Bullet Train ★★★ 

THERE’S a rule of film criticism that should be obeyed at all times – review the film you saw; not the one you wanted to see.

Apparently, the American action/comedy Bullet Train was originally going to be a straight MA-rated action film which, to be honest, is what I would have preferred.

That aside, what we get is a familiar-sounding, mostly entertaining attempt to merge a variety of cultural iconography fuelled with Tarantino-style dialogue and narrative approach that ultimately comes across as trying a little too hard.

Luckily the film gets by on the strength of its interesting cast that includes Brad Pitt in the lead role, Joey King, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, English/Japanese actor Andrew Koji, Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada and several very recognisable cameos that I won’t spoil.

Pitt’s character is a somewhat reluctant professional assassin taking on his first assignment after a period of self-reflection and therapy. His handler has renamed him ‘Ladybug’ and given him an apparently easy comeback task involving retrieving a briefcase onboard a passenger bullet train travelling from Tokyo to Kyoto.

Seems easy enough, but made extremely difficult due to the fact that, unbeknown to Ladybug, there are several other assassins on the train with conflicting missions.

Brothers Tangerine and Lemon, played respectively by Taylor-John and Henry, are working for The White Death, head of the world’s largest crime syndicate. They are returning the briefcase along with The White Death’s son after thwarting a kidnapping and ransom attempt.

Also onboard is The Prince (King) who is forcing The Father (Koji) to help her entice The White Death to the train and kill him.

The Wolf arrives seeking revenge for the death of his wife who was poisoned on their wedding day while The Elder (Sanada) wants to help his son, The Father, and also kill The White Death himself.

If all this sounds a little confusing, it isn’t; in fact writer Zak Olkewicz and director David Leitch do a good job of juggling the character threads and integrating the background stories.

Unfortunately where the film suffers is in the character interaction aspect of the script which doesn’t offer a great deal that is new or very humorous.

The fight scenes are exciting, as you would expect from Leitch, a former stuntman who co-directed John Wick and went on to helm Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2, Nobody and the Fast and Furious spin-off Hobbs and Shaw. It’s just a shame about the over-reliance on computer-generated blood, as opposed to old-school squibs and make-up.

The other problem is the over-emphasis on American style humour at the expense of the Japanese cultural aspects and origins of the story. A little less attempted laughs and more serious narrative would have gone a long way to making the film more impressive.