What I’m watching: Two good movies in the same week

Date: 8/16/2022

In theaters: “Bullet Train”

This is an outstanding example of a classic summer movie: it’s fast, it’s funny, it’s filled with action and there are a few plot twists. “Bullet Train” is not necessarily a film for the ages, but it is a great ride for two hours.

Brad Pitt is “Ladybug,” a criminal for hire who is assigned to retrieve an attaché case by his handler, Maria (Sandra Bullock). Ladybug has been in therapy concerning his line of work, which includes the occasional assassination, and he is hesitant about what he is going to face on a Japanese bullet train heading from Tokyo to Kyoto. All he has to do is find the case and get off the train.

What he does not know is this train is loaded with people who also want that briefcase. It seems the case contain millions of dollars that is the property of the White Death, an enigmatic but very powerful Japanese crime lord. There are people who are also there to retrieve it for the White Death as well as others who have their own reasons to be on the train.

In fact, the train is also crawling with people who also seem to have the same goal: kill Ladybug. Ladybug, by the way, keeps an ongoing conversation with Maria about his progress in therapy and how he really doesn’t want to kill someone while he is trying to stay alive.

And yes, Ladybug is forced to kill.

The plot can at times be a little puzzling, but stay with it as the details are eventually made clear. This is a film with a lot of characters who we find out are interconnected.

Based a Japanese novel, “Bullet Train” was directed by David Leith, who is no stranger to darkly funny action films, having helmed “John Wick,” “Deadpool 2” and “Atomic Blonde.”

It’s a fun film, although violent and bloody at times.

On Hulu: “Prey”

Now, another entry in a horror franchise is not something that usually excites me. Do we really need a reboot of a venerable film from the ’70s or ’80s? Do we need yet another chapter in an ongoing franchise in which all the films look alike?

I was surprised by some positive postings on Facebook from some of my horror film pals and decided to give the new “Predator” film a try.

“Prey” is a refreshingly original entry in that franchise. The film takes place in 1719 somewhere on the Great Plains. Our heroine, Naru, is a member of a Comanche community. Unlike other women, she is training herself to be a hunter like her brother. The relationship between these two siblings is an important part of this story.

Naru encounters several things that convince her something large is hunting in the forest near the tribe’s encampment and that is, of course, one of the aliens from the Predator planet. You might recall they come to Earth to hunt both animals and people for sport.

Naru’s determination to find and kill the Predator grows as she understands what the creature is capable of doing.

Director Dan Trachtenberg understands what makes a great thriller, as he demonstrated in the remarkable “10 Cloverfield Lane.” Here he has a great script and a talented cast and the result is a very satisfying horror/action film.

Amber Midthunder is very impressive as Naru. She is the anchor for the film and delivers a nuanced performance.

For a franchise film that really delivers something new, check out “Prey.”