Bullet Train         3 ½ stars

When I saw the preview of David Leitch’s Bullet Train it had to go on my must see list for this summer. This adaptation of a Japanese crime novel by Kotaro Isaka gets the John Wick and Kill Bill treatment in a non-stop action movie starring Brad Pitt as an unlucky assassin known as Ladybug who is trying to get back in the game with a simple snatch and grab assignment while being coached by his handler over the phone. His job is to board the world’s fastest train in Tokyo, Japan and grab a briefcase filled with cash and get off at the next stop without getting caught. What our self-deprecating criminal doesn’t realize is that this bullet train is also occupied by four other paid assassins all with interconnected and conflicting missions and a few other shady characters each with their own objectives. Throughout his acting career Pitt has done a variety of types of roles in dramas, comedies and action movies, not relying on one type of role. Here he plays the character strictly for comedic effect as mayhem surrounds him. Also on the train are two British assassins known as Tangerine and Lemon (Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Brian Tyree Henry) who must deliver the son of a Russian crime boss called White Death back to him along with the ransom money (in the previously mentioned briefcase) after rescuing him from a gang of kidnappers. One of them has an odd obsession with Thomas the Tank Engine and who can be characterized as a “diesel”. There is the young Japanese man (Andrew Koji), the son of a “yakuza” who is there to take revenge on the person responsible for pushing his young son off a rooftop who now lies in a hospital clinging to life. Joey King (actress in innumerable roles in teenage movies that I never heard of) shows up as the young woman who is much more dangerous than she seems. And there is an assortment of other suspicious characters who appear on this nearly vacant train traveling at incredible speeds through Japan. To fill in the story we get flashbacks to the events that led this deadly batch to the train that are filled with bloody killings in long action sequences. Once the killers meet, the anticipated fight scenes ensue, mostly involving Pitt’s Ladybug who is bewildered as to why all this is happening to him. Also, throw in an escaped venomous snake that is missing from a local zoo. (Snakes on a Train?). Thanks to the natural charisma of Pitt, Bullet Train rises above being just another violent action movie with two dimensional characters. There are a few notable cameos that you must watch for. This includes the reuniting of three well known stars who appeared together in another action comedy from earlier this year. I leave it to you to find out who they are.