Director: David Leitch

Writer: Zak Olkewicz

Starring: Brad Pitt, Joey King, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Sandra Bullock 

Synopsis: Five assassins aboard a fast-moving bullet train find out their missions have something in common.

If there’s anything that makes me nostalgic for the action films of the 1990s, it’s Bullet Train, a slick thrill ride that has plenty of entertaining chases and kinetic fight scenes but ultimately succumbs to an overstuffed plot of too many characters. It’s ironic that Sandra Bullock has a small role since the movie Bullet Train reminds me the most of is 1994’s Speed, a similarly action-packed summer blockbuster set on a moving vehicle with a big ensemble cast. 

But what makes Speed so much better is its simplified approach to the narrative, the characters relatable but without too much backstory, the humor and drama always realistic despite the plot’s glorious absurdity. Bullet Train could have been the Speed of 2022, but director David Leitch (Deadpool 2, Atomic Blonde) piles on so much plot and so many flashbacks throughout the crazy long two-hour running time that the film is only successful in tiny segments. 

Brad Pitt plays Ladybug, an assassin who’s had bad luck on one mission after another and only agrees to another job because of its ease: board a bullet train in Japan, fetch a silver briefcase, and step right back off. There’s not a lot of time to disembark once he grabs the case—only a minute—but there are plenty of stops along the way, and the confident Ladybug feels his bad luck is about to turn around. Alas, he ends up facing many of his adversaries, including the lethal brotherly team Tangerine (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Lemon (Brian Tyree Henry), along with Prince (Joey King), Wolf (Bad Bunny), and The Hornet (Zazie Beetz). Some cameos pop up along the way, too, mostly characters of little consequence. 

Bullet Train works best when it focuses on Ladybug, his many quirks, and his tireless mission to get the briefcase off the train even when he’s faced with one enemy after another at seemingly every stop. Brad Pitt has always been a compelling actor, even in brainless action vehicles like World War Z, and his charisma takes Bullet Train a long way, his line deliveries always a pleasure, his banter with the various characters sharp and well-written. 

The film gives him lots to do physically, and yes, it’s the many visceral fight scenes that make Bullet Train worth seeing, Leitch keeping the choreography creative and with as little CGI as possible. You can feel Ladybug always searching for a better weapon as yet another adversary comes at him with everything they’ve got, at one point a bottled sparkling water used for a blow to the head. Lots of good plantings and payoff serve the story well, like a poisonous snake let loose on the train, and a character taking one too many sips of a tainted drink.  

What the movie struggles with the most is its integration of all the characters while also serving up the audience all of their detailed backstories. We don’t need to stay on the train the entire time, it’s fine to get a glimpse at some of the eccentric assassins in flashback, but screenwriter Zack Olkewicz (Fear Street: Part Two – 1978) provides enough of it to bring the story to a halt and annihilate any consistency to the film’s pacing. It’s supposed to be amusing to look back at how many people Tangerine and Lemon killed in graphic detail, and I suppose it’s unique to get backstory on the aforementioned bottled sparkling water, too, Leitch including a segment that shows how the bottle got from a vending machine to Ladybug’s hand in a pivotal moment. 

It’s the final act where I felt the length most, the film introducing a big bad played by an Oscar-nominated actor late in the game who is given endlessly long screentime, essentially becoming the ultimate version of Roger Ebert’s Talking Killer Syndrome of a summer 2022 release; the narrative appears to be wrapping up before he’s introduced, and then there’s another twenty minutes of plot to weed through. 

Many actors are used well, like Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Hiroyuki Sanada as The Elder in particular, but many actors are sadly wasted, like Logan Lerman as The Son, who gets all of one good dialogue scene. And let’s talk about Sandra Bullock, shall we? She and Pitt reportedly swapped cameos, Pitt for The Lost City, Bullock for Bullet Train. So why does Pitt get to be an absolute riot in a few key scenes in The Lost City, not only funny and charming but also given a genuine character to play, while Bullock is just a voice on the end of a phone call before she appears in the last scene for all of a minute and is given nothing to do? This is technically her first action film since Speed 2: Cruise Control twenty-five years ago (if you don’t count Gravity), and it seems a missed opportunity to not have physically incorporated her character more, potentially in the final shoot-out.  

Overall Bullet Train is a mixed bag, worth seeing for action fans, but maybe at a matinee screening or when it hits VOD. There’s a tighter and better 100-minute movie in that 126-minute high-energy extravaganza with at least two characters’ long winded flashbacks dropped. Pitt makes it worth the ride, easily, but I couldn’t help feeling as I stepped out of the theater that it could have been so much more.

GRADE: C+

Director: Ron Howard

Writers: Screenplay by William Nicholson, Story by Don MacPherson and William Nicholson

Stars: Viggo Mortensen, Colin Farrell, Joel Edgerton

Synopsis: A Rescue mission is assembled in Thailand where a group of young boys and their soccer coach are trapped in a system of underground caves that are flooding

In June 2018, the entire world held their breath as we waited to find out the fate of twelve young boys and their soccer coach, who were trapped in a cave in northern Thailand. Deciding to explore the cave after soccer practice one day, the group found themselves unexpectedly trapped, as monsoon rains came in a month early and began to flood the cave, leaving them with no way out. It’s a story that quickly went international, and gripped thousands of people’s hearts for good reason. Everyone cared about the Thailand soccer boys, and wanted to see them make it out safe and alive. It’s no wonder that soon afterwards the rights to the story were sold to make a movie, helmed by Ron Howard. As someone who’s no stranger to survival and rescue movies, such as with his other true-story film Apollo 13, the story of the Thai soccer boys seemed to be in good hands.

Hopes were high after MGM decided to push the release date of the movie from its original April release to a more awards friendly November release, after test screenings for the film claimed to be the best in the company’s history. After MGM’s acquisition by Amazon however, the release was moved up once again to the summer release date in early August, adding a bit of skepticism as to what the film was really like. Thirteen Lives handles this story with much care, representing it not only accurately, but also filled with emotion that’s easy for an audience to connect to. Honestly, it’s easy to make a story like this one easy to connect to, and unfortunately that’s one of the only factors that makes this film enjoyable to watch. Otherwise, it tends to suffer from uninspired direction, odd pacing, and a longer than needed runtime.

It’s hard not to watch this dramatized version of events in Thirteen Lives and not compare it to the documentary on the same subject that was released last year, The Rescue, which received much critical acclaim. Unlike the documentary, Thirteen Lives fails to keep the tension consistent throughout the film. Focusing on the entire story, from the second the boys go into the cave, through the planning process, to the eventual rescue, many parts of the story ebb and flow in terms of how invested a viewer is to what’s going on. Starting with a bit of a weak opening, the tension only starts to build once we see the initial divers try to navigate the flooded cave tunnels. It’s only at that point that we begin to realize how difficult this rescue is, and how tense the journey is going to be.

Unfortunately, much of that tension is lost in the middle part of the film. For the two and a half hour runtime, I was surprised that they found the boys in the cave still alive only about 45 minutes into the film, and the rescue process only takes about the last hour. The 45 minutes in between those two events is a lot of discussion about how the rescue process should be handled. It’s definitely not wasted time, but it’s drawn out way too much, and I quickly transitioned from eager to see what happens next to tired of the next event not happening soon enough.

The rescue process itself, which should be the climax and filled with the most tension of the film, fits into this same dilemma. The procedure of the rescue itself starts off tense, keeping the audience on their toes as to whether or not this process is going to work and they’ll get the boys out. However, after the first rescue the rest just seem redundant. There’s nothing new or interesting that’s provided to make us feel as if this process is still dangerous, instead it’s played as if they did it once, they can already do it again. Because it’s based on a true story, it’s hard to keep the tension high when we already know the outcome: all thirteen boys come out alive. However, it’s hard not to compare again to The Rescue, which successfully keeps tension high throughout the entire rescue process.

Deciding to focus on the British divers who rescue the boys is an easy choice to make as well. Through this lens, we’re able to stay with the entire rescue process and understand what’s going on. It also provides the narrative with two central characters who the audience can attach themselves to throughout the course of events. Unfortunately, Howard fails to really bring these characters to life. While the acting from both Colin Farrell and Viggo Mortenson is well done as usual, I fail to really understand who these divers are, or what their motivations and morals are. Apart from being called in to help from the Thai government, it feels as if they’re just there because they have to be, simply fulfilling a job. There’s not much complexity to them, and it’s hard to care about the boys at the center of this story when it feels like the movie doesn’t really care about them much either.

As we learned as this story unfolded back in 2018, it’s hard not to become invested in the thirteen lives of these soccer boys that the film portrays. Unfortunately, the story itself shouldn’t be the only reason a film is interesting. Nevertheless, it succeeds in what it’s trying to do, and I definitely felt that it was worth the watch, along with the time I invested into viewing it.

Grade: B

Director: Dan Trachtenberg

Writer: Dan Trachtenberg and Patrick Aison

Stars: Amber Midthunder, Dakota Beavers, and Dane DiLiegro

Synopsis: The origin story of the Predator in the world of the Comanche Nation 300 years ago. Naru, a skilled female warrior, fights to protect her tribe against one of the first highly-evolved Predators to land on Earth.

Prey, the prequel to 1987’s Predator, was released on Hulu (or Disney+ via subchannel Star worldwide) this weekend. Directed by Dan Trachtenberg (10 Cloverfield Lane), Prey tells the story of a young Comanche woman, Naru (Amber Midthunder), who must defend her village against a foreign alien with advanced technology and a desire to kill anything that moves. This film is a return to form for the franchise, returning to the roots of John McTiernan’s 1987 classic. From the script to the screen, this is a pristine work of art that you must check out. 

Much like Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Dutch in the original, Naru is the anchor to this story, whose own ability to adapt to the situation is tested in every scene. And just as before, there is a tremendous weight placed on Midthunder to make these trials seem believable. To that end, she isn’t just an effective actress in the role, she’s a dominant powerhouse for the film. Whether it’s a tense battle with a lion or a glance across the great Comanche nation, Midthunder accentuates the humanity of Naru in every sequence. The emotional beats land thanks to her stellar performance that makes us feel Naru’s drive for success and acceptance as a hunter in her tribe. And that supercharged performance leads to some of the greatest showdowns in the action-thriller genre, where the audience is fully in tune with Naru’s fight to survive. But it’s not just the action where Midthunder shines. As noted previously, the restful scenes land with added potency thanks to her own serenity in the wild. There’s much to learn about this world, and Midthunder brings that reverence for nature to this role. Compared to every other protagonist from the franchise, Midthunder outshines them all. And thanks to the chemistry between her and fellow Native actor Dakota Beavers, the sibling relationship between Naru and her older brother Taabe soars. Beavers brings in the confidence and wisdom needed to the older brother role, and his screen presence endears us to his character immediately. Added to this is the work of the American Dingo named Coco, who portrays Sarii in the film. Dog trainer Lori Boyle deserves a ton of praise for her work, as Sarii is truly one of the greatest on-screen dogs of all time, working overtime to be cute, loyal, determined and ready to defend Naru against fictional creatures. Coco’s performance against other predators in the wild is so good it convinces you those predators were on screen simultaneously, despite them all being created in post-production through CGI.

These performances are all caught on camera by the director of photography Jeff Cutter, and his work here is simply stunning. Whether it’s a wide shot of the new world or a closeup of a hand axe, the film’s composition is constantly captivating. His implementation of tracking shots and rack focuses constantly move the story forward, pulling the audience into this story. Additionally, the editing of the film allows each shot to stand on its own. Thanks to the use of dolly shots, every scene is able to build energy without the need for fast cutting, and it makes the action bigger and the subtler moments stand out, too. Those subtle moments can be a conversation between Taabe and Naru, but they also are insert shots of objects found in this world. A cigar is given as much importance as the Predator’s weapons, and that drives home the message of this film in powerful ways. 

Adding to all this is Sarah Schachner’s score for Prey, which is propulsive, eerie, and truly transportive. Much like her work on the Assassin’s Creed franchise, Schachner is able to tell so much about a time period just through the instrument selection. The larger role of string instruments, clashing with the many drums, makes this a score to remember. The arrangements tell of the many tones of the pre-colonial Comanche world; it tells of a world with both peace and violence, a world set on survival and remembrance. It’s a score that never forgets the world it’s in, and when foreign invaders arrive, its tone transforms entirely. The instruments remain the same, but the rhythm is completely changed. What was once peaceful with a burst of violence is inverted. It builds apprehension in the downtime, constantly moving forward as if war is all around you. It elevates the terror in each scene in ways few films ever do. 

Adding to that tension is the wonderful soundscape of the film. Whether it’s the work of the foley artists that bring the jungles to life, sound designer James Miller’s mechanical approach to the Predator’s weapon arsenal, Prey sounds stupendous. Every weapon moves with deadly precision in its sound. The bows and axes hit their targets with a satisfying thump, and the muskets and flintlock pistols go off with huge booms, followed by the hilariously long reload of course. And when the hunt has ended, nature begins to breathe in its own rhythm. The rivers, the trees, the wind and the bogs are all present in the film’s mix. Nature isn’t always peaceful, but it’s captivating in all the best ways.

All of those technical elements are nothing without a story. And as with every other element I have mentioned, the story by Patrick Aison and Dan Trachtenberg returns to those very roots that made Predator great. It uses different storytelling techniques, but the core of it remains the same: Use the Predator to comment on historical events and injustices by placing it in a time period and setting filled with heavily skewed power dynamics. In Predator, that setting was the Vietnamese Jungle during the Vietnam war, where the genre twist commented on the horrors of the war for many Americans who went in unprepared for guerilla combat. The Predator was both a symbol of that horror and of the horror of American Interventionism simultaneously. 

Now, in Prey, Trachtenberg and Aison utilize the Comanche nation to comment on the colonization of the New World. The Predator becomes a symbol of much more in this film; it’s a foreign people that invade the territory of others and hunt them for sport with better technology and an unknown language. The monster once again becomes a symbol of injustice in the world and gets to inflict its harsh karma on the colonizers in the process. This symbol is once again made crystal clear, as the screenplay places a heavy emphasis on the colonization of the Comanche nation before we even see the Predator in action.

Of course, adding to all of this is the effortlessly brilliant period design that creates the New World of 1719. Kara Lindstrom’s production design is nothing short of breathtaking, transporting us to that time period through simple yet effective sets. It’s minimal in nature, with Tipis and tents being the largest man-made objects, but when combined with the tree-laden setting it captures this time period better than ever before. And Stephanie Porter’s costumes are equally stunning, giving the needed depth to associate these characters with a culture immediately. Props and makeup are used to great effect, both for the storytelling and for the portrayal of the Comanche people. And that portrayal is truly stellar, as it lets the culture shine through at all moments. Whether it’s a coming-of-age ceremony or the gathering of herbs and medicine, it truly lets those moments shine without talking down to them. This is clearly an effect of having multiple native American and indigenous actors take part in the creation of the film, and more films should strive to tell these stories. 

I loved Prey. I think it’s the best summer “blockbuster” of the year. It’s accessible to all on Disney+/Hulu/Star, and I highly recommend watching the film. It’s also launched with the Comanche dub, which is absolutely stellar and worth checking out. 

GRADE: A+

Director: Quinn Shephard

Writer: Quinn Shephard

Stars: Zoey Deutch, Dylan O’Brien, and Mia Isaac

Synopsis: An ambitious young woman finds followers and fame when she poses as the survivor of a deadly attack, but she soon learns that online notoriety comes with a terrible price.

Every year we get these kinds of snarky satires and each time it’s a reminder of the miracle that is Michael Bay’s Pain & Gain. It’s a mystery as to how he pulled it off, but that film is pretty masterful as a ridiculous mockery that never sways from its tone and over-the-top style. Even as things get absurdly out of control, it leans into its excessive behavior and the result is wildly entertaining.

Not Okay has its heart in the right places, but it’s frustratingly uneven as a satire. Regardless of whether its humor works, and mostly it’s hit or miss, you can’t question its commitment to the parody it’s aiming for. Danni (played wonderfully by Zoey Deutch) works for a magazine called Depravity (no obvious commentary there) and she’s an aspiring writer despite the fact that she’s a photo editor. One of her co-workers Colin (Dylan O’Brien playing the thirst trap) is somewhat popular and she has her eye on him. In her attempts to capture his attention, and the world at large, she Photoshop’s a “work” trip to Paris to garner clout. However, a tragic bombing takes place in Paris and, to continue the lie, she despicably exploits trauma to render empathy from everyone around her. Throughout all of this, Not Okay is a clear mockery of clout chasing and the extreme lengths people go to for attention.