New Netflix film features hurtling Japanese bullet train with ticking bomb

Higuchi, the director of the 2016 “Shin Godzilla” (or “New Godzilla,") has reimagined the 1975 Japanese film “The Bullet Train," which has the same premise: A bomb will go off if the train slows down below 100 kph (62 mph.) To him, as with many Japanese, the shinkansen — as the trains are called in Japan — symbolize the nation’s efforts to become “top-rate,” superfast, precise, orderly and on time. One departure from the original, which starred the late Ken Takakura as the bomber, is that Higuchi chose to focus on the train workers.