Bullet Train (film)

Bullet Train is a 2022 action comedy film. It is directed by David Leitch (John Wick, Atomic Blonde). It is a Live Action Adaptation of the novel of the same name (originally titled Maria Beetle) by Kōtarō Isaka.

"Ladybug" (Brad Pitt), an assassin just returned to work following a hiatus, is in Tokyo, Japan at the behest of his handler Maria Beetle (Sandra Bullock), who has given him a simple assignment of grabbing a briefcase on board a westbound bullet train and getting off immediately afterwards. Unfortunately, he soon finds that things are never that simple. Yuichi Kimura (Andrew Koji), a Father hunting the person who pushed his son off a rooftop, is trying to make up for his neglect that earned him a chastening from his former Yakuza Elder father (Hiroyuki Sanada) by acting on a tip that the perpetrator is on board the same train. Twins "Lemon" (Brian Tyree Henry) and "Tangerine" (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) are also on board the train to bring back the son of mobster "White Death" (Michael Shannon), as well as a briefcase. Various other characters also make their moves, including a mysterious young lady known as the "Prince" (Joey King).


 * Absurdly Sharp Blade: The Elder's katana slices through train seats without slowing.
 * Actor Allusion: This is not the first time Hiroyuki Sanada plays a high-ranking (ex-)Yakuza whose organization is destroyed by a foreigner.
 * Archnemesis Dad:
 * Black Dude Dies First:
 * Briefcase Full of Money: The briefcase Ladybug's after contains both cash and gold bars.
 * Car Fu:
 * Chekhov's Gunman: A certain mascot keeps showing up and messing with the other characters.
 * Chekhov's News: A news broadcast mentions that a boomslang has escaped from a zoo. Naturally, it finds its way onto the train.
 * Contrived Coincidence: This gets a bit of a workout, in line with the centrality of destiny, fate and luck in the film -
 * Seriously, what are the odds of so many killers being on the same train?
 * Cruel and Unusual Death: Boomslang venom makes the blood congeal before bleeding horribly from the eyes and vomiting. If you don't get antivenom within 30 seconds, you're dead.
 * Dead-Man Switch: The Prince has someone in position to kill Yuichi's son if she isn't heard from at regular intervals.
 * Demoted to Extra: Minegishi was an important character in the original novel, and the son being escorted by Lemon and Tangerine was his. Here, he was killed in the backstory by the White Death during the latter's takeover.
 * Double Tap:
 * Emergency Impersonation: Partway through the film, events force Ladybug to pretend to be Lemon and meet the White Death's mooks alongside Tangerine.
 * Experienced Protagonist: Ladybug has been in the business for a while before his hiatus, including crossing paths with various other characters on past jobs.
 * Extremely Short Timespan: The whole film, barring flashbacks, takes place over the course of an overnight journey.
 * Foreshadowing: Lemon and Tangerine have a conversation in which Lemon says he's got a Bulletproof Vest on and Tangerine says he doesn't bother because it doesn't protect the neck.
 * Hoist by His Own Petard:
 * thrown knife bounces off the briefcase and flies right back into himself.
 * dies to her own venom.
 * The White Death likes killing would-be assassins with their own weapons. The Prince carries a booby-trapped pistol that she plans for him to try doing just that with.
 * Hollywood Japan: Between the Mt Fuji shot, taking place on the eponymous most iconic of Japanese public transport, the cyberpunk neon colouration, the demon-masked mooks, the Cherry Blossoms raining on katana-wearing Yakuza - one of whom is even wearing a kimono - framed by a torii, cute mascots and fancy toilets, it is an unabashed greatest hits of Cool Japan.
 * I Never Said It Was Poison:
 * Inferred Holocaust:
 * The Law of Conservation of Detail: It probably isn't too much of a spoiler to say that the briefcase Ladybug is supposed to grab is also the very same one the twins are supposed to be protecting.
 * Malevolent Masked Men: The White Death is initially introduced wearing a full-faced oni mask and several of his mooks wear mouth-covering ones.
 * Meaningful Name:
 * The Prince's moniker holds more significance than just being a sign of her parents' thwarted hopes of a boy. It foreshadows that she's
 * The Hornet is an assassin that uses venom as her Weapon of Choice.
 * Mundane Made Awesome: A seemingly ordinary Fiji Water bottle gets a title card and backstory.
 * Of Corpse He's Alive: Done not once but thrice with
 * Only Known by Their Nickname: Almost everyone goes by codenames. Yuichi is the only clear exception, since "Maria Beetle" is ambiguous enough that it could go either way.
 * Pocket Protector:
 * Race Lift: Most of the named characters in the original novel were Asian, mainly Japanese. Here, despite the setting staying in Japan, almost all of them except The Elder are white or of African descent.
 * Reality Ensues: Near the end, Ladybug and Lemon are having an Enemy Mine moment fighting against the White Death's mooks. Lemon says that he's found a new brother, and Ladybug and probably the audience are expecting this to lead to Fire-Forged Friends. Then Lemon scoffs, and the audience is reminded that no, people don't actually become buddy-buddy quite so easily.
 * Running Gag: Lemon keeps talking about Thomas the Tank Engine, including likening others to characters from that franchise.
 * Russian Roulette: The White Death also likes doing this to his would-be victims.
 * Ruthless Foreign Gangsters: The White Death is a Russian who climbed the ranks of Minegishi's organisation until he could secretly form a rival group, do a violent takeover, and supplant his former superior as head of the Japanese underworld.
 * A Simple Plan: Board train. Steal a briefcase. Get off train at next stop. That was all Ladybug was supposed to have needed to do. Of course, things didn't work out that way.
 * Small Role, Big Impact: Carver appears for less than a minute, but his causes the whole mess.
 * Soft Water:
 * The Stinger:
 * There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Lemon and Tangerine simultaneously stab a mook in the neck with swords.
 * The Voice: Maria is not seen in the flesh until the end of the film.
 * Would Hurt a Child: The Prince pushed Yuichi's young son off a rooftop, and has someone in the hospital in position to finish the job if she dies.
 * The Voice: Maria is not seen in the flesh until the end of the film.
 * Would Hurt a Child: The Prince pushed Yuichi's young son off a rooftop, and has someone in the hospital in position to finish the job if she dies.