Bullet Train Explosion (Netflix) Film Review

Bullet Train Explosion is a Japanese Netflix action thriller that often feels more like an advertisement than a narrative film except for the outrageous stunts.

Bullet Train Explosion is actually a remake of the Japanese 1975 film The Bullet Train, which went on to inspire Jan de Bont’s Speed. Though at the end of the day you’d be better off watching either of those before this new Netflix film.

We’re introduced to the control room from which all of the bullet trains, commonly called Shinkansen in Japan, are supervised. We can imagine the hectic nature of the job right away. When an anonymous call comes through telling them about a bomb attached to one of their trains, panic spreads among the employees. Shortly after, the police and representatives of the government join them. Chaos breaks out with the different parties having different interests at hand. The perpetrator wants 100 billion yen, but it becomes clear quickly that’s not an option, and other ideas are needed.

When Shinji Higuchi, director of Bullet Train Explosion, co-directed Shin Godzilla in 2016 with Hideaki Anno, they delivered a scathing critique of Japan’s bureaucracy. While this film keeps some of that energy with the representative of the prime minister causing more chaos than helping, it’s the individuals on the train that keep sabotaging the plans to save them for selfish reasons. A politician sees a chance to make people forget about her recent controversy (Machiko Ono), a rich influencer tricks people with his faux philanthropist schtick and uses any chance to paint himself as a hero (Jun Kaname), and a whole class of students all come with their own annoying antics. But there’s one man who never makes any problems – if anything, he solves them: train conductor Takaichi (Tsuyoshi Kusanagi).

Takaichi is highly qualified, always remains calm in any situation, and has the guests’ safety as his highest priority. He would die before letting something happen to any of them, and he’s unwilling to leave even a single person behind. He listens to orders and fulfills any task without error. He’s the perfect employee and the man who represents the Shinkansen in this film. Combined with the frequent shots highlighting the beautiful shiny cyan train, Bullet Train Explosion can feel more like a big budget advertisement than a narrative feature.

Part of that is also the lack of dramatic tension. These kinds of disaster movies thrive on conflicts that can’t be resolved without creating further conflicts. But despite the unruly passengers things go surprisingly smoothly in Kazuhiro Nakagawa and Norichika Ōba’s screenplay. While it is admittedly exhilarating to hear what new crazy plan they’re about to pull off (at one point the train is simultaneously driving on two parallel train tracks with one wagon hanging in the middle), the problem is exactly that: they’re gonna pull it off. At over 2 hours, the length of the film isn’t helping it either. What could be a lean action thriller ends up feeling bloated and, despite the bullet train setting, slow.

The ensemble of characters is compelling enough to keep your interest, even if the thrills don’t quite manage to, and the actors are able to lend their roles the needed charisma (or lack thereof if required). But their development from annoyingly self-centered to altruistic angels is hard to buy. But then, that’s what the message of the film boils down to: together, we can do anything (and Shinkansen are pretty cool). I was expecting more from the director of Shin Godzilla.

Bullet Train Explosion is now available to stream globally on Netflix. Read our review of David Leitch’s Bullet Train!