Without losing enthusiasm...

If you know, from multiple experiences, that everything is going to go wrong, would you move forward?

Well, Ladybug (Brad Pitt), one of the main assassins in 'The Bullet Train' (2022), doesn't stop to think about it too much.

During its journey from Tokyo to Morioka, several assassins meet on the Shinkansen or bullet train: the brothers Tangerine and Lemon, Ladybug, The Wolf, Hornet, Prince, among others.

Each one has defined missions (deliver, steal, get revenge, be recognized...) and, to increase the suspense, some missions hinder or harm others, which intensifies the various conflicts from the first minutes.

Ladybug must steal a suitcase full of money and get off at the next station. He reluctantly accepts his assignment, of course, but he accepts it. He complains to his officer Maria about his bad luck: he was almost run over by a truck, a jumper landed on the roof of his car, he collided with people and lost his things, etc.

He also does not want to carry firearms or any other type of weapons, because due to his bad luck, he fears that he might have to use them.

All these apprehensions and "preventions" are seasoned with fragments of analytical theories and poorly digested self-help recipes, which the character regularly quotes.

Is my favorite on-screen killer a ridiculous guy? It might seem that his somewhat erratic behavior, together with his real bad luck, resembles the attitudes adopted by children and madmen; but something stronger than his fear pushes him forward, something he cannot understand and yet calls to him. This "something" is his almost divine dimension, that of a trickster or rogue god, which in the mouth of another character (the Old Man) takes on the augural name of Tentomouchi (Ladybug, in Japanese), who "contains all the bad luck so that others may live in peace." From there, Ladybug understands her "destiny": what goes wrong redounds to benefit, to the fulfillment of purpose. Or as the saying goes: "what happens, suits."

Another trait of his character that may seem incoherent to many viewers and that leads to many moments of black humor, is his predisposition to reach agreements with his aggressors or enemies. Even after he gets rid of them, this characteristic persists through his style of "how can I help you even if you're dying?", or by placing their bodies in positions that simulate comfort or aesthetics, that make them seem pleasantly asleep.

The good chemistry that Ladybug creates with Tangerine and Lemon, his respectable adversaries, is ambiguous but justified due to their respective purposes, as they are complicated alliances that redound to the benefit of the dramatic progression (they will face a greater evil), and the good rhythm of the criminal comedy.

In short, I love Ladybug as a character. He is simple and complicated, funny and serious at the same time. He is a bully, but also a diplomatic and compassionate guy; many things go wrong for him and he gets tangled up, but he persists in facing obstacles. Perhaps he is, among the criminals in the cinema, the incarnation of that phrase by Winston Churchill: "Success consists of going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm", and I would add regarding Ladybug "...and without losing your head, literally and metaphorically", although he knows how to take the experiences of his life half seriously and half jokingly.

IMDb gave the film a 7.3/10. I would have liked it to reach 8.5/10.

We'll have to pay a visit to those critics who didn't like the film. Don't you think so, Maria? Jjj.