15 Best Movies Like Bullet Train Every Action Fan Needs to Watch

If you’re a fan of the action genre you probably hadn’t missed the release of Bullet Train. Bullet Train, sometimes ridiculous and sometimes a stunt coordination masterpiece brings us the story of Ladybug (Brad Pitt) an assassin for hire on his way to his latest mission. Ladybug is stuck on the world’s fastest bullet train in Japan as he crosses his way with other assassins who all seem to hold some kind of a grudge against each other. Directed by David Leitch and starring Brad Pitt, Joey King, and Kotaro Isaka. Bullet Train has everything. It has slick action, impressive CGI, and comedy. 

So whether you’ve just seen Bullet Train and you’re craving more similar action, or you’re simply preparing yourself for the movie, we bring you the list of 15 best movies like Bullet Train that action fans need to see!

1. John Wick (2014)

Our first entry on the list of movies like Bullet Train starts off with a theme similar to Bullet Train. John Wick, released in 2014 and directed by Chad Stahelski brings us the story of a retired assassin named John Wick (Keanu Reeves). He is a retired assassin on his way to destroy the men that killed the last gift his deceased wife gave him – a puppy. In his quest for revenge, John Wick manages to entertain us and keep us at the edge of our seats in this brilliant action thriller. 

Where to watch: Amazon Prime

2. Train to Busan (2016) 

This is a classic zombie movie, but the train setting and action brilliantly executed while being confined to a small space are reminiscent of Bullet Train. Train to Busan, directed by Sang-ho Yeon follows a group of passengers stuck on board a train from Seoul to Busan while a zombie outbreak rages around them. The movie is filled with action and tension with just the right amount of horror thrown in. 

Where to Watch: Amazon Prime

3. Snowpiercer (2013) 

One more movie that shares a setting with a Bullet Train. Snowpiercer is a tense thriller that follows a group of survivors aboard a “Snowpiercer”, a train that travels around the world offering a safe haven for the only remaining survivors, after a climate change experiment wiped out most of life on Earth. Snowpiercer has a darker tone and gives us a small-scale insight into the class struggles of a post-apocalyptic faction-based society. What Snowpiercer does share with Bullet Train is the setting, action scenes, and the fact that both movies were based on a book. 

Where to watch: Amazon Prime

4. Runaway Train (1985)

Runaway Train released in 1985 and directed by Andrey Konchalovskiy had a simple recipe for success. Take different characters with fundamentally different lifestyles (and professions) make them form an uneasy alliance, and confine them to a small space. Oh and that small space is a speeding train with no brakes. Also, nobody is driving it. Bullet Train had a similar formula when it comes to characters forming pacts out of necessity and it happened on a train. It’s good enough for me. Runaway Train may be among the oldest movies on this list but its action won’t disappoint you. 

Where to watch: Amazon Prime

5. Speed (1994) 

Continuing with the theme of people stuck on a speeding public transportation we have to mention Speed. Speed is an action-adventure thriller directed by Jan de Bont, starring Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock, and Denis Hopper. The premise of the movie follows a police officer who needs to stop the bomb from exploding by keeping the speed above 50mph. It’s a brilliantly tense action movie with lots of well-coordinated stunts just like Bullet Train. 

Where to Watch: Amazon Prime

6. Ava (2020)

Ava is an Action Thriller movie about black ops operative, Ava whose assassination gig went terribly wrong – a theme that the movie shares with Bullet Train. Just like Bullet Train Ava is trying to settle the old scores and fights for her survival through every tense minute of the movie while a bunch of other assassins are on her trail. 

Where to watch: Amazon Prime

7. The Commuter (2018)

One more movie set on a train ripe with tension. The story of The Commuter follows not an assassin but something worse, an insurance salesman. He has been a regular commuter for the past 10 years but one afternoon everything changes when he is approached by Joanna a mysterious woman who gives him the task of locating another commuter, and when he does he gets $90 000 in cash. The deal quickly goes wrong and Michael MacCauley played by Liam Neeson needs to use his ex-cop skills to deescalate the situation quickly. 

Where to watch: Amazon Prime

8. The Magnificent Seven (2016)

Our next movie is not confined to a single location, but like Bullet Train it forces assassins, or in this case, gunmen to work together. The Magnificent Seven is a superb western action adventure that follows the story of seven gunmen that joined forces together in an attempt to stop a private army from decimating a single town. Rose Creek is currently held hostage by a single industrialist’s private army and the locals employ literal scum of the earth to protect them out of necessity. Starring Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, and Ethan Hawke The Magnificient Seven features beautiful scenery and action scenes that every fan of the genre will surely appreciate. 

Where to watch: Amazon Prime

9. Con Air (1997)

I mean you already get the pattern here. Most of the movies on this list are on a train like Bullet Train but to add some variation to the list I’ve decided to include Con Air. Con Air is confined to a plane, well most of the movie at least. It follows Cameron Poe (Nicholas Cage) who is newly paroled and onboard a prison plane on his way to return to his wife and daughter after serving his sentence. Just like Bullet Train con air was a confined space filled with unsavory characters, and just like Bullet Train, everything went horribly wrong when other prisoners decided to seize the plane in an attempt to escape. 

Where to watch: Amazon Prime

10. Nobody (2021)

Hutch Mansell (Bob Odenkirk) is dutifully playing a role of a husband and father. Things change when one day two thieves break into his white-picket-fence suburban home. In an attempt to prevent serious violence, Hutch decides not to fight for his family. Everybody including his wife and son are shocked and disappointed in him. The fact makes him go postal and along the way, Hutch’s secret past and brutal skills will be uncovered. Nobody shares superb action sequences with Bullet Train and a theme of a protagonist brought to the edge and pushed. 

Where to Watch: Amazon Prime

11. Gunpowder Milkshake (2021)

Gunpowder Milkshake directed by Navot Papushado shares a theme of “unlikely alliance” with Bullet Train. Gunpowder Milkshake follows an unconventional mother-daughter-grandmother trio of assassins to take down a common enemy. The movie has brilliant action scenes and a good measure of humor thrown in. 

Where to Watch: Netflix

12. Atomic Blonde (2017)

Atomic Blonde is a movie about a seasoned undercover MI6 agent sent on a mission that goes horribly wrong. Agent Lorraine Broughton (Charlize Theron) is sent to Berlin to recover a dossier containing information about double agents. Broughton has everything required for a mission of this caliber wit, charm, and lethal skills but when things go awry, she partners up with station chief David Percival (James McAvoy) in an attempt to survive. Atomic Blonde is a gorgeous movie set in the 80′ during the Cold War and the “fight to survive” theme is common in both this action thriller and in Bullet Train. 

Where to watch: Amazon Prime

13. The 355 (2022)

Our next action thriller might not be confined to a small space or public transportation but it features protagonists of different calibers forced to join forces and form an uneasy alliance. The story follows Mace (Jessica Chastain), Graciela Rivera (Penelope Cruz), and Marie Schmidt (Diane Kruger) as they fight for a piece of vital intel and try to recover an extremely lethal weapon that fell into the hands of the mercenaries. 

Where to watch: Amazon Prime

14. Kate (2021)

Kate is an action-adventure movie that, like Bullet Train, follows an assassin on her one last assignment. Kate (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) was an assassin on top of her game and while on assignment to assassinate a yakuza member she discovered she has been poisoned. The thing is, she has at least 24 hours to track down assassins and enact her vengeance on them. ( I don’t know about you but I would never give a professional assassin at least 24 hours to kill me). Kate realizes she is in a race against time while her body is falling apart. She also makes an uneasy alliance with the daughter of one of her victims. Kate is a brilliant movie with neck-breaking action scenes that is sure to entertain fans of the genre. 

Where to watch: Netflix

15. Extraction (2020)

The last movie on our list and the one that shares the plot twist with Bullet Train, a mission gone terribly wrong while in the wrong place at the wrong time. Extraction follows Tyler Rake (Chris Hemsworth), a mercenary who has been tasked with extracting a crime lord’s son that got kidnaped. Tyler Rake is aware of the fact that the mission is incredibly dangerous, and he even has a bit of a death wish, but what he didn’t expect is that the already dangerous extraction will turn into an all-out war between various drugs lords. Extraction is a tense action-thriller not for the faint of heart. 

Where to watch: Netflix

And there you have it, our 15 best movies like Bullet Train. Our list is filled with action-packed scenes, retired assassins, and mission-gone-wrong types of scenarios, we hope you will enjoy this list and find your next favorite action move on it! 

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