Brad Pitt He has been one of the most sought-after actors in Hollywood for several decades and still remains one of today’s most popular movie stars. This year we had already been able to see him in a hilarious secondary role in ‘The Lost City’ and now he returns as the absolute protagonist in ‘Bullet Train’.
Based on the novel by Kotaro Isaka which already had a Japanese stage version in 2018, ‘Bullet Train’ is the last great blockbuster of the summer and also a hobby, perhaps the best movie of the summer. It is true that he wants to be witty more than necessary, but it doesn’t matter how entertaining he keeps the viewer, showing in the process that he can play much better than almost any Marvel movie with similar ingredients.
A well mixed cocktail
Some may be surprised by the last statement in the previous paragraph, since in ‘Bullet Train’ there is no trace of superheroes, but yes, he uses a cocktail that immediately brings Marvel to mind. I am referring to a mixture of action, comedy and violence that at the moment of truth is much more difficult to balance successfully than it might seem at first.
In the case of ‘Bullet Train’, humor is committed above all else, another point in common with many Marvel adventures, which is very recent in the case of ‘Thor: Love & Thunder’. From the insecurities of the protagonist played by Pitt to the personalities of the rest of the characters with importance in the plot, everything seems outlined so that fun prevails over the rest.
That leads to the script of Zak Olkewicz (‘The street of terror – Part 2: 1978’) is full of dialogues that seek to be witty and have as much spark as possible. To put it another way, the protagonists of ‘Bullet Train’ almost talk as much as the characters in a Quentin Tarantino movie, although without resorting to swearing as often.
There may be certain viewers there who end up somewhat exhausted by the proposal, but In my case, I consider that it is one of the essential bases for the film to work.. On the one hand, it allows us to differentiate all the characters and to know what we can expect from each one of them, but it also helps to create a necessary climate so that this orgy of death and destruction is assimilated even with a certain joy by the public.
pure fun
By that I don’t mean that there is any kind of glorification of violence in ‘Bullet Train’, but I do mean that the director David Leitch he uses it as another of his weapons so that the film has a vibrant rhythm regardless of whether he is advancing the story or stopping to introduce some characters or simply to learn more about their intentions.
That leads to there being various surprises along the journey -although none as big as a totally unexpected cameo-, because its narrative basically feeds on it to avoid repeating itself. Then it is true that not all of them have the same impact, but they do always work well enough to continue having a great time in your seat.
That yes, for it Two factors are especially important. The first is Pitt making use of all his charisma to give life to a character with whom it is easy to connect, since we are dealing with a murderer who does not enjoy violence at all and who seems to be jinxed. However, here the actor does not offer the most eccentric and expressive face of him, because part of the grace is that he simply wants them to stop bothering him and get out of there.
The other big key is Leitch’s work behind the scenes.. Being fair, I have to point out that I think that of the duo behind ‘John Wick’ the one that best manages the action scenes is Chad Stahelski, but Leitch here achieves an almost impossible harmony with all the elements that ‘Bullet Train’ handles, while the scenes of pure action are concise and forceful without foregoing both the use of gore and that tendency towards the light that prevails throughout the function.
That’s where another important aspect enters the scene, and that is that ‘Bullet Train’ may tend to take everything a bit jokingly, but the few moments in which everything gets serious also works and helps to better draw a set that could have been a simple nonsense but ends up being a pretty cool one. And also that everything can be taken to the final consequences in its outcome instead of opting for noisy combat as generic, something usual in Marvel. Because here nothing is softened, in any case it is taken to the extreme.
In short
‘Bullet Train’ is a breath of fresh air in Hollywood, a hobby as wild as it is fun that hopefully ends up having enough travel in cinemas so that proposals like this are not left aside. And it is true that he plays with ingredients similar to Marvel, but also that here he does not seek to reach all kinds of audiences and embraces that R rating that he has received in the United States.