Bullet Train Review: Jack Neo Can Learn Something About Product Placements From Brad Pitt's Supercharged Action-Comedy

Bullet Train: Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Brad Pitt fight over the last bag of cashew nuts.

Bullet Train (M18)

Starring Brad Pitt, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Hiroyuki Sanada

Directed by David Leitch

The Japan segment of Kill Bill on a shinkansen — that’s the elevator pitch for David Leitch’s high-energy action caper Bullet Train that sees Brad Pitt — channelling his goofball persona last glimpsed all too briefly in The Lost City — as a hitman hired to retrieve a suitcase (Tumi!) on the eponymous Tokyo-to-Kyoto ride. It’s supposed to be an easy-peasy gig until he finds out that there are other assassins (played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Zazie Beetz, and Bad Bunny). The result: a socko act from beginning to end, packed with macabre humour (you can learn a lot about life from Thomas the Tank Engine), gleefully glossy manga-fied visuals, Jackie Chan-inspired scuffles, surprising cameos, and the occasional odd moment or two, like a POV shot from a bottle of Fiji Water. Come to think of it, Jack Neo can learn something from Bullet Train about making product placements fun. By the way, do you know the movie’s runtime is just as long as an actual bullet train ride between Tokyo and Kyoto? Is this by design or a cosmic coincidence? Hmmm… (3.5/5 stars)

Photo: TPG News/Click Photos

Thirteen Lives: Colin Farrell, Joel Edgerton and Viggo Mortensen take a moment for a wefie.

Thirteen Lives (PG)

Starring Colin Farrell, Viggo Mortensen, Joel Edgerton

Directed by Ron Howard

Arriving barely a year after Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s compelling documentary The Rescue, Ron Howard’s re-telling feels more like a B-side to the 2018 global efforts to extricate a Thai football team (the titular 12 teens and their coach) trapped deep inside the Tham Luang cave. Despite its epic 147-minute runtime, the stellar cast’s valiant efforts, and the meticulous recreations of the caves (in Australia!), the movie still comes up short; The Rescue does a better job in spotlighting the participants’ backstories, notably the hobbyist divers whose unique skills allowed them to do what the military experts couldn’t. (2.5/5 stars) On Amazon Prime Video; The Rescue is on Disney+

Photo: Vince Valitutti/MGM

Prey: Amber Midthunder shows the Predator who’s boss around here.

Prey (M18)

Starring Amber Midthunder, Dakota Beavers

Directed by Dan Trachtenberg

Sometimes, in order to move a franchise forward, you have to go backwards. In this Predator prequel, set in 1700s North America, the extra-terrestrial headhunter’s maiden excursion on Earth — so ignore the timeline in Alien vs Predator) — is framed around the coming-of-age story of Comanche warrior Naru (a defiant Amber Midthunder), whose mettle is put to the test when her land is threatened by aliens — settlers from the Old World, as well as you-know-who from across the galaxy. The Predator kills are brutal, if a little familiar, while Midthunder gets to steal some of the thunder with her tomahawk-throwing proficiency. (3/5 stars) On Disney+

Photo: 20th Century Studios