Bullet Train Explosion (2025): A High-Speed Thriller That Nails the Tension

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It’s not every day that a movie makes me hit the rewind button just to rewatch a scene. But Bullet Train Explosion? It got that reaction out of me more than once. For someone like me—whose attention span can only be rivaled by that of a particularly distracted goldfish—that’s a big deal. I usually start checking my phone the moment things slow down or someone starts monologuing about something I don’t care about. But this movie? It didn’t give me a chance to look away.

Let’s get into why this Japanese Netflix thriller worked for me, where it stumbled, and whether it deserves a spot on your weekend watchlist.

We’ve seen the "bomb-on-a-vehicle" setup plenty times before. But Bullet Train Explosion takes this well-worn concept and gives it a fresh spin. It’s a reboot of the 1975 Japanese classic Bullet Train, which, fun fact. So in a way, this movie is reclaiming its own narrative.

The plot kicks off with the Hayabusa No. 60 Bullet Train leaving the station on schedule. Everything seems normal until a chilling phone call changes everything: there’s a bomb on the train, and if it slows below 100 km/h, it’ll detonate. With hundreds of lives at stake—including a school class full of kids—the tension is immediate and unrelenting.

The filmmakers don’t waste time with unnecessary buildup. They throw you straight into the action and keep you there. This is one of those rare thrillers that actually earns its runtime by never letting the pace drop—something I, as a certified Easily Distracted Viewer™, deeply appreciated.

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What really got me hooked wasn’t just the premise—it was the execution. The way the authorities, engineers, and government officials scrambled to find solutions in real time? Absolutely fascinating. You could feel the clock ticking with every decision. I loved the workarounds they came up with—clever, high-stakes plans that were actually rooted in logic and not just movie magic.

Watching the railway and government teams build quick models, do frantic calculations, and clash over what could or couldn’t be done. You know, that intense, red-tape-heavy kind of chaos that’s somehow just as compelling as explosions. The stakes felt very real, especially as the train sped toward densely populated Tokyo, where one wrong move could mean disaster not just for those onboard but for entire neighborhoods.

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Now, let’s talk characters. Or rather… the lack of them. I mean there were a lot of characters but none of them seemed like they had a life before boarding the train. It's like they materialised only for the movie. Apart from the antagonist, who unfortunately checks all the cliché villain boxes (tragic backstory, generic grievances, daddy issues etc.), there’s very little character development. We don’t really get to know anyone on the train. No names that stick, no emotional arcs, no flashbacks to make us care deeply about their fate.

That’s not to say you won’t care what happens—you will, because the situations are terrifying. But you’ll be rooting for the train and the idea of survival, not any specific person. The train was probably the only "character" that I cared about. It had more personality than all the other characters combined.

The school group onboard felt like a narrative tool to raise the emotional stakes, which it did, but again—we weren’t given much beyond that. The passengers were strangers to us, and even most of the government and railway officials blended into a bureaucratic blur.

Still, maybe that was intentional. Perhaps these people were supposed to be strangers working a problem together, representing a larger collective rather than individuals. It works thematically, sure—but emotionally? It left a bit of a gap.

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Visually, though? Top notch. The filmmakers used actual bullet trains and tracks, and it shows. The realism in the shots—especially when the train is flying through cities or weaving through tight curves—is immersive. You feel the speed. You feel the danger. When characters are climbing between cars or reacting to sudden jolts and announcements, the tension is absolutely palpable.

There is some CGI, yes—but it’s not the overly shiny kind that pulls you out of the story. Most of the effects are subtle and used to complement real-life shots rather than replace them. You’re never fully taken out of the moment, and that’s rare for a film in this genre.

Some of the set pieces, particularly those involving high-speed coordination or emergency responses, were so cool I genuinely had to rewind and watch them again. And I never do that unless a scene is chef’s kiss levels of good.

Despite its 2-hour-and-14-minute runtime, Bullet Train Explosion never loses steam. The film masterfully balances high-stakes action on the train with the tense, dialogue-driven scenes in government offices. Rather than feeling like interruptions, these shifts in perspective amplify the urgency—reminding us that decisions made in sterile boardrooms can have explosive consequences on the tracks.

Each scene, whether it's a burst of chaos or a calculated standoff, feels deliberate. Even the slower moments brim with tension, giving us a breather while tightening the suspense. There’s a clever rhythm to how the story unfolds, with each storyline feeding into the next like cogs in a well-oiled machine. I never felt the need to check my phone—a rare win for any movie these days.

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I know the imdb rating is low with only 6.2/10 and I get why. The lack of strong characters, uneven pacing, and a villain straight out of the “Generic evil 101” handbook are valid pain points.

But here’s the thing—I had fun. I was invested. I didn’t look at my phone once, and for me, that’s a glowing endorsement in itself. The thrill, the tension, the clever problem-solving sequences… all of it had me completely hooked. If you’re the kind of person who enjoys intense, edge-of-your-seat disaster flicks where logic actually plays a role and the stakes never drop, Bullet Train Explosion delivers.

It may not be deep. It may not be character-driven. But it is gripping, exciting, and satisfying in a way that a lot of modern thrillers just aren’t anymore.

So yes, I’m giving it 4 out of 5 stars. Not because it’s flawless—but because it kept me so entertained, I didn’t care.

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