As other reviewers have said, Bullet Train emulates Tarantino and Guy Ritchie films. Those auteurs really launched a whole class of films that mix some silliness with action, favoring lots of blood and squishy gore. At base, this film is no better or worse than those of its ilk. But the Tarantino and Ritchie films had novelty on their side. And at least with Tarantino, a sense of something richer, deeper beneath the surface. Bullet Train almost pathologically can't ever take it self seriously. Some films suffer by taking themselves too seriously; BT has the opposite problem.
Pitt is fine as ladybug, he's genuinely pretty funny at times, but his hapless character is the heart of the movie, and he's a bit of a dope, a therapy neophyte trying to see the deeper meaning of things, to be a better man, but only ever in an unserious way. Nothing really matters about him. Not even his wardrobe (is he going fishing later with that hat?)
Bullet Train is an action comedy, essentially, but the best action films and comedies always transcend the genre; Bullet Train does not, and will slide into the forgettable dust bin of movie history, cute little cameos or not.
Pitt is fine as ladybug, he's genuinely pretty funny at times, but his hapless character is the heart of the movie, and he's a bit of a dope, a therapy neophyte trying to see the deeper meaning of things, to be a better man, but only ever in an unserious way. Nothing really matters about him. Not even his wardrobe (is he going fishing later with that hat?)
Bullet Train is an action comedy, essentially, but the best action films and comedies always transcend the genre; Bullet Train does not, and will slide into the forgettable dust bin of movie history, cute little cameos or not.