‘Bullet Train’ debuts with a better Rotten Tomatoes score than the first reviews would have you think

Bullet Train‘s overall critical reception is becoming increasingly positive despite initial reviews that called it underwhelming.

When reviews began trickling in on Tuesday, the overall vibe seemed to be that critics were saying it was a by-the-books action film, as We Got This Covered previously reported.

However, when it comes to the aggregate critical score on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie boasts a 63 percent, as of press time. That’s not wildly high or anything, but it’s still a passing grade. That can be considered an achievement when you consider another action movie that critics considered by-the-numbers, Netflix’s The Gray Man, fell considerably short of that goal, at a 46 percent “rotten” critical score.

This all seems to point to Bullet Train being a film that doesn’t reinvent the wheel or anything, but definitely pulls off the execution. With Brad Pitt in the starring role and Deadpool 2 director David Leitch behind the lens, a karate chop of a movie experience is all but expected. Leitch, a former stunt man, was also an uncredited co-director of the Keanu Reeves-starring John Wick in 2014, alongside Chad Stahelski.

Over on the other most prominent review aggregate site, Metacritic, the critical score for Bullet Train is a little less impressive, at 54/100. However, eight of the reviews counted were positive, seven were mixed, and only three were negative. That is only a few points higher than The Gray Man‘s 49/100 Metacritic score, with the Netflix film having a higher percentage of mixed reception reviews, comparatively.

Make up your own mind by catching Bullet Train in theaters on August 5.