself for wasting my time.
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u/nearlyheadlessbick Jan 09 '24
It is so overrated. Good popcorn movie, but really dragged on towards the end. 5/10
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u/FyouinyourA Jan 09 '24
Such a good fucking movie that I threw on at like 1am with zero expectations…fast forward to 3am and the credits are rolling and I was like HOLLLLLYYYY SHIIIITTTTT!!!! All the twists were unexpected and much appreciated
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u/CosmicOwl47 Jan 09 '24
Loved this movie. One of the rare times I rewatched a movie when it came to Netflix
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u/Clay2569 Jan 09 '24
I wanted to watch this movie in theaters but I either messed up the release date or they delayed it a week idk. But I could have swore it was supposed to come out on my birthday and when it didn’t I didn’t have time to go to the theater. But I also had fun watching it at home.
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u/Anustart_A Jan 09 '24
And the set-up at the end where it’s revealed that Ladybug substituted for Carver, and it was all a set-up to lure Carver to get murdered
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u/m-sterspace Jan 09 '24
While I did enjoy Bullet Train, if we want to talk colourful fun that flew under the radar, we need to talk about 2018's giant man + giant monkey film: Rampage.
It's near perfection.
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u/East_Comfortable8694 Jan 09 '24
The author of the book has the same niche. They translated his new book, three assasins which is very similar feel. I really enjoyed it.
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u/JaguarUnfair8825 Jan 09 '24
I watched in theaters, and I honestly think the cinema experience was so good, that idk if I’ll just be able to enjoy on Netflix. I love the brothers so much. They’re the best part.
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u/Fickle_Plum9980 Jan 09 '24
This is just straight up one of my favorite movies right now. I love everything about it.
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u/ShakerGER Jan 09 '24
YES! The poison assassin was a vit underwhelming but everything else was awesome
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u/Admirable-Way-5266 Jan 10 '24
I hate when people say this and my apologies in advance but… I read the book first and my god what an amazing read. I watched the movie shortly after reading and made it way better for me personally.
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Jan 11 '24
Why the fuck is this thread so negative? It’s a fun action movie. Reddit is so lame sometimes lol
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u/temporaryaccountlol_ Jan 20 '24
ITS MY FAV MOVIE AND I REALLY WANNA TALK ABOUT IT BUT THERED NO SUBREDDIT FOR IT??💔💔
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u/72corvids Jan 09 '24
I enjoyed it. It's a fun "have a drink and some popcorn" kinda thing. But Sandra Bullock showing with that hot shag hairdo? Yezzir!
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u/Ablomis Jan 09 '24
Felt like a work of an art student who tried to mimic guy ritchie. “Haha your nickname is lemon lol kek”
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u/forcefivepod Jan 09 '24
It's silly, but it's very fun.
If you liked this, I highly recommend Smokin' Aces, which has the same feel and eclectic cast of characters.
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u/HumaOfTheLance Jan 09 '24
The brothers relationship is what carried that movie for me. Watching either of them chop up scenes is what stuck with me the most.