Once he helped Keanu Reeves to become John Wick, then he directed Charlize Theron as Atomic Blonde. Now he’s taking on Brad Pitt. We’re talking about David Leitch. The action specialist began his career as a stunt double for Pitt, among other things, but is now a director and his new action film Bullet Train hits cinemas this week. However, the action comedy based on a novel by Kōtarō Isaka is not particularly well received by critics. Here you can find out what is criticized and what is praised.
Check out the trailer for Bullet Train:
Bullet Train – Trailer 2 (German) HD
What is the action movie starring Brad Pitt about?
Bullet Train, from John Wick and Atomic Blonde director David Leitch, tells the heartwarming story of hitman Ladybug (Brad Pitt) who finds himself aboard a Japanese bullet train. He is not alone, however, but meets other professionals in his field: Lemon (Brian Tyree Henry), Prince (Joey King), Tangerine (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), Hornet (Zazie Beetz) and Kimura (Andrew Koji). They all have different jobs and get in each other’s way. After all, Ladybug has contact with a colleague (Sandra Bullock) who helps him.
Bullet Train’s positives are praising the action
Bullet Train doesn’t garner rave reviews, currently sitting at a disappointing 59 percent and 51 points (out of a possible 100) on review aggregators Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic, respectively. Let’s start with the positive voices.
Genre site Screen Anarchy praises the action. In terms of story and humor, the film shows strong weaknesses, but:
Leitch’s stunt background results in cleaner, clean, imaginative actioncopious blood loss, cuts and slashes, and almost enough suspense to finish Bullet Train [zum Finale zu tragen].
Slant has an unexpected amount of emotion in the action film:
Full of disarming tender flashbacks to the characters’ backstories and humorous detours, the story was constructed with the same level of expressiveness and skill that Leitch brings to the thematically powerful and often neon-laden action sequences.
Bullet Train is described as “Tarantino lite” by Rolling Stone, where especially the many Facets of Brad Pitt be praised, all of which appear in the film:
The leading man who plays quirky character roles, the teen idol who fell in love with being a movie star, the wild card, the endlessly munching comic relief, the edgy sex symbol, the American hunk next door, the A-list Veteran who lets his supernova aura do the talking. The negative voices about the action film criticize the bad Tarantino copy
The AV Club draws parallels to the films of Guy Ritchie and Quentin Tarantino:
Leitch’s dialog-heavy, brutal assassin film starring Brad Pitt at the center of a hyper-excited ensemble reminds us why Hollywood has all but given up on the Copying the successes of Tarantino and Ritchie. Not only is this film bloated, dreary, stupid, and slick, it’s also redundant.
According to the Guardian, Brad Pitt is the best thing about the film:
It rattles exhaustingly on and on with hardly any exciting and uninterestingly choreographed fights, cameos that briefly pique interest, and placeholder dialogue lines where the fun material should have gone. Pitts keeps in good spirits [den Film] refrains from dying completely, but he doesn’t have anything to work with in terms of writing or directing that compares to Soderbergh or Tarantino or Fincher.
At Little White Lies, the film’s clichés are scolded:
Maybe thought [Leitch]that enough time has passed since the heydays of Pulp Fiction and Reservoir that no one realizes how shamelessly their ideas are being stolen […]. The fight passages should save the movie but feel textureless and smooth. […] These sequences are digitally enhanced money shotswhich cover up David Leitch’s proven talent for fight choreography.
Bullet Train starts in German cinemas this Thursday. Then we can see for ourselves whether the action is convincing or not, and whether the accusations of a dull Tarantino knock-off are justified.