Warning: This article contains major spoilers for High-speed train.
High-speed train is a comedy thrill ride riddled with murder starring Brad Pitt in the lead role, but the film would have been better had it followed a different protagonist. In the chaos of David Leitch’s literal assassin vs. high-speed assassin movie, Pitt is still great fun to watch as peace-seeking hitman Ladybug, whose signature bad luck keeps him stuck on a train full of known threats. , unknown and unwilling to talk about it. As the fateful journey progresses through High-speed trainLadybug’s chances of completing her money-scavenging mission and surviving the trip grow increasingly slim.
Rounding out Leitch’s star-studded cast are Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Bryan Tyree Henry as hitman partners Lemon and Tangerine, Joey King as sociopath posing for schoolgirl The Prince, Andrew Koji as desperate father Kimura, and Moreover. High-speed train also boasts several major cameos throughout its two-hour runtime that offer diminishing returns to the entertainment, but the twists and turns on its narrative tracks make up for the slight dips in pacing. The screenplay, written by Zak Olkewicz, is adapted from the Japanese novel Maria Beetle by Kotaro Isaka.
What’s most interesting High-speed trainThe casting of, however, is that Lemon and Tangerine (Henry and Taylor-Johnson, respectively) would have made far more engaging protagonists than Pitt’s Ladybug. The bickering “twins” were cinematic gold, filled to the brim with singularly dynamic dialogue and surprising emotional depth for their gory profession. That’s not to say that Brad Pitt shouldn’t have been in the movie, rather that Ladybug would fit better as a supporting character in the Lemon and Tangerine story instead of the other way around.
Instead of Bullet Train 2, Lemon & Tangerine should have a spin-off
A High-speed train The film’s prequel with Henry and Taylor-Johnson reprising their roles would be a much better lead for this franchise than a sequel. Lemon and Tangerine’s dynamic as hitmen who have been like brothers since childhood would make for a compelling and highly watchable origin story. Henry 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 vibrancy to a story centered solely on them.
This logic only supports why High-speed train should have put Lemon and Tangerine at the heart of its narrative in the first place. The film’s most defining emotional moments are unquestionably Lemon’s supposed death and Tangerine’s actual death. Their relationship and the depth of pain each actor conveys in these scenes would have elevated the story even further had their characters been the protagonists.
While the meaning of Ladybug’s codename in High-speed train is a touching metaphor and Brad Pitt as a therapeutically-minded assassin is ever so entertaining to watch, his journey as the protagonist just doesn’t take into account the fiery potential of Lemon and Tangerine. The stakes of their dynamic connection outweigh Ladybug’s relatively uninteresting struggle to make peace with her luck. But what is done is done. The ladybug is High-speed train‘s main character, and for what it’s worth, he still has a great trick.
