The Bullet Train

The Bullet Train

DVD released: April 9, 2002
Approximate running time: 115 minutes
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Rating: NR
Sound: Dolby Digital Mono
DVD Release: Crash
Region Coding: Region 0 NTSC
Retail Price: $14.95

Reviewed by:
Ian Jane on May 8, 2001

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The Film

Japan’s famous Shinkansen (or The Bullet Train) travels regularly from Shinijuku to Hakata everyday, and is an important lifeline of the Japanese public transportation system. Sonny Chiba (Golgo 13 – Assignment Kowloon and The Executioner) plays a conductor on board one such Bullet Train when the word goes out that a terrorist (played by Yakuza film stalwart Ken Takakura) has planted a bomb on board that will detonate should the train go below 80 km/hour unless the terrorists are paid a huge ransom.

Sound familiar? It should, as this 1975 Toei Studios picture was the inspiration for the 1994 Keanu Reeves blockbuster, Speed.

Directed by Junya Sato (The Peking Man), The Bullet Train is everything Speed wanted to be and more. It’s a tighter, more realistic film than speed with more believable characters and a more realistic outcome. What makes the movie effective, and one of the better Japanese disaster films of the 1970s, is that it’s unfortunately an all too authentic idea. It’s not too far of a stretch to imagine this happening in the real world, and certainly much easier to believe that a madman could plant a bomb on a train than it is to imagine a giant lizard could come out of the ocean and destroy Tokyo.

Bullet Train starts off at a fast pace and doesn’t let down the whole way through, taking the viewer along for the ride with the characters, another aspect of how the movie really comes together and pushes itself along. The actions and reactions of the crew and passengers on the train are things that might actually happen given the circumstances under which they occur. Fights erupt over who’s allowed to use the telephone first. A woman goes into labor. Passengers try to leap off the train. A television crew breaks out cameras documenting the entire event to sell if they make it off alive, and the conductor is absolutely terrified.

With a cast consisting of Chiba, Takakura, Sue Shiomi (Sister Streetfighter, Golgo 13 – Assignment Kowloon), Takashi Shimura (The Seven Samurai), Eiji Go (Tokyo Drifter) not to mention Tetsuro Tamba (Story of Riki), the film was a veritable “who’s who” of Japanese action and crime movies.

Video	2/5

The film is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2:35:1. and is non-anamorphic. The quality of the print used is for the most part grainy, spotty, and of generally poor quality throughout. The colors are also particularly dull. Though not as bad as The Executioner, the film could still look a whole lot better. It looks like it might have been mastered from an old VHS source.

Audio	2.5/5

The sound is presented on the DVD in Dolby Digital Mono. For the most part, it is clear and pretty easy to follow, though it’s hardly an exceptional mix. It would have been nice to be able to watch the film with it’s original Japanese language track, but we’re not given the option and the film is presented dubbed in English.

Extras	0/5

Just like The Executioner, there’s nothing here except chapter stops, a small animation on the menu, and an insert with the chapter stops listed on it. I would have loved to have seen some extras for this film, or at least a trailer.

Overall	2.5/5

Fans have been waiting a long time for this previously very rare film to get released on DVD, and although I’m glad to finally have it in my collection, I wish the presentation had been a lot better and the film had been properly restored.

Film Rating

DVD Rating

Director:

Junya Sato

Film: