Updated On: 03 August, 2022 11:15 AM IST | Mumbai | Johnson Thomas
The narrative has Guy Ritchie-style intros for the quirky weirdos and so-sos and Quentin Tarantino-style lethality but the cross-generic comedic action just doesn’t cut ice. The non-Asian actors playing ethnic Japanese characters also make it ard to swallow

A still from Bullet Train
Director David Leitch’s cinema adaptation of Author Kōtarō Isaka’s ‘MariaBeetle,’ a 2010 Japanese dark comedic thriller novel which was translated into English by Sam Malissa as Bullet Train, gives an impression of a fast-paced slick actioner but that’s what it’s not. Far too many slow-mo sequences and several digressions into vacuous dialogue (that’s meant to be humorous) puncturing the stunt-action, depresses the overall enjoyment.
Ladybug (Brad Pitt), a has-been assassin who had to deal with anger issues, is called back into the fray by his handler. He is intent on putting the lessons of peace he has learnt in the interim, to test, but Fate has other plans, as his latest mission puts him on a collision course with lethal adversaries from around the globe. Everyone’s after a briefcase which contains the ransom paid for a kidnapping …but it’s not for us to reason why. We’re just meant to sit back and enjoy. That’s if you can keep your brain out of it!