Published Feb 5, 2026, 11:00 PM EST
An experienced Editor representing Canada via Screen Rant's Team Anime, J.R. has been reading manga since the first printing of Shonen Jump in North America. This passion drove him to write about anime, manga, and manhwa since 2022, having recently served as Lead Anime Editor for ComicBook.com.
His favorite moments in media coverage include reviewing the series premieres of Zom 100 and Bleach: TYBW Part 2 back-to-back and briefly meeting Junji Ito at a VIZ gallery event in 2023.
Netflix has truly never had trouble helping films from all over the globe take off through its platform, with a particular soft spot among audiences for thrillers and action among other genres. Such is the case for director Hung Tzu-hsuan's 2025 feature, 96 minutes. But don't let its title mislead you, it's close to two hours of provocative, searing tension.
96 Minutes was released on September 5, 2025 in Taiwan before joining Netflix, quickly climbing the charts and reaching #4 worldwide for non-English movies from January 26-February 1, 2026. Featuring the talents of lead actors Austin Lin, Vivian Sung, Wang Po-chieh, Lee Lee-zen, and Eleven Yao, 96 Minutes tells the story of a diabolical bomb plot aboard two passenger trains.
96 Minutes Is Blowing Up Worldwide on Netflix
Quickly amassing 3.1 million views and 6.1 million hours watched on its first week in the top 10, Netflix's 96 Minutes is making quite a splash on the global stage. It tells the story of Song "A-Ren" Kang Ren (Lin), a bomb defusal expert reeling from the difficult ethical choices forced by his work, pushed into the highest-stakes situation imaginable.
While on a passenger train alongside his fiancé, Huang Xin, his captain, Li Jie, and even his mother, A-Ren is soon forced into a difficult choice where his train, along with one on a parallel route, are taken hostage by a bomber with ties to his past.
Given 96 minutes before the point of no return, he must work with Captain Li, Xin, and other passengers to stop the plot and, ideally, prevent any casualties whatsoever. The bomber, however, sees things differently, darkly contriving a situation where A-Ren is forced to choose who lives and who dies.
Netflix's New Action Thriller Deals with the Fallout of the Trolley Problem
Without diving too much into spoilers, much of 96 Minutes' tension dives into the classic and dark dilemma that is the Trolley Problem thought experiment. In the movie, A-Ren, just like Captain Li before him, must prevent one bomb from detonating aboard a crowded passenger train, despite the other ultimately being rigged to explode in that case.
However, unlike the classic Trolley Problem of five people on one path, and one on the other, each train is loaded with innocent, panicking civilians. The bomber stages this plot, pitting passengers against one another, while pushing the fallout of those affected by people like A-Ren duty-bound to prioritize the many over the few left to die.
As a result, it's a concise, gripping two-hour popcorn thriller where it's best to pay attention to the details as they're laid out. It's not perhaps the most inventive train thriller around, with South Korea producing more iconic classics like Snowpiercer or Train to Busan, but instead of post-apocalyptic or zombie themes, this Taiwanese flick is ostensibly much more grounded.
With nowhere to go but the final destination, 96 Minutes is a solid viewing experience from start to finish.
Still, the combination of action yet believable tension places 96 Minutes somewhere along the lines between hits like The Taking of Pelham 123 and Unstoppabble, with the former even getting a remake during Denzel Washington's weirdly specific "train thriller" era. With nowhere to go but the final destination, 96 Minutes is a solid viewing experience from start to finish.
English (US) ·