Bullet Train Explosion Review: Generic Thriller is Entertaining

Bullet Train Explosion Review: In this exciting retelling of Junya Sato’s 1975 film The Bullet Train, Kazuya Takaichi and his passengers on a high-speed bullet train find themselves racing against time to save each other’s lives after they realise that there’s a bomb on the train. Being used as guinea pigs to blackmail the government by a terrorist group, what will the passengers do in order to come out of this unscathed?

The film has a runtime of 161 minutes.

Bullet Train Explosion Review

Bullet Train Explosion is a spectacle of epic proportions that leaves us glued to the screens thanks to how arresting it looks, but it plays it safe if you look at the overall narrative. Directed by Shinji Higuchi, best known for Shin Godzilla, this Japanese thriller movie of 2025 modernises the classic 1975 film The Bullet Train — the same story that partly inspired Hollywood’s Speed. But while the stakes are high and the tension palpable, this remake occasionally pulls back just when it might have gone deeper, especially considering how breathtaking the Hollywood remake was!

At its core, Bullet Train Explosion Netflix edition rides on a compelling premise: a high-speed Shinkansen train has a bomb onboard, one that detonates if the train drops below 100 km/h. The anonymous bomber demands a mind-boggling ransom of 100 billion yen, throwing both passengers and railway authorities into a desperate race against time. But somehow, it doesn’t have the same impact that you’d expect from a film that, on paper, could never go wrong.

The film’s biggest strength is its realism. Thanks to close cooperation with the East Japan Railway Company, Shinji Higuchi’s Bullet Train Explosion offers an impressively accurate depiction of the Japanese rail system, which makes immersing viewers in a real-world crisis all the more realistic. However, authenticity isn’t everything when it comes to thrillers, especially with so many lives at stake. Higuchi takes this tense, realistic atmosphere and populates it with believable, grounded characters that instantly elevate the stakes. Despite the genuine attempt to make us root for these characters, though, something is left behind in execution that doesn’t truly pierce our hearts as much as you’d expect.

On that note, the film features a strong lead in Tsuyoshi Kusanagi as Kazuya Takaichi, the train’s stoic driver. There’s a nuance to Tsuyoshi’s performance that balances the speed and thrill of the situation while keeping a calm and collected demeanour. He truly bats that important balance out of the park. Kanata Hosoda plays Keiji Fujii, a crisis management officer trying to outwit the bomber while juggling political pressure and logistical chaos. There was scope to witness something deeper with his character, a moral or ethical dilemma perhaps, but we never really explore it.

The problem that I found with the film is that most of its characters feel like caricatures instead of being fully functional human beings with thoughts and feelings. Most feel like a token to check a box, and thus, it misses out on truly creating an impact with a cast of exceptionally talented individuals. I also think that the director stops short of the political and social critiques that made his previous work feel more urgent, thereby creating a film that looks and feels like an entertaining thriller but with an empty core. However, the cinematography is excellent and does a lot of the heavy lifting.

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As a Netflix action thriller, Bullet Train Explosion checks off many boxes — high stakes, realistic settings, competent acting — you know, everything that a typical Netflix action film gets almost right every time. Unfortunately, it stops itself from being anything more because of its clichéd narrative that doesn’t really explore anything other than the basics. It’s definitely entertaining, gripping, even, in parts, but is little more than that. Thus, if you’re in the mood to watch a film that does as expected but with a high production value, which is guaranteed to help you pass your time effectively, this one is your best bet.

Final Thoughts

There’s a lot to appreciate in this film, for sure. It’s a tense, well-crafted ride that blends different genres to deliver a film that is thoroughly entertaining. However, it never takes a risk and neither does it ever try to be different in any way. It’s just a better-looking film, for all intents and purposes. If you’re looking for a grounded, suspenseful thriller with real-world relevance and minimal fluff, Bullet Train Explosion on Netflix is worth a watch. Just don’t expect it to blow the roof off the genre — this train prefers precision over provocation.

Also Read: Bullet Train Explosion Ending Explained: Who is the Bomber? Is the Train Able to Stop?