BULLET TRAIN
On Friday, August 5, 2022, David Leitch’s thrilling and star-studded action movie BULLET TRAIN will speed its way into AMC Theatres nationwide, welcoming audiences aboard a high-octane thrill ride and death trap filled with highly trained and incredibly dangerous assassins whose goals, and lives, are more connected than each of them could have ever imagined. Brad Pitt, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Bad Bunny, Zazie Beetz, and multiple other big name stars bring to life the lethal contract killers who are all vying for the prize — and a chance at serving an ice cold plate of sweet revenge — when this train departs from the station.
But before we go about booking our boarding passes and preparing for what could be one of the most hard-hitting and thrilling action adventure rides to land in theatres this summer blockbuster season, let’s first go back and take a look at some of Leitch’s previous efforts on the big screen. And considering the in-demand filmmaker’s prior history — he has worked on everything from JOHN WICK to CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR and FIGHT CLUB to NOBODY in various roles — he knows a thing or two about putting together some incredible action sequences and hilarious stories. Here are just a few of his movies worth checking out…
Atomic Blonde
Although David Leitch did serve as a co-director alongside Chad Stahelski on the 2014 action thriller JOHN WICK, his first solo outing behind the camera in 2017 with the bone-crushing and incredibly beautiful ATOMIC BLONDE. Starring Charlize Theron as world class spy Lorraine Broughton, the movie centered on the top-level MI6 field agent as she steps behind the “Iron Curtain” just before the fall of the Berlin Wall to retrieve a highly coveted dossier as well as an incredibly dangerous and lethal spy ring. And while getting in is no easy task, getting out alive and intact is next to impossible.
Like JOHN WICK three years earlier, ATOMIC BLONDE is nonstop action from start to finish, and includes some incredible set pieces and hard-to-believe long takes, including one fight scene that lasts an astounding 10 minutes. If BULLET TRAIN captures at least a small portion of this thrilling and bone-splitting action, then audiences will be on the edge of their seats and begging for more come August.
But it isn’t just the action that makes ATOMIC BLONDE such a tour de force as the movie is full of twists, turns, and revelations over the course of its 115-minute runtime, and will keep you guessing until the screen fades to black and final credits begin to roll. And this isn’t the last we’ll see of Charlize Theron’s Lorraine Broughton as ATOMIC BLONDE 2 is currently in the works.
Deadpool 2
One year after giving audiences one of the most inventive action movies in recent memory, David Leitch further cemented his hard-hitting legacy while also showing his comedic chops with the highly-successful superhero movie DEADPOOL 2. Back again is Ryan Reynolds as the wise-cracking and nearly immortal mercenary Wade Wilson, aka Deadpool, as he tries to protect a young and potentially dangerous mutant from a time-traveling super soldier from the future named Cable, played by Josh Brolin. But as the story unfolds, and the two larger-than-life personalities clash and clash again, they begin to learn more about one another and their common enemy.
Just like its predecessor, DEADPOOL 2 was full of both action and incredibly funny moments from the opening LOGAN gag all the way to a joke in the end credits. But don’t let the humor and near-constant gags fool you, DEADPOOL 2 has some mind-blowing action set pieces and more than enough superhero drama to keep you entertained throughout.
Hobbs and Shaw
The first, and hopefully not only, FAST AND FURIOUS spinoff movie, HOBBS AND SHAW was released in August 2019 and featured two of the franchise’s biggest characters — Dwayne Johnson’s Luke Hobbs and Jason Statham’s Deckard Shaw — reluctantly work together to take down a genetically-enhanced super-soldier-turned-terrorist named Brixton Lore (Idris Elba) and prevent him from unleashing a deadly pathogen that could wipe out all human life. Along the way, more of the two heroes’ respective family members are introduced, most of whom become involved in a back-to-basics action set piece that’s up there with the best the franchise has offered so far.
Taking the epic prison fight scene from THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS and following it up with an entire movie showed just how much fun David Leitch could get out of a movie and its two lead actors who have an extraordinary amount of on-screen chemistry. Around every turn is an incredible amount of action, comedy, and brilliant directing, including the early scene showing Hobbs and Shaw’s different approaches to their morning routine.
And even though HOBBS AND SHAW failed to reach the heights of the last few entries in the FAST AND FURIOUS franchise, it was a nice detour from the quarter-mile at a time approach of the series as a whole, and was a ton of fun.
Each of these movies have led David Leitch, and his biggest fans, to the point where we are at right now, anxiously awaiting the arrival of BULLET TRAIN. But that training isn’t too far off now and can be seen just over the horizon as it makes its way to packed cinemas around the country this August, and not a moment too soon.
BULLET TRAIN
