Japanese public transport has been putting the rest of the world to shame for decades. Clean, efficient, safe. It is almost an indictment of where we are that an adaption of a Japanese movie set on a bullet train was, hilariously, set on a bus.
Now, the 1975 movie – The Bullet Train – that “inspired” Speed is getting a remake. With that wonderfully literal way of naming things that the Japanese have, it is called Bullet Train Explosion. You can watch it without a plane ticket by going to Netflix.
Bullet Train Explosion comes from Shin Godzilla co-director Shinji Higuchi from a screenplay by Kazuhiro Nakagawa and Norichika Oba. A bomb has been planted on the Hayabusa No. 60 bullet train heading toward Tokyo and will explode as soon as the train’s speed goes below 100 kph.
The terrorist behind the bomb demands 100 billion yen ($660 million USD) to disarm it, while railway workers race against time to prevent a massive disaster.
Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, Kanata Hosoda, Non, Jun Kaname, Machiko Ono, Hana Toyoshima, Daisuke Kuroda, Satoru Matsuo, Suzuka Ohgo, Matsuya Onoe, Naomasa Musaka, Pierre Taki, Yajuro Bando, and Takumi Saitoh co-star in the film.
The East Japan Railway Company was heavily involved, and real trains, real lines, and real rail facilities were used to make the movie.
Bullet Train Explosion arrives on April 23rd on Netflix.