Bullet Train (1975) June 9, 2007
Posted by Cal in : Drama, Thriller, 1970s films , trackbackDirector: Junya Sato Cast: Ken Takakura, Kei Yamamoto, Eiji Go, Sonny Chiba Territory: Japan Production Company: Toei Productions
The Hikari 109 Bullet Train has an unexpected passenger – a bomb that primes itself when the train reaches 80KPH. Subsequently, if the train decreases speed below 80KPH, the bomb will go off - killing the 1,500 people on board.
Quite obviously used as a starting point for Jan de Bont’s Speed in 1994, it still has to be realised that Bullet Train is a different kettle of fish altogether. In actual fact, it is in itself a kind of remake of Airport.
Or at least it starts out that way. The passengers assemble at the start and all the classics are there – the spoilt pop star, the twitchy, self-centred businessman, the convict en-route to prison and of course everyone’s favourite – the pregnant woman. Plus we have extremely sweaty train driver Aoki (Sonny Chiba, in an exclusively seated role), the unflappable train crew and the guys running the show in the control booth.
A great deal of tension is created early on when the Control Centre discover the train’s been compromised and relay the information to the driver. However, what you expect to be a series of mishaps and challenges along the route never really happens. There’s one problem when a train ahead on the track has mechanical problems, and inevitably the pregnant woman goes into labour, but not a lot else until much later on.
The reason for this is that for quite a lot of the movie we follow the bombers. Lead bomber Okita (Ken Takakura) pretty much takes centre stage throughout – and at one point late in the movie I’d even forgotten about the train entirely! It must be said the film’s handling of the terrorists is unique and actually rather interesting – they are portrayed as human, compassionate and they elicit a damn sight more sympathy than the obnoxious passengers on the train. It’s an odd direction, certainly. Their cause (if they have one) is never mentioned, and they are always referred to only as “radicals”. It seems to me that they are in it purely for the money, rather than for any political motivation. However, not being particularly knowledgeable about Japan’s socio-political stance during the mid 70’s, it could just be a form of the filmmakers showing some tact by not naming any specific cause by name.
All this kind of makes for a bit of a jumble of a movie. Certainly the “disaster” angle of the film is a washout, as we don’t really see enough of the train and it’s inhabitants to care – and as mentioned before, they’re a pretty objectionable lot anyway. These films work by creating a sense of claustrophobia, creating the illusion that the viewer is also in the perilous situation, but when so much of the film is shot away from the train this never has the chance to work.
The version reviewed here is the unabridged Japanese language version released by Optimum Asia. At over two and a half hours, it’s certainly an epic (even the cut version is nearly two hours long), and I don’t think there’s enough in there to warrant that running time. But Bullet Train is occasionally enjoyable – it’s just that I can’t see myself wanting to watch it again anytime soon.
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