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| country = United States
| country = United States
| language = English
| language = English
| budget = $90 million<ref name="VarietyProj" />
| budget = $85.9–90 million<ref name="numbers">{{cite web |title=Bullet Train (2022) - Financial Information |url=https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Bullet-Train-(2022)#tab=summary |website=[[The Numbers (website)|The Numbers]] |access-date=July 3, 2022}}</ref><ref name="VarietyProj" />
| gross = $30.6 million<ref name="BOM">{{cite web|url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt12593682/|title= Bullet Train (2022) |website=[[Box Office Mojo]] |access-date=August 5, 2022}}</ref><ref name=numbers/>
| gross = $12.6 million<ref name="numbers">{{cite web |title=Bullet Train (2022) - Financial Information |url=https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Bullet-Train-(2022)#tab=summary |website=[[The Numbers (website)|The Numbers]] |access-date=July 3, 2022}}</ref><ref name="BOM">{{cite web|url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt12593682/|title= Bullet Train (2022) |website=[[Box Office Mojo]] |access-date=August 5, 2022}}</ref>
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Revision as of 20:02, 6 August 2022

For the 1975 film, see The Bullet Train.

Bullet Train
Theatrical release poster
Directed byDavid Leitch
Screenplay byZak Olkewicz
Based onMaria Beetle (published in English as Bullet Train)
by Kōtarō Isaka
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyJonathan Sela
Edited byElisabet Ronaldsdottir
Music byDominic Lewis
Production
companies
Distributed bySony Pictures Releasing
Release dates
  • July 18, 2022 (2022-07-18) (Grand Rex)
  • August 5, 2022 (2022-08-05) (United States)
Running time
126 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$90 million[2]
Box office$12.6 million[3][4]

Bullet Train is a 2022 American action comedy film starring Brad Pitt as an assassin who has to deal with enemies while riding a Japanese bullet train. The film is directed by David Leitch based on a screenplay by Zak Olkewicz that adapts the Japanese novel Maria Beetle (published in English as Bullet Train) by Kōtarō Isaka. In addition to Pitt, the film stars Joey King, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Andrew Koji, Hiroyuki Sanada, Michael Shannon, Benito A Martínez Ocasio, and Sandra Bullock.

Bullet Train premiered in Paris on July 18, 2022, and Sony Pictures Releasing released the film in theaters in the United States on August 5, 2022. The film received mixed reviews from critics.

Plot

A former assassin codenamed "Ladybug" returns to work with a newly positive attitude. He is tasked by his handler, Maria Beetle, to collect a briefcase aboard a bullet train travelling from Tokyo to Kyoto after her normal contact, Carver, is forced to call out due to illness. Unbeknownst to Ladybug, three other killers are onboard: hitmen brothers "Tangerine" and "Lemon", and deceptively innocent schoolgirl "The Prince".

Tangerine and Lemon have been hired by "White Death", head of the world’s largest crime syndicate, who seized control of the Japanese underworld years before. Having recovered the crime lord's kidnapped son and the briefcase containing his $10 million ransom, the brothers are delivering both to Kyoto. The Prince summons another assassin, Yuichi Kimura, to the train, having pushed his young son off a building. With an associate at the hospital ready to finish the boy off, the Prince forces Kimura to cooperate with her plan: rigging the briefcase and Kimura’s gun with explosives to kill White Death.

Stealing the briefcase, Ladybug is forced to kill another assassin, "The Wolf", who arrives seeking revenge for the deaths of his wife and his entire cartel, poisoned at their wedding. Realising the briefcase is missing, the brothers find White Death’s son dead by poisoning. The Prince leads Tangerine to believe Ladybug is responsible, while Ladybug attempts to negotiate with Lemon but is forced to subdue him. Ladybug runs into the Wolf’s intended target, "The Hornet" — the poisoner who massacred his wedding, hired to kill White Death’s son. She stabs Ladybug with a syringe of boomslang venom but he injects her as well, then saves himself with her only dose of antivenom, and she dies instead.

Fighting Tangerine to a stalemate, Ladybug tries to help him convince White Death’s men that his son and the briefcase are safe, then kicks Tangerine off the train. Suspicious of Kimura and the Prince, Lemon shoots Kimura but succumbs to a bottle of water drugged by Ladybug, and is shot by the Prince. Climbing back inside the train, Tangerine finds his brother’s body and confronts the Prince, but is fatally shot in a scuffle with Ladybug. Kimura’s father, "The Elder", boards the train and reveals himself as a former Yakuza lieutenant whose wife and clan were killed in White Death’s rise to power. Ensuring his grandson’s safety by having the Prince’s associate killed, he and Ladybug find Kimura and Lemon still alive, and they all prepare for the ambush awaiting them.

The train arrives in Kyoto, and Ladybug is met by White Death and his men. The Prince, revealed to be White Death’s disgruntled daughter, tries to goad him into firing Kimura’s booby-trapped gun, but instead tells her she was never part of his plan. The White Death reveals that he hired all the assassins aboard the train as revenge for the murder of his wife. After Tangerine and Lemon massacred his men during a job in Bolivia, his wife was called to bail their son out of jail and was killed by Carver, who meant to assassinate her husband. And the surgeon who was going to save his wife was poisoned by the Hornet, ensuring her death by killing the one person who could've saved her. Blaming the brothers, Carver, the Hornet and his own son, White Death arranged for all the assassins — including the Wolf, and Ladybug, who unwittingly replaced Carver on the train — to kill each other and his son. Before White Death can kill Ladybug, the briefcase bomb is triggered, knocking them both onto the train which Lemon sets back in motion. As the train speeds out of control, the Elder duels White Death while Kimura and Ladybug fight off his henchmen. Lemon tackles a thug off the train into the river below, and the train derails, crashing into a nearby town.

Ladybug is held at gunpoint by White Death. He attempts to shoot Ladybug, but is killed himself when Kimura’s gun explodes. Ladybug, Kimura, and his father are confronted by the murderous Prince, who is run over by a truck carrying tangerines. Maria arrives to rescue Ladybug, who has fully embraced a positive outlook on life.

In a mid-credits scene, it is revealed that Lemon had emerged from the river and was the driver of the tangerine truck that killed the Prince, avenging Tangerine's death.

Cast

Production

Bullet Train had been initially developed by Antoine Fuqua—who co-produced the film—through his Fuqua Films banner.[5] It was also originally intended to be a violent R-rated action thriller in the vein of Die Hard (1988), but the project turned into a light-hearted action comedy during the development process.[6][7]

It was announced in June 2020 that Sony Pictures hired David Leitch to direct the adaptation of the Kōtarō Isaka novel from a screenplay by Zak Olkewicz,[5] and Brad Pitt being cast in the film the following month.[8] Joey King entered negotiations to join in a role described as a supporting role on "a cameo level".[9] In September, Andrew Koji was added,[10] with Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Brian Tyree Henry joining in October.[11][12] In November 2020, Zazie Beetz,[13] Masi Oka,[14] Michael Shannon,[15] Logan Lerman,[16] and Hiroyuki Sanada joined the cast,[17] with Leitch revealing in December that Karen Fukuhara had also joined, and that Jonathan Sela would serve as cinematographer.[18] That same month, Bad Bunny was also added to the cast,[19] and Sandra Bullock joined the following year in February to replace Lady Gaga, who dropped out due to scheduling conflicts with House of Gucci (2021).[20]

Production for Bullet Train began in October 2020 in Los Angeles, during the COVID-19 pandemic.[21] Filming started on November 16, 2020,[22] and wrapped in March 2021.[23] According to the film's stunt coordinator, Greg Rementer, Pitt performed 95 percent of his stunts in the film.[24] Variety.com reported that Pitt was paid $20 million.[25]

Release

It was originally set to be released on April 8, 2022, before being delayed to July 15, 2022,[26] then again to July 29,[27] and then to August 5.[28] It had its world premiere at the Grand Rex in Paris, France on July 18, 2022.[29]

Reception

Box office

In the United States and Canada, Bullet Train was released alongside Easter Sunday, and is projected to gross $26–30 million from 4,300 theaters in its opening weekend.[2][30] The film made $12.6 million on its first day, including $4.6 million from Thursday night previews.[31]

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, 54% of 230 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 5.6/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Bullet Train's colorful cast and high-speed action are almost enough to keep things going after the story runs out of track."[32] Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 49 out of 100, based on 52 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[33] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak gave the film an 82% overall positive score, with 63% saying they would definitely recommend it.[31]

Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times rated it 3.5 out of 4, calling it "wildly entertaining" and praised the performances, "the creative and blood-spattered action sequences" and most of all the writing.[34] Peter Debruge of Variety wrote: "Bullet Train feels like it comes from the same brain as Snatch, wearing its pop style on its sleeve — a Kill Bill-like mix of martial arts, manga and gabby hitman movie influences, minus the vision or wit that implies."[35]

Casting criticism

The castings of several non-Asian actors, including Brad Pitt and Joey King, prompted accusations of whitewashing as their characters were Japanese in Kōtarō Isaka's novel. David Inoue, Executive Director of the Japanese American Citizens League, criticized the castings, explaining that while the American adaptation would have been appropriate if the setting took place in the United States, the filmmakers chose to keep the novel's Japanese setting while keeping Japanese characters in the film's background, strengthening charges of whitewashing. Inoue also questioned the actors' allyship to the Asian community for knowingly accepting whitewashed roles and further criticized the film for pushing the "belief that Asian actors in the leading roles cannot carry a blockbuster" despite the recent successes of Asian-led films such as Crazy Rich Asians (2018) and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021). Despite being cast in the film, King previously said, "I do not believe a white woman should play a character of color. Not me or any other white woman for that matter."[36]

When asked about the casting, Isaka defended the film and described his characters as "ethnically malleable", maintaining that his original Japanese setting and context were irrelevant as they were "not real people, maybe they're not even Japanese."[37] Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group president Sanford Panitch highlighted Isaka's views to defend the casting, reassuring that the film would honor the novel's "Japanese soul" while giving the opportunity to cast big name stars and adapt it on a "global scale". Bullet Train screenwriter Zak Olkewicz argued that the decision to cast beyond Japanese or Asian actors proved “the strength of [Isaka]’s work" as it was a story that could "transcend race". Director David Leitch noted that discussions had taken place during pre-production to change the film's setting but ultimately decided to keep Isaka's original setting of Tokyo due to its international appeal.[38]

References

  1. ^ "Bullet Train (15)". BBFC. Retrieved July 29, 2022.
  2. ^ a b Rubin, Rebecca (August 2, 2022). "Box Office: Brad Pitt's 'Bullet Train' Targets $30 Million Opening Weekend". Variety. Retrieved August 3, 2022.
  3. ^ "Bullet Train (2022) - Financial Information". The Numbers. Retrieved July 3, 2022.
  4. ^ "Bullet Train (2022)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved August 5, 2022.
  5. ^ a b Fleming, Mike Jr. (June 24, 2020). "'Hobbs & Shaw' Helmer David Leitch Boards Sony's 'Bullet Train'". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on November 14, 2020. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
  6. ^ ""You can change every bit of you" Aaron Taylor-Johnson is pushing extremes". Hero. March 7, 2022. Archived from the original on March 7, 2022. Retrieved March 13, 2022.
  7. ^ Fleming, Mike Jr. (May 20, 2022). "Sony Chairman Tom Rothman Paddles Upstream To Keep Focus On Traditional Cinema — Deadline Disruptors". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved June 2, 2022.
  8. ^ Fleming, Mike Jr. (July 6, 2020). "Brad Pitt Commits To Board 'Bullet Train'; David Leitch To Helm Sony Pictures Action Film". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on July 6, 2020. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
  9. ^ Kroll, Justin (August 3, 2020). "'The Kissing Booth' Star Joey King Turns Assassin Opposite Brad Pitt in Sony's 'Bullet Train'". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on November 17, 2020. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
  10. ^ Kroll, Justin (September 15, 2020). "Snake Eyes's Andrew Koji Joins Brad Pitt in Sony's 'Bullet Train'". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on November 10, 2020. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
  11. ^ Kroll, Justin (October 22, 2020). "Aaron Taylor-Johnson Joins Brad Pitt In Sony's Action Pic 'Bullet Train'". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on November 2, 2020. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
  12. ^ Kroll, Justin (October 28, 2020). "Brian Tyree Henry Joins Brad Pitt In Sony Action Pic 'Bullet Train'". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on November 2, 2020. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
  13. ^ Kroll, Justin (November 13, 2020). "Zazie Beetz Joins Brad Pitt In Sony's Action Pic 'Bullet Train'". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on November 13, 2020. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
  14. ^ Kroll, Justin (November 16, 2020). "Masi Oka Joins Brad Pitt in Sony's Action Pic 'Bullet Train'". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on November 16, 2020. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  15. ^ Kroll, Justin (November 18, 2020). "Michael Shannon Joins Brad Pitt in Sony's 'Bullet Train'". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on November 18, 2020. Retrieved November 18, 2020.
  16. ^ Kroll, Justin (November 20, 2020). "Logan Lerman Joins Brad Pitt In Sony's Action Pic 'Bullet Train'". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on January 8, 2021. Retrieved November 20, 2020.
  17. ^ Kroll, Justin (November 30, 2020). "Hiroyuki Sanada Joins Brad Pitt In Sony's 'Bullet Train'". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on November 30, 2020. Retrieved November 30, 2020.
  18. ^ David Leitch on Instagram. December 4, 2020. Archived from the original on December 26, 2021. Retrieved December 4, 2020 – via Instagram.
  19. ^ Kroll, Justin (December 16, 2020). "Bad Bunny Joins Brad Pitt In Sony Action Pic 'Bullet Train'". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on January 8, 2021. Retrieved December 16, 2020.
  20. ^ Kroll, Justin (February 9, 2021). "Sandra Bullock Joins Brad Pitt In Sony's Action Movie 'Bullet Train'". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on February 10, 2021. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
  21. ^ Douglas, Edward (October 30, 2020). "End of Week Production Notes 10/30/20: Marvel's Shang-Chi Wraps, Patrick Wilson Directs and More". Below the Line. Archived from the original on October 31, 2020. Retrieved November 6, 2020.
  22. ^ "Bullet Train". Production List | Film & Television Industry Alliance. October 26, 2020. Archived from the original on November 18, 2020. Retrieved November 18, 2020.
  23. ^ Couch, Aaron (April 1, 2021). "'Nobody' Producers David Leitch and Kelly McCormick on Bob Odenkirk's Action Chops and Making a Brad Pitt Movie During COVID". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on April 18, 2021. Retrieved April 18, 2021.
  24. ^ Lee, Chris (March 25, 2021). "Brad Pitt Went from Playing a Stuntman to Doing His Own Stunts, Man". Vulture. Archived from the original on March 29, 2021. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  25. ^ Donnelly, Matt (August 18, 2021). "From Daniel Craig to Dwayne Johnson, Inside the Biggest Movie Stars' Salaries". Variety.
  26. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (December 14, 2021). "Sony Moves Bullet Train & Where The Crawdads Sing To Summer". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on December 15, 2021. Retrieved December 15, 2021.
  27. ^ Bonomolo, Cameron (March 18, 2022). "Sony's Bullet Train Pushes Back Release Date". Comicbook. Retrieved March 19, 2022.
  28. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (May 12, 2022). "'Bullet Train' Moves A Week Later This Summer". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
  29. ^ Mizzy, Sugar (July 19, 2022). "Brad Pitt in Paris for "Bullet Train", world premiere with "the best of the best"". europe-cities.com. Retrieved August 4, 2022.
  30. ^ Fuster, Jeremy (August 3, 2022). "'Bullet Train' Expected to Be the Final Movie This Summer to Exceed $15 Million Box Office Opening". TheWrap. Retrieved August 3, 2022.
  31. ^ a b D'Alessandro, Anthony (August 6, 2022). "'Bullet Train' Pacing To Potential $30M Opening – Saturday Box Office Update". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved August 6, 2022.
  32. ^ "Bullet Train (2022)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved August 5, 2022.
  33. ^ "Bullet Train Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved August 5, 2022.
  34. ^ Richard Roeper (August 2, 2022). "Wildly entertaining 'Bullet Train' handles its plot turns with finesse". Chicago Sun-Times.
  35. ^ Debruge, Peter (August 2, 2022). "'Bullet Train' Review: Brad Pitt Leads This Gleefully Overloaded, High-Speed Battle Royal". Variety.
  36. ^ Tao, Rachel (March 23, 2022). "Controversy builds over possible whitewashing in Brad Pitt's 'Bullet Train'". AsAmNews. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
  37. ^ Rich, Motoko (July 27, 2022). "The Japanese Author Behind 'Bullet Train' Is OK That the Film Isn't So Japanese". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 27, 2022.
  38. ^ White, Abbey (July 28, 2022). "'Bullet Train Director, Writer and 'Maria Beetle' Author Explain Choice to Cast Non-Japanese Actors: The Characters Are 'Not Real People'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 2, 2022.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bullet_Train_(film)&oldid=1102767347"