Over the last few years, I’ve been riding 87North’s dick pretty damn hard. David Leitch and Chad Stahelski, ever since they gave Keanu Reeves a turbo boost with the first John Wick, have been remarkably consistent in delivering some of the most exciting action flicks in recent memory. If the term ‘elevated horror’ is allowed to be in common parlance, then what these guys do has to be called elevated action. As such, I was quite jazzed about the chance to see Leitch in the director’s chair again. But while it’s definitely fun, it seems that even he couldn’t keep up his enviable momentum forever; he had to hit a lag eventually.
Let’s start with the cast, which is both incredibly top-heavy and the source of some mild controversy, given this is a story based on a Japanese novel, itself based in Japan, comprised mostly of American actors. Considering Kōtarō Isaka, the writer of said novel, is totally fine with the casting here, and I don’t like making a habit of being offended on behalf of people who aren’t themselves, we can put that latter point next to the American Ghost In The Shell remake. Be sure to pass the rotten fruit stand on your way out.
Besides, the acting choices here are so bizarre on their own, it’s almost unbelievable. Brad Pitt as Ladybug, a mass of self-help advice mushed into the shape of a human being, is kind of a letdown here, if I’m being honest. After seeing how well he and DOP Jonathan Sela gelled in The Lost City, I was expecting a bit more fireworks from him. But hey, as the guy who consciously decides not to bring a gun to the job, he does alright.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Brian Tyree Henry as twins Tangerine and Lemon respectively… what in the actual hell are these accents? As soon as Tangerine started talking, I had to catch my breath from the sudden rush of incredulous laughter, and I’m not so certain it was for the reasons these people intended. I mean, their chemistry’s fine, and the way that Lemon is guided in social interactions by Thomas The Tank Engine of all things (a rather Spectrum idea if I’ve ever seen one) is interesting, but those American-affecting-British accents take a bit to get past. And yet that isn’t the case for Joey King as The Prince, who is also on the Mockney tip, but maybe that’s because she’s finally in a production worth being in for a change and she’s taking advantage of it.
From that rough nucleus within the ensemble, along with a plethora of smaller roles taken up by Hiroyuki Sanada, Michael Shannon, Bad Bunny (in a surprisingly solid turn, short as it is), and Zazie Beetz, the film is paced a lot like a Guy Ritchie or Tarantino film. Snatch in particular comes to mind, with how this random mish-mash of character groups all end up in the same place through nebulous bouts of random luck. With each actor giving a ‘main character’ kind of screen presence, regardless of their ultimate standing within the plot, it at least copies the worthwhile aspects of such a film, but the tough-guy bickering can get a bit stale before too long. Writer Zak Olkewicz, who also worked on Fear Street Part Two: 1978, can only make this dialogue sing up to a point, as the actors may do well with it, but there’s not much here in the way of quotables. Well, outside of calling dickheads ‘Diesels’, I guess.
That is a bit of a minor point for this film, though. I mean, Leitch has been able to work past somewhat lacking scripts before, like with Atomic Blonde and Hobbs & Shaw. Unfortunately, the kind of magic I’ve come to associate with him and 87North in general is also quite lacking here. Some of it is an unfortunate side effect of the story being told, as there’s only so many ways that you can make action scenes fun to look at when they’re all happening with the same scenery, but the actual punches themselves aren’t as engaging on top of that. Stunt coordinator Greg Rementer, who also worked on Nobody, focuses more on speed and movement than the impact of the fight scenes themselves. I guess it fits with the film around them, with the bulk of the story and fights taking place on the titular Train, but it would have helped if they had more to them than just energy to make them stick out.
And yet that isn’t really the thing that most annoys me about this whole thing. No, that comes with what the film keeps insisting is the main theme of the story: Luck. Or fate. Or coincidence. Or any other synonym for what is basically the exact same concept. Throughout, we get snippets of dialogue that pontificates on all these people being in this same place, at the same time, and the larger machinations that led them there. Speaking as a Taoist myself, I certainly get the point being driven at here, as my own perspective of life is that it is made up of moments that are the result of any number of seemingly random events stacking on top of each other. Telling a story about people who think they are led through life solely by their luck or lack thereof (Ladybug and The Prince in particular function in this way), but come to realise that that viewpoint leaves out the ‘agents of fate’ (i.e. other human beings just like them) that create those circumstances in the first place, is a neat idea.
However, as realised here, it comes across more like the writer is trying to turn the presence of plot contrivances into something that serves the larger story… which doesn’t really work. All it really ends up doing is actively drawing attention to just how contrived the story ultimately is, engaging in the unfortunate ‘meta’ habit of pointing out one’s own narrative failings in the hope that that will be enough to excuse their use wholesale. Again, the idea itself has merit, but I wish it was being presented in a way that didn’t come across like the writer was trying to handwave away the laziness in their story structure. There are situations where “but it’s supposed to be that way” is an acceptable explanation for a film’s quirks, but personally, I don’t see this as one of them.
To be perfectly honest, this film is in stiff competition with Kate for the weakest 87North production thus far, and I honestly think I’m more likely to rewatch Kate before this; at least that film’s cultural blend gave me more to think on. It’s a credit to David Leitch’s pedigree that this still works to a certain degree as, while the flaws here are more apparent than I would’ve liked, the pacing and character interactions keep it from being a slog at any point; for a two-hour film, that’s the least I ask for. This does for action movies what The Meg did for creature features: Artificially charges a disposable B-movie conceit with Hollywood acting talent and production values. And coming from a filmmaker who has spent the past 8 years appraising the artistic value of ‘B-movie’ action, I expected more than that.
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