As Brad Pitt rides a Bullet Train to theatres, here are 5 essential train movies
Trains have become a major plot point in several movies, the latest being Brad Pitt's Bullet Train (photo: DailyO)
Brad Pitt's latest film Bullet Train released in theatres on August 5 and it promises to be an adrenaline-fuelled ride with most of the action taking place in the titular Japanese train. But when it comes to trains as a major plot point, both Hollywood and global cinema have a wide variety of options to offer.
Train To Busan: Stream on Amazon Prime
A modern classic, this Korean survival thriller came as a breath of fresh air as the zombie genre was haunted by cliched tropes and endless seasons of The Walking Dead. Even though the zombie virus outbreak envelops the entirety of Korea, the movie focuses on the plight of a particular train’s passengers.
Most of the action feels like it is happening in real time and the survivors resort to anything and everything that they can procure as weapons, ranging from baseball bats to even duct tape. But apart from the action, the movie also humanises its characters and shows how strangers like the train passengers can come together in times of crisis.
The Burning Train: Stream on Hotstar
A remake of the Japanese movie of the same name, The Burning Train is an 80s Bollywood cult classic that features some of the era’s biggest stars, including Dharmendra, Vinod Khanna, Hema Malini, Danny Denzongpa, Jeetendra and Parveen Babi. As India’s fastest train (very originally titled 'Super Express') makes its maiden journey from Delhi to Mumbai, its engine fails and catches fire, wreaking havoc for the ensemble cast trapped inside.
A product of its times, the movie is as over-the-top as it sounds, complete with the passengers literally tying themselves to chairs so that they don’t fall off, and the heroes using dynamite to blast the links between the compartments and the engine. It is this pulpy nonsense that makes the movie all the more worth watching.
Snowpiercer: Stream on MX Player
Before Bong Joon-Ho became a global figure with Parasite, the veteran Korean director ventured into Hollywood with Snowpiercer. Based on a French graphic novel, the movie takes place in a dystopia when climate change has turned the world into an icy, barren wasteland. The only survivors live inside a train called Snowpiercer that orbits the planet on an unstoppable route.
Even during the end of the world, class hierarchy seeps in as some of the dingy, congested coaches house the destitute while the rich ones behind the train’s creation have some of the VIP coaches reserved for them. A class war within the train is inevitable, revealing new secrets. A Netflix series of the same name continues this premise but it’s the cinematic original that carries the grittiness and claustrophobia of the train.
The Polar Express: Stream on Hotstar
A Christmas-centric animated classic, The Polar Express finds a boy getting aboard a train bound to the North Pole. He encounters an eccentric conductor and a batch of Santa-believing kids in what seems like a psychedelic fever-dream of a movie.
The Polar Express’s mechanism and speed is obviously beyond human understanding as the train is powered on some good old Christmas magic. But in retrospect, the movie is quite creepy if you think about it. No kid should just randomly climb a train just because it stops outside their window. What if it’s just a ploy for Santa to enslave children and make them work like elves! Guess an alternate ending might add more perspective.
Before Sunrise: Stream on Amazon Prime
Doubling as a tourism ad for Vienna, Before Sunrise is all about two strangers meeting on a train ride, walking, taking a bus, walking again, discussing art and life decisions while walking, and eventually falling in love. It is one of those bittersweet love stories that doesn’t focus on grand gestures but celebrates small things such as wholesome train rides with strangers.
Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy’s characters meet also in the most Tumblr-ish way possible. Sitting in a comfortable coach on Eurail (the cross-border train that traverses through multiple countries in Europe), they both cross glances while reading books. ‘What book are you reading?’ becomes an ice-breaker and the movie then plays out with a story strong enough for two more sequels. The lovebirds keep on walking in the sequels too, although they don’t embark on train rides anymore.