Knee-jerk review: "Bullet Train"

1. A lot more complicated and layered than we were expecting.
2. The TV spots suggested a over-the-top action comedy.  But the movie is more of a puzzle plot crime caper with a strong Tarantino vibe.  Lots of colorful criminal characters and double-crosses and flashbacks and narrative sidebars and incongruous soundtrack pop songs and interlocking plot threads that don't necessarily all make sense until the very end.
3. If we tried to explain the story, you'd never get it.  It's dense.
4. For the most part, we're suckers for neon-lit, urban-jungle, samurai-culture Japanese settings.  Love it.
5. Brad Pitt is predictably engaging, but the real revelation here is Brian Tyree Henry.  He steals the movie.
6. Even though it's a late night train, the lack of other passengers - and train staff - is sometimes a little hard to buy.  Two characters fist fight in the empty(!) bar lounge and no one really seems to notice.
7. We think we're more jaded than the average moviegoer, so it's hard to surprise us.  And yet, we were surprised a couple of times here.
8. Do these trains really only stop for 60 seconds before the doors slam closed again?
9. "I'm not Carver."
10. Not understanding at all the many Thomas the Tank Engine references made us feel very old.
11. Hiroyuki Sanada is way cooler than most people.
12. It's not particularly original, but the assassin-in-therapy bit is a lot of fun.
13. There were some pretty interesting themes in here about luck and fate - one character claims to have nothing but bad luck, while another brags about limitless good luck.  Can we escape our fate or do we make our luck?  All of that could have used some sharpening.  It's gets lost in the noise.
14. The ending - where all of these crazy plot turns and characters finally come together - gets a little... much.  In fact, it almost sort of spoiled the movie.  For 100 minutes. it's a delight, cruising on style and plot twists and wacky characters... then in the climax things go a little haywire with overwrought mayhem and unwelcome melodrama once the big villain finally shows up.
15. It's the kind of movie where people are poisoned and blood gushes from their eyes.

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