I had been looking forward to Bullet Train for awhile. They had played the trailer for the movie all the time, but I had already been sold on it. I have been battling with some issues so I have not been able to see it until today.

An assassin called “Ladybug” (Brad Pitt) by his handler because of penchant for bad luck, is out on his next mission as a snatch and grab aboard the bullet train. He was trying to find a briefcase that had a ton of money inside. It seemed like an easy job, but, little did he know, this was anything but easy.

A group of other assassins were aboard the train and heading after the briefcase among other revenge ideas. Chaos ensues.

The beginning of the film felt a little off. It was not a very cohesive story at the beginning. Eventually, everything they showed us in the initial section of the film, though it felt somewhat boring, paid off later so I forgave it by the end.

Once we got all of the characters in place and we understood what their motives were, the film got considerably better. Honestly, this is more of an ensemble character piece with a group of characters that are eccentric and entertaining. There are some awesome characters in Bullet Train.

Starting with Brad Pitt, who is just tremendous here, we get a lot of info with Brad Pitt and his recently changed philosophy. Pitt was so great here and holds everything together.

The twins Lemon (Brian Tyree Henry) and Tangerine (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) are trying to retrieve the son of the mysterious White Death, the leader of Japanese organization. Henry and Taylor-Johnson are absolutely standouts here. They are completely funny and engaging every time they were on screen.

There are a bunch of actors involved here. Bad Bunny, Zazie Beetz, Logan Lerman, Hiroyuki Sanada, Joey King, Andrew Koji, Michael Shannon, Sandra Bullock, Masi Oka, and several other cool cameos that I won’t spoil.

This movie is just a wild time and the action is over-the-top goodness. There is a lot of humor as these characters find themselves in bizarre situation after another and they all seem to have amazing chemistry with Brad Pitt.

It did feel a little long, and could have probably trimmed 15 minutes off the run time and not miss too much. Still, I do like how they spent a lot of time on the ensemble and not just make them typical assassin #1. Each of these characters felt like they were original characters that were their own people. That is a great point of the film. It is not just Brad Pitt and a bunch of faceless assassins.

I enjoyed Bullet Train. It may have been a little long, but the extra time devoted to character development was worthwhile and some of the actions scenes are tremendous. It has a humor to it and, once it got past the beginning sections, Bullet Train picked up speed.

3.9 stars