Warning: This article contains major spoilers for Bullet Train.
Bullet Train is a murder-riddled comedic thrill ride starring Brad Pitt in the leading role, but the film would have been better if it had followed a different protagonist. In the chaos of David Leitch’s literal high-speed assassin vs. assassin flick, Pitt is still plenty of fun to watch as the peace-seeking hitman Ladybug, whose characteristic bad luck keeps him stuck on a train filled with threats known, unknown, and unwilling to talk it out. As the fateful journey progresses in Bullet Train, Ladybug’s chances of completing his cash-grab mission and surviving the trip at all grow slimmer and slimmer.
Leitch’s star-studded cast is rounded out by the likes of Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Bryan Tyree Henry as hitmen partners Lemon and Tangerine, Joey King as schoolgirl-posing sociopath The Prince, Andrew Koji as desperate father Kimura, and more. Bullet Train also boasts several major cameos throughout its two-hour runtime that provide diminishing returns on entertainment, but the twists and turns on its narrative rails make up for the slight dips in pace. The screenplay, written by Zak Olkewicz, is adapted from the Japanese novel Maria Beetle by Kōtarō Isaka.
What’s most interesting about Bullet Train’s cast, however, is that Lemon and Tangerine (Henry and Taylor-Johnson, respectively) would have made far more engaging protagonists than Pitt’s Ladybug. The two bickering “twins” were cinematic gold, filled to the brim with singularly dynamic dialogue and surprising emotional depth for their bloody profession. This isn’t to say that Brad Pitt shouldn’t have been in the film, but rather that Ladybug would have fit better as a side character in Lemon and Tangerine’s story instead of the other way around.
Instead Of Bullet Train 2, Lemon & Tangerine Should Get A Spinoff
A Bullet Train movie prequel with Henry and Taylor-Johnson reprising their roles would be a much better track for this franchise to take than a sequel. Lemon and Tangerine’s dynamic as hitmen who’ve been like brothers since childhood would make for a compelling and highly watchable origin story. Henry's and Taylor-Johnson’s performances are the most electrifying part of Leitch’s film, and it’s hard to imagine they wouldn’t bring the same dynamism to a story focused solely on them.
This logic only supports why Bullet Train should have put Lemon and Tangerine at the crux of its narrative in the first place. The hardest-hitting emotional moments of the film are inarguably Lemon’s assumed death and Tangerine’s actual death. Their relationship, and the depths of pain each actor conveys in these scenes, would have elevated the story further if their characters had been the protagonists.
While the meaning of Ladybug’s codename in Bullet Train is a touching metaphor and Brad Pitt as the therapy-minded assassin is as entertaining to watch as ever, his journey as a protagonist just doesn’t hold a candle to Lemon and Tangerine’s fiery potential. The stakes of their vibrant connection outweigh Ladybug’s relatively uninteresting struggle to make peace with his luck. But, what’s done is done. Ladybug is Bullet Train’s main character, and for what it’s worth, he still has a great ride.