11:55 pm: I watched and waited, and it didn’t kick in. It’s pizazzy and well ordered and visually dynamic, but it felt synthetic. I was always aware that I was watching a really slick film. I lost interest.

Earlier: From Todd Gilchrist‘s 4.23 Variety review:

“Bullet Train Explosion (Netflix, now streaming) meets a believability threshold that feels virtually unparalleled.

“Like his previous film Shin Godzilla, director Shinji Higuchi’s action thriller (a follow-up to the 1975’s The Bullet Train) explores with meticulous and realistic detail what a bureaucratic response might be to, well, a scenario that’s likely only to happen in the movies.

“Even without a movie star fighting his way up and down the trail (à la Bullet Train or Kill), Higuchi ensures that this scenario is no less exciting, relying on quieter but no less affecting acts of heroism as well as an escalating series of set-pieces that will thrill audiences until the last story beat has reached the end of the line.”