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Netflix continues to deliver the action thrills, with the streamer’s latest disaster movie rebooting the action thriller that went on to inspire the beloved ‘90s Keanu Reeves outing, Speed. Boasting the perfect no-nonsense title, Bullet Train Explosion is exactly what it sounds like, and drops audiences onto a train that cannot slow down...or it’ll explode.

This adrenaline-fueled tale hails from Shin Godzilla director, Shinji Higuchi, and is a reboot of the 1975 movie The Bullet Train. Bullet Train Explosion stars 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, Takumi Saitoh. The action outing has now landed a solid score of 72% on Rotten Tomatoes, with many critics heaping praise on the balance of action and drama, as well as the movie’s ‘70s throwback sensibilities.

Bullet Train Explosion landed with a bang...

Pop quiz, hot shot: There’s a bomb on a bullet train. If the Shinkansen drops below 100 kilometers per hour, it blows up. What do you do? What do you do!?

Well, one thing you don’t do is confuse “The Bullet Train Explosion” for a “Speed” remake set in a country with a functional public transportation system. For one thing, this sleek Netflix spectacle is actually a remake of the 1975 Ken Takakura/Sonny Chiba vehicle that inspired “Speed,” even though “The Bullet Train” was itself a response to American disaster films like “Earthquake” and “The Towering Inferno” (pour one out for free trade).

For another thing, Shinji Higuchi’s glossy new version — as fawning toward the East Japan Railway Company as the “Shin Godzilla” director’s kaiju movies have been skeptical of the Japanese government — isn’t fueled by unleaded suspense so much as it is by the sheer...

From Shin Godzilla co-director Shinji Higuchi, Bullet Train Explosion crashes onto Netflix on April 23.

Go off the rails with the explosive teaser trailer below.

The film is a modern remake of the 1975 Japanese action thriller The Bullet Train, which inspired the ’90s hit Speed.

A tense phone call comes into the Shinkansen General Operation Control Center. The caller claims that a bomb has been planted on the Hayabusa No. 60 bound for Tokyo, and it will explode as soon as the speed of the Shinkansen train drops below 100 km/h.

The caller demands 100 billion yen to disarm the bomb. A battle unfolds as the crew, passengers, and railroad workers race against time to avert disaster.

Tsuyoshi Kusanagi leads an ensemble that includes Kanata Hosoda, Non, Jun Kaname, Machiko Ono, Hana Toyoshima, Daisuke Kuroda, Satoshi Matsuo, Suzuka Ohgo, Matsuya Onoe, Naomasa Musaka, Pierre Taki, Bando Yajuro, and Takumi Saitoh.

Shin Godzilla assistant...

Netflixhas unleashed the first trailer for what’s sure to be their next explosive action movie delight. Continuing to deliver the action thrills and spills, the movie has already carved out something of a genre legacy, with the streamer rebooting the action thriller that went on to inspire the beloved ‘90s Keanu Reeves outing, Speed. Boasting the perfect no-nonsense title, Bullet Train Explosion is exactly what it sounds like, and drops audiences onto a train that must maintain its high speed...or it’ll explode.

This adrenaline-fueled tale of the train that couldn’t slow down hails from Shin Godzilla director, who has already proven his affinity for merging spectacular visuals with human drama in the acclaimed 2016 kaiju outing. A reboot of the the 1975 movie The Bullet Train, Bullet Train Explosion stars Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, who reunites with director Higuchi after Doomsday: The Sinking of Japan. The rest of the cast includes Kanata Hosoda,...

By Justin Aylward

Kiyoshi Kurosawa, one of Japan’s most popular film directors of recent years, has made numerous classics including “Cure” (1997), “Pulse” (2001), and “Tokyo Sonata” (2008). Although many of his best films have received international acclaim, there remain a few underseen TV-Movies waiting to be discovered by audiences around the world. One film is “The Revenge: A Visit from Fate”, a short but impactful crime drama about one man’s descent into apathetic mania. If Kurosawa is respected as a unique director, known as much for creating ominous atmospheres and casual violence in his most successful work, this forgotten yakuza classic is sure to remind audiences of the man’s exceptional flare for crafting dread and angst.

“The Revenge: A Visit from Fate” stars Sho Aikawa as Anjo, a tough but moralistic cop with a traumatic past. Anjo witnessed his parent’s murder years earlier at the hands of a local yakuza gang,...

Stars: Tomorô Taguchi, Kei Fujiwara, Nobu Kanaoka, Shinya Tsukamoto, Renji Ishibashi, Naomasa Musaka | Written and Directed by Shinya Tsukamoto

After spending his youth creating short films and entering experimental theatre, Shinya Tsukamoto made an indelible mark on Japanese horror cinema with his feature debut, Tetsuo: The Iron Man. The writer/director/producer/editor also appears on-screen as a metal fetishist, setting the tone for this bizarre work as his character inserts scrap metal into a self-inflicted wound in his thigh. The sight of maggots within the wound causes him to run in fear, resulting in him becoming the victim of a hit-and-run accident.

The story then focuses on a salaryman (Tomorô Taguchi), who discovers a metallic thorn sticking out of his cheek while shaving. While he later waits in a subway station, a woman infected with metallic tentacles begins chasing him. This begins a campaign of terror upon the salaryman,...

Caution, Hazardous Wife: The Movie Review — Caution, Hazardous Wife: The Movie (2021) ) Film Review from the 25th Annual Fantasia International Film Festival, a movie directed by Tôya Satô, starring Haruka Ayase, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Rei Dan, Fumiyo Kohinata, Atsuko Maeda, Minosuke, Naomasa Musaka, and Shirô Sano. Memory loss, secret agents, corporate and [...]

Continue reading: Film Review: Caution, Hazardous Wife: The Movie: A Genre-Bending Series Follow-Up That Capably Stands On Its Own [Fantasia 2021]...

A dose of 21st century attitude mixes nicely with other winning ingredients in “Kingdom,” a thoroughly entertaining adaptation of Yasuhisa Hara’s hugely popular manga set in China, 245 B.C. Centered on two orphan boys who dream of becoming “the greatest generals on Earth,” this Japanese take on a Chinese wuxia is overwrought at times and too simply plotted at others, but wins through with colorful characters, top-class swordplay and snappy dialogue that’ll especially connect with younger viewers. Energetically directed and co-written by manga-to-screen specialist Shinsuke Sato, “Kingdom” grossed a whopping $50 million in local cinemas earlier this year and ought to perform strongly in limited North American release from August 16.

Taking its thematic cues from literary classics including “The Prince and the Pauper,” and adopting the high-spirited story-telling of action-adventures such as Akira Kurosawa’s “The Hidden Fortress,” “Kingdom” refreshes a familiar tale of heroes emerging from poverty to...

Based on the novel “Waga Ikka Zenin Shikei” by Tomohiko Suzuki, which is based on the infamous Omuta murders, “Death Row Family” attempts a “reenact” of the actual events, taking many liberties regarding the story, in exploitation style.

Death Row Family is screening at the 19th Japan Film Fest Hamburg

Takanori, the son of a yakuza boss, is offered as a scapegoat to another syndicate and sent to jail for a crime he didn’t commit. Two years later, he is released from prison. After reuniting with his girlfriend, Kaori, Takanori meets with his older brother Satoshi. He tells Takanori of his plan to rob the safe of the Yoshidas, a local family running a loan shark operation, whose members happen to be close friends with the two brothers and associates of the family. Takanori is reluctant, but after his brother threatens his girlfriend, he decides to partake in the...