Directed by veteran filmmaker Shinji Higuchi and starring singer-actor Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, Bullet Train Explosion is the latest lively, highly-charged tentpole title on Netflix’s Japanese slate. Higuchi has made some of Japan’s biggest blockbusters, including Shin Godzilla, Shin Ultraman and Attack on Titan.

Bullet Train Explosion follows a ‘shinkansen’ (bullet train) bound for Tokyo, which soon comes under a bomb threat. The bombs on the train will explode if the train slows below 100 kph, leaving the passengers and crew in peril. The film is a reboot of the original 1975 movie The Bullet Train, which inspired the Hollywood blockbuster Speed — with the latter starring Keanu Reeves, Dennis Hopper, and Sandra Bullock.

Amid the high-octane, action-filled sequences, Higuchi’s film also offers up several moral questions about life’s dignity and worth.

“When we make a film, we can do many things,” Higuchi tells Deadline. “We’re like God — we can...