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I went to the movies to see Bullet Train. All in all, I would call the action comedy a good film. The comedy is sweaty at times. Bullet Train thinks it is more clever than it really is. That issue is front loaded, though. For the first half hour I was white-knuckling the quirkiness, which always felt forced, but as the movie went on the comedy balanced out, and the action is never at issue. It’s enjoyable, though far from special. I don’t even know if seeing it on an IMAX screen was really necessary. It didn’t feel all that epic, to be honest. There is one thing that would have definitely helped me out, though, and that’s not seeing the second trailer for the film.
The first trailer for Bullet Train got me hooked. I wanted to see the movie. As somebody who goes to see a lot of films, though, I found myself seeing the second trailer for Bullet Train, the theatrical trailer, a few times. This trailer sucked, because it basically spoils the film. Now, it didn’t “ruin” it, but the trailer was laden with spoilers. They showed so much! It was a bummer. When I saw that trailer, my interest in the film dropped considerably, to be honest.
Why did the trailer producers for Bullet Train do this? Why include so many spoilers in a trailer? Key elements of the plot in the third act are in the trailer. Literally there is part of the penultimate scene in the film in the trailer! A character who is not revealed until late in the film is straight-up in the trailer too! What are you doing, Bullet Train trailer makers?
Having not seen the trailer would not have improved the comedy or the craft of the film. It would have improved my enjoyment of the movie, though. I could have gotten more immersed in the story. I could have been pleasantly surprised by things. Instead, so many of the beats were already known to me. If you think you may watch Bullet Train, definitely don’t watch the trailer. It’s one of the most-egregious examples of revealing too much. Trust your ability to entice an audience!
