The Big Picture · Review · Top Five

‘Bullet Train’ and the Top 5 Movies Set on a Train

August 5, 2022/ 60 min/ Sean Fennessey · Van Lathan

Sean and Van Lathan review David Leitch's ‘Bullet Train,’ then each count down five favorite movies set on a train.

11 films across 3 segments.

AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.

‘Bullet Train’

Bullet Train 2022

David Leitch directs Brad Pitt as Ladybug, an unlucky assassin taking one last job on a Japanese bullet train packed with rival killers (Brian Tyree Henry, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Joey King, Andrew Koji, Hiroyuki Sanada, plus Bad Bunny and Zazie Beetz). Sean and Van agree it fails: adapted from Kotaro Isaka's serious novel but rewritten by Leitch and Pitt into a jokey comedy with no stakes. Van's take: a very violent movie masking itself with humor, like ‘Deadpool,’ with a cast full of memes over characters; both call it Kill Bill-inspired but a poor homage. Van pegs Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the best thing in it and Joey King as strong.

Van's top five movies set on a traincounted down 5 to 1 on air

No. 1

From Russia with Love 1963

No. 1. Bond and SPECTRE, most of the second and third act on the train; Van praises Robert Shaw's Red Grant as a nastier, scaled-down villain.

No. 2

Snowpiercer 2013

No. 2. Bong Joon-ho's class satire on a train that never stops. One of Van's favorites; his partner Kalika was horrified by it.

No. 3

Under Siege 2: Dark Territory 1995

No. 3. Die Hard on a train with Steven Seagal; Sean rides for Eric Bogosian's villain.

No. 4

Source Code 2011

No. 4. Duncan Jones's Groundhog Day-meets-espionage puzzle with Jake Gyllenhaal reliving eight minutes on a train. Van thinks it's underrated; Sean likes it but sees a third-act problem.

No. 5

Silver Streak 1976

No. 5. The Gene Wilder / Richard Pryor comedy, one of the first movies Van ever saw.

Sean's top five movies set on a traincounted down 5 to 1 on air

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three poster

No. 1

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three 1974

No. 1. Joseph Sargent's subway crime drama with Walter Matthau; Sean calls it one of the best movies of the '70s and a template for later heist films.

No. 2

Runaway Train 1985

No. 2. Konchalovsky's runaway-train epic from an Akira Kurosawa story; Jon Voight and Eric Roberts both earned Oscar nods. Sister film to ‘Unstoppable.’