DanTheMan 2
Before Brad Pitt rode the Bullet Train, Sonny Chiba drove it. Despite the sheer length of the uncut version running at over 2 and a half hours, The Bullet Train never once lets up and chugs along at a breakneck pace as a highly engaging and remarkably tense original thriller.
A former businessman who lost his manufacturing company to bankruptcy and separated from his wife and son a year earlier is desperate to make ends meet and start over. He collaborates with an activist and a former employee in an elaborate plot to extort money from the government. He threatens that one of Japan's Bullet Trains will explode if it drops below 80km/h unless his ransom is paid. It's a race against time for both the passengers and police to find and defuse the bomb before an imminent catastrophe unfolds...
Despite his name being proudly spotlighted in the opening credits, Sonny Chiba is barely in this film but makes a tremendous impact as the driver of the titular train. Instead, the film focuses on fleshing out and providing a sympathetic motivation for its "villain" Tetsuo Okita played wonderfully by Ken Takakura and the reality of his accompanying henchmen played by Kei Yamamoto and Akira Oda respectively.
While the main plot is most certainly about the imminent safety of the 1,500 passengers onboard the Shinkansen, the real focus is on the Police's efforts to track down Okita and his accomplices, complying with any and all demands he submits and ultimately figure out how on earth they are going to defuse the bomb. Meanwhile all the passengers are slowly succumbing to mass hysteria wondering how on earth they are going to get out of this as they slowly wait to die.
It's a nicely directed affair from Jun'ya Satô, someone I'll definitely be seeing more of when it comes to his adaptation of Golgo 13 and Yamato. He makes good use of long sweeping shots and the benefit from shooting on the real train provides a sense of claustrophobia that you can't really replicate in a studio. There are plenty of tense moments throughout be it car chases or near misses, he delivers.
When there's the use of the Toei special effects department, they outdo themselves with effects that are essentially seamless, the shots of the model Shinkansen are stupendously woven into the rest of the footage, they fooled me into thinking they were the real thing at times.
The music composed by Hachiro Aoyama is one of the film's biggest highlights in many regards. It carries with it a sense of funk that wouldn't be out of place in an Italian police drama from the same time. While I have my grievances about the placement of some of the music it doesn't disappoint in terms of instrument choice.
It's largely thanks to some confusion by Screenwriter Graham Yost thinking that this and the later Jon Voight film, Runaway Train, were one and the same that we ended up with the excellent Keanu Reeves film Speed that seemingly combines both plots together.
With an ending shot that's guaranteed to leave a lasting impression, The Bullet Train, despite its inherent flaws, is a highly enjoyable ride from start to finish populated with great performances and a jazzy funk score that will have you toe-tapping long after the credits roll. I'll definitely be watching this again in the future.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
08/04/23
Full Review
richard r
It's an action comedy. Lots of great acting. Some good surprises. It's a fun movie!
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
Full Review
cees t
I prefer Speed and Crank, but this is adequate.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
Full Review
dustin d
"The Bullet Train" is an exhilarating suspense movie with realistic depictions of bullet train operations, a believable story featuring characters with clear motivations, and a life-like (and somewhat cynical) look at police tactics. This was the inspiration for the movie Speed, but should be appreciated on its own merits. The main criticism people have of the film seems to be it is marketed as a Sonny Chiba film when he really has a secondary role as the train conductor. The sentiment is he was miscast, even though he is quite good in the role. High-quality suspense film, overall.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Something real interesting is going on in here and I want in on it
A Japanese bullet train has been loaded with a dynamite bomb with a timer that will cause it to explode if the train reaches a speed below 80 mph (I could have the speed measurement wrong). Because of the speed of the train, no one can come on or off the train and the train will have to be cautious when driving through cities until someone can figure out how to locate and disarm the bomb.
"It's turning out to be a real rotten little deal."
Junya Sato, director of Lost in the Wilderness, Dream of Russia, Golgo 13, The Private Police, The Ando File, The True Account of Ginza Tortures, and Never Give Up, delivers Bullet Train. The storyline for this picture will remind viewers of a cross between Pelham One Two Three and Speed. The acting is surprisingly solid and the cast includes Sonny Chiba (in a very limited role), Ken Takakura (Black Rain), Kei Yamamoto (Premonition), Eijo Go (The Executioner), Yumiko Fujita (Time and Tide), Etsuko Shihomi (Karate Bear Fighter and The Bodyguard), and Fumio Watanabe (Scorpion: Female Prisoner Cage #41).
"The bomber will take the money and let the train explode anyway?"
While this movie is part of the "Kill Chiba" collection, I hardly consider this a Chiba picture. He barely appears in this film at all; however, the villain delivers a solid performance and makes up for a lack of Chiba. The ultimate plot and sub plots make the film worthwhile. I will say the film is a little slow and does not come across as dramatic as the director may have intended, but I still found this film entertaining.
"I can take a lot more than you can ever give out."
Grade: B-
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
01/19/23
Full Review
Audience Member
[url="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bullet_train/dvd.php?select=1"][img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/movie/coverv/89/193089.jpg[/img][/url][img]http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0002ZYE0K.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg[/img][url="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/kowloon_assignment/dvd.php?select=5"][img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/movie/coverv/46/226246.jpg[/img][/url]
More Chiba than anyone could possibly need, and that's the beauty of this box set.
I started off with Bullet Train. See if this sounds familiar. Train runs at 120 km/h. If it slows down below 70, it blows up. That's right, they did the same thing with a bus in Speed. Here, it's less about the heroics of the lead characters than it is about police procedure - methodically trying to beat the bomb-planter in a race against a speeding train before it runs out of track.
And the passengers - the stakes are high - there's 1,500 people on this thing. And once they get wind of what's going on with the train and why it isn't stopping - hysteria! And there's nobody that does hysteria quite like Japanese people.
And another thing - for a movie in a Sonny Chiba box set, there isn't much Chiba in this. He is the train driver, but doesn't have much to do except sit there and take orders from the guys in the train center. He does have his moment, though, when it comes time to cut a hole in the floor of the train to get at the bomb.
The real star is Ken Takakura (Japan's "Clint Eastwood) as the bomb-plot's mastermind. The story really gets into his character and why he's doing what he's doing.
Next up was Golgo 13: Kowloon Assignment. This is crazy exploitive action fare, based on a manga. So it's very cartoonish. Chiba plays the world's No 1 assassin, who can make any shot, no matter how far-fetched.
The thing that's infuriating about this disc is that it was an international production, and skips across the globe, from Miami, to Tokyo to Hong Kong and Macao, yet there's only the Japanese soundtrack, when there are times when it's clear that ain't the language that's being spoken.
Otherwise, on all these releases by Optimum, the picture and sound are clean and clear. Flawless, really.
Last up is the best of the box: GI Samurai. It's a mixture of Twilight Zone, Apocalypse Now, Return of the Jedi and any number of samurai epics.
Chiba is a lieutenant in charge of some Japanese Defense Force reserve troops out for a weekend drill. Suddenly, they notice their watches have all stopped at 5.18. And Venus isn't where she should be. And then things get all supersaturated and weird. And they notice that something's different when some guys in 16th century armour come up on horses.
They look out of place with their US-issued fatigues and steel-pot helmets. But the machine guns (including a mounted 50 caliber on a half-track), a tank, a helicopter, a patrol boat, a jeep and troop truck have their advantages.
Chiba finds that he and his men are caught in a feudal war and aren't sure whose side to take. And should they mess in their affairs of the past? What if they kill one of their ancestors?
The men in Chiba's command start to break away. Some guys go into the forest, and find some ninjas swooping down at them out of the trains.
Some other guys mutiny and take the patrol boat and go tear-assing around fuedal Japan, looking for the shit, stealing food, raiding villages - raping and pillaging.
Chiba has to put a stop to that the only way he knows how - by dangling from a rope below the helicopter.
Eventually, he decides to chance it. He throws in with the more courageous and charismatic of the feudal leaders and gears up for battle.
At first, it seems Chiba and his men, with all their technology, have the edge. But they are facing more men than they imagined, and soon they are overwhelmed. Logs are rolling down cliffs, traps are laid for the vehicles and so on. Some Ewok-style guerrilla tactics make it rough on the modern-day warriors.
I'd give GI Samurai a 10 if it weren't for the weird pop soundtrack that is very incongruous to the goings on, on the screen. Like the happy song when the guys on the boat are raping the women, and so on.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
02/01/23
Full Review
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