“Bullet Train Explosion” Review
Director: Shinji Higuchi Screenwriter: Kazuhiro Nakagawa, Norichika Ōba Cast: Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, Kanata Hosoda, Non, Takumi Saitoh, Machiko Ono, Jun, Kaname, Hana Toyoshima Distributor: Netflix Running Time: 134 min. MPAA: PG-13
Although technically a sequel to 1975’s The Bullet Train, this action-packed reprisal lives up to its simplistic title. You won’t be disappointed if you were expecting an action film with a bullet train exploding multiple times. Some easter eggs are nestled in the plot of revenge and bombs, but they’re perfectly positioned more like bonuses than requiring the audience to recall a 50-year-old film. As someone who doesn’t have that nostalgia factor, I think this explosive film gets the job done, and it is more admirable for its expected action than rote assembly.
The Speed rules apply to public transportation being utilized for a terrorist plot. Japan’s bullet train headed from Shin-Aomori to Tokyo has been targeted by a mysterious terrorist, informing the train company that a bomb is attached and will detonate if it slows down. With the explosion of other bombs on trains, ensuring this isn’t a joke, the danger mounts as train manager Kazuya Takaichi (Tsuyoshi Kusanagi) tries to maintain order and prevent the passengers from freaking out in terror. His rookie sidekick, Keiji Fujii, and stern driver Chika Matsumoto (Non) can only do so much to keep the train from exploding figuratively or literally.
The film pretty much writes itself after that point. There’s some feuding among the passengers, including a washed-up politician and an obnoxious social media influencer. The terrorists’ plans involve extracting money from the government and exposing the corruption that went into the investigation of the previous bullet train incident. There are thrilling sequences where fights break out and passengers have to make daring treks across train cars connected with rickety extensions while still traveling at high speed. And, of course, the film ends with an explosive and clever means of detaching and rerouting train cars at just the last minute before the bombs go off.
From that angle, the film is more admirable as a procedural action thriller. More thought was placed into the intricate assembly of figuring out this situation, where the audience is quickly introduced to managers, detectives, and explosive experts, with credits appearing over them as they discuss plans to save passengers. This is for the best, considering that any greater thematic themes of bravery and empathy fall on quickly digested platitudes. There was little shock that when a violent aggressor confronts a disgraced woman politician, their conflict is resolved promptly with a meandering monologue about pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. Even the terrorists’ disillusionment with the world is contained by an acceptance of murder resolving nothing, and lacking restoration of hope through a charity fund. Scenes with that crowbarred sensation of human connection pale compared to the film’s wilder moments of having the bomb activations connected to a heart monitor.
Bullet Train Explosion lives up to its title and chugs along well enough for a thrilling adventure aboard an explosive train. That said, it’s hard to care for the characters, and the big mystery of the onboard terrorist is not all that impressive, even when roping in the events of the previous film that laid the groundwork for revenge. And at over two hours, this isn’t exactly a speedy trip. But for centering more on the exciting terror of a bomb-rigged train, this film remains on track for its entertainment value, since I doubt few coming into this picture will be scrutinizing the lukewarm politics or cliche monologues of the nihilistic terrorist.
