The term ‘style over substance’ has been bandied about for this high-octane comedy-actioner from the co-director of John Wick – but it has a bit more going for it than just that.
This delayed review (after going on my hols) of this blood-splatteringly zany Brad Pitt-led ‘assassins on a train’ thrill-ride, definitely has a Quentin Tarantino Kill Bill vibe – and provides enigmatic entertainment that never gets close to derailing.
Pitt’s killer-for-hire Ladybug is seemingly going through a mid-life crisis by replacing gun-toting violence with a new Zen-like outlook – and is sent on a seemingly simple ‘find a briefcase on a hi-tech Japanese Shinkansen bullet train’ mission by Sandra Bullock’s mainly off-screen handler.
But alas, things don’t go as planned with several intertwining mini-stories involving multiple assassins – bickering Cockney ‘Brothers’ Tangerine (Avengers: Age of Ultron’s Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Lemon (Eternals’ Brian Tyree Henry); Joey King’s scheming princess The Prince, Bad Bunny’s vengeful The Wolf, Zazie Beetz’s (Joker) poisonous The Hornet; and Japanese gang member The Father (Andrew Koji) looking for family honour after disappointing his father The Elder (Hiroyuki Sanada) for not protecting his badly-injured son – all interconnect to the devil-like Russian crime lord known as White Death (Man of Steel’s Michael Shannon).
And even though some breath-taking set-pieces definitely have the bloody finger-prints of director David Leitch – who also boasts Deadpool 2, Nobody Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw on his CV – he leans more to cartoonish comedy that compliments the eclectic Japan-set backdrop. Complete with pop culture references such as Thomas the Tank Engine. A deadly snake. And a bottle of water with a ‘mind of its own’.
All of which distances it from the inevitable John Wick comparisons. For better or worse.
And while the frenetically-delivered stylising will satisfy most, as aforementioned the fairly-generic – kind of seen-it-before a decade ago in a different setting – storyline may lack substance for some.
But when the two are meshed together – especially alongside Pitt, Taylor-Johnson and Tyree Henry having a blast – this bloody action-flick is escalated above the genre average norm as it gasps for breath trying to balance the fast-paced comedy, action and script.
And just like the flashy train it’s on, this is polished stuff. It just speeds too energetically past the ‘Stop’ sign once in a while.
But when it takes a Pitt stop and regains composure to reign-in its many moving parts – this is worthwhile popcorn-crunching fun.
ESP Rating: 3.5/5
Gavin Miller
Showcase Cinema De Lux Peterborough, Out Now
Cast: Brad Pitt, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Joey King, Benito ‘Bad Bunny’ A Martinez Ocasio, Andrew Koji, Zazie Beetz, Hiroyuki Sanada, Logan Lerman, Channing Tatum, Ryan Reynolds & Sandra Bullock
Running Time: 2 Hrs 6 Mins
Director: David Leitch
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