Bullet Train (2022)

It is supposed to be a bit of Tarantino-esque fun, this adaptation of Kōtarō Isaka's book about five assassins aboard the same fast train in Japan, but there's something sad about it: not even Tarantino does Tarantino very well, lately; Brad Pitt in the lead role certainly doesn't manage a young and edgy "Tyler Durden" anymore; and by casting him and other non-Japanese actors in an American adaptation of the Japanese story set in Japan, the action movie inadvertently becomes a message film, with the message - the destructive influence of foreigners upon Japanese society - front and centre, an inescapable part of every crescendoing action scene, yet completely ignored.

★★☆☆☆

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The Wolverine (2013)

The Wolverine slices and dices his way through Japan where it turns out he is best friends since WWII with a Japanese industrialist, in this superhero movie far superior to 2009's X-men Origins: Wolverine, with humorous lines and nicely choreographed action including a spectacular sequence on the roof of a bullet train.

★★★☆☆

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Mr Holmes (2015)

The themes of memory, fact and fiction are explored in this movie that elaborates on the Sherlock Holmes canon, imagining the great detective at 90-odd years of age vexed by an unsolved case, but the movie's three distinct story threads are each so frustratingly thin - and in one important area, so unconvincing - that the impact of the interesting loftier themes is lessened.

★★☆☆☆

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47 Ronin (2013)

47 Ronin mostly disappoints viewers who watch it expecting i) a remake of an historical feudal Japan classic, ii) a big budget Gladiator-style war epic, or iii) a Lord of the Rings-style adventure fantasy full of witches and magic, which is a pity because if you watch it expecting a fairly routine Boys Own adventure, it doesn't seem so bad.

★★☆☆☆

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