Netflix is releasing Bullet Train Explosion on April 23, a new film by director Shinji Higuchi that updates the premise of the 1975 Japanese thriller The Bullet Train. The film centers on a Tokyo-bound bullet train rigged with a bomb set to detonate if the train drops below 100 kilometers per hour. As the vehicle speeds toward its destination, railway personnel, government officials, and a diverse set of passengers work to prevent catastrophe.
The film’s antagonist, whose identity remains concealed behind a voice modulator, demands ¥100 billion to disarm the device. Higuchi, known for his earlier work on Shin Godzilla and Doomsday: The Sinking of Japan, has a long history of incorporating public infrastructure into cinematic large-scale destruction. Trains have featured prominently in several of his past projects, including Shin Godzilla, where a Keikyu line train is destroyed, and Gamera: Guardian of the Universe, which marked his breakout in the world of tokusatsu special effects.
Higuchi said the original 1975 film had a formative impact on him. “It was the first non-kids film I saw,” he recalled at Netflix’s APAC showcase in Tokyo. He watched it at age ten after skipping school, an experience that shaped both his cinematic tastes and his understanding of storytelling. He drew a personal connection between his act of disobedience and the film’s focus on crime and consequence.
In updating the story for modern audiences, Higuchi and his creative team looked to younger generations for insight into present-day attitudes. He said that interviews revealed a widespread sense of pessimism about the future, which influenced the film’s character dynamics and tone.
The ensemble cast includes Tsuyoshi Kusanagi as the train conductor, Non as the driver, and Machiko Ono as a former politician. Other passengers include an entrepreneur, schoolchildren, and two teenagers with dyed hair, representing a mix of social archetypes caught in the same emergency. While the passengers contend with rising panic, off-train personnel try to devise ways to keep the train moving and avoid detonating the bomb.
Scenes set in the East Japan Railway Company headquarters show coordination efforts between dispatchers, engineers, and government agents. The film draws attention to processes and collaboration in the face of systemic strain, presenting public employees and infrastructure workers as the central problem-solvers in a high-pressure setting.
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Higuchi blends practical effects and digital tools throughout the film. Though he started his career at a time when tokusatsu was often dismissed by mainstream filmmakers, he has spent years refining how miniatures and digital effects can be integrated. “They would make fun of, poke fun at tokusatsu,” he said. “What I want to do is to take the best out of both worlds and put it together.”
Though the story is packed with action setpieces, Higuchi said that scale alone is not enough. He emphasized the emotional arc of the characters, particularly the sense of disorientation that comes from facing a scenario that defies everyday logic. “I like the thrill of seeing something that’s not supposed to happen, happen to you,” he said.
Bullet Train Explosion includes direct references to the 1975 original. Higuchi said the project originally had a different title but evolved over time. “The more we created, it became closer and closer to the original,” he said. One of the film’s nods includes a judo team among the passengers, a detail carried over from the original.
The story unfolds across multiple fronts: onboard action, dispatch room negotiations, and responses from outside entities. These intersect through a network of characters all trying to avert disaster while grappling with their own responsibilities. Government agents refuse to negotiate with the bomber, placing the burden of problem-solving on rail staff and private interests.
Certain scenes highlight coordination under pressure, such as emergency repairs and rerouting efforts, presented through physical movement, visual planning, and interdepartmental decisions. These moments carry a tactile quality, sometimes using scale models or track diagrams to lay out logistics, though some of the digitally-rendered climaxes shift into high-speed sequences with shortened shot duration and visual effects that prioritize momentum over clarity.
Though Bullet Train Explosion borrows plot points and music cues from its predecessor—particularly Taisei Iwasaki and Yuma Yamaguchi’s score—it takes a different approach to tone. While the original centered on the human cost of crime and desperation, Higuchi’s update emphasizes technical problem-solving and collective endurance. The film steers its focus toward professionalism and perseverance, creating a narrative shaped by the institutions that keep the country’s infrastructure moving.
Higuchi confirmed that he’s familiar with other adaptations of train disaster films, including the Brad Pitt-starring Bullet Train. He also mentioned an interest in the 1980 Bollywood film The Burning Train, which he hasn’t yet watched. Looking ahead, he remains vague about future projects, saying only that his next work is “very complex” with “a lot going on.”
