Bullet Train ★★★★

David Leitch

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

Brad Pitt's cameo role in The Lost City was great, but it didn't quite give us the amount of Pitt that we've been looking for since his last appearance in 2019's Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood. Enter Bullet Train: a fast-paced, slapstick, action-packed crime film with Brad Pitt confidently leading the carriage.

Pitt plays Ladybug, an assassin going through his own course of rehab and trying to complete his latest mission with as little aggression and violence as possible. But the other guests on the moving train have different plans.

The film does brilliantly at giving time to each of its characters, and no-one ever feels lost or forgotten, and that's because of director David Leitch always seems to have things under control.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Bryan Tyree Henry are the highlights. With constant metaphorical references to a beloved British cartoon, and a responsive cockney banter often found in early Guy Ritchie films. Johnson in particular performs both comedically and dramatically, as the film slows to allow its more solemn moments to breathe.

That comedy rides throughout, and although jokes are often met by a resounding giggle, sometimes the joke is stretched out just once too far. But this just shows the experimentation of both Leitch and writer Zak Olkewicz; they're seeing just how far they can take it.

The soundtrack is on the nose and it knows it, as are the action sequences, and the clever callbacks and the comedy set pieces! And it's that self awareness that makes it a fun action movie that even a Diesel will enjoy.

Bullet Train available in cinemas now