I was surprised to learn (afterward) that this Japanese adventure is a loose remake of a 1975 film starring Sonny Chiba of which I was unaware.  Watching it, I was constantly reminded of Speed, which has a similar plot line, and I was waiting with some trepidation when the speeding train would be forced to jump over a chasm from one track to another.  Thankfully, that never occurred.  Instead, I was subjected to an intelligent, thoughtful, exciting disaster drama.

Shinji Higuchi’s film plants a reported bomb on a bullet train running from Shin Aomori to Tokyo.  The train must maintain a speed of 100 kilometers per hour or the bomb will explode.  The train’s staff tries to maintain calm while the passengers begin to panic and their ride becomes national news.  Rescue efforts are tried; meanwhile, the bomber is revealed to be on the train!  The government gets involved, having to decide to change the tracks ahead of Tokyo to divert the train away, and its decision changes the conclusion of the story.

This character-driven story is fascinating and compelling, even in a different language (I watched the subtitled version).  A couple of subplots divert attention away from the danger yet deepen the connections among the passengers and the people trying to avert disaster.  Lots of helicopter and drone aerial footage follows the speeding train past empty stations and across the Japanese landscape in beautiful vistas that belie the imminent disaster to be.  There are also connections to the 1975 film’s story that help explain why the threat is occurring.  All in all, it’s quite a wild ride.  At some point I will have to catch up to the original, and then maybe watch this one again.  ☆ ☆ ☆.  19 May 2026.