WARNING! Spoilers ahead “Bullet Train,”Now in theatres
This sounds like the beginning of a joke. “A bunch of assassins walk onto a train…”So, what is the punchline in this case? The case of “Bullet Train” it’s pretty predictable — almost everyone dies. And in this case, it’s all at the hands of one mastermind. One giant plan is all that’s needed. Many different players can get pretty confusing, and that’s probably why you’re here!
Don’t worry, we picked it apart for you. Here’s what you need to know for sure; just about every assassin on that train was put there intentionally by one man. That man is known as the White Death, and he’s played by Michael Shannon (yes, you read that correctly). He’s a Russian crime lord, who climbed the ranks by killing everyone in his way. He’s ruthless and terrifying and vengeful.
White Death put everyone on the train because of his vengeance. Each and every one of them was a bone for him. The Prince (Joey King), however, is his daughter. She was trying to kill her father via proxy, so she got on the train with Andrew Koji.
By pushing his young son off a roof, The Prince lured him in and intended to frame him as her father’s assassin, thus taking over his empire without issue. This leads to The Elder (Hiroyuki Snada), who eventually boards the train to protect his son. As it turns out, The Elder was part the original gang that White Death rose through and was then destroyed. He believed that fate had brought him and his son onto that train. What about the rest? Those were all White Death foes. So let’s run it down.
First up is Lemon (Brian Tyree Henry) and Tangerine (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), the two professionals who were hired to recover the White Death’s son (Logan Lerman) and the ransom money he pretended to pay to get to that son back. He asked for it. “the two who handled the Bolivia job”Because that Bolivia job resulted was the “twins” laying waste to the White Death’s crew. The crime lord had to clean up the mess and leave his wife behind. You’ll hear more about that later.
It didn’t matter if they returned his son or his money; he was going after them anyway. And that leads Brad Pitt’s character, Ladybug, to confirm that yes, the White Death planned to have his own son killed. Evidently, the child was just a messiah who needed to be bailed. He was seen by The White Death as a disease that must be eradicated. And that’s why The Hornet (Zazie Beetz) was on the train.
White Death chose The Hornet, his son’s killer, to take his place. She also took the poison from the surgeon who treated his wife. Apparently, his wife was so badly injured that only one surgeon could’ve saved her, and he bled out of his eye sockets before he could do so. The Wolf was traveling to The Hornet to search for his wife. She also killed him, so he did not have any connection with White Death.
Of course, the White Death also blamed his son for his wife’s death. And that brings us to Ladybug’s presence on the train. He’s the only one who the White Death wasn’t actually targeting; he was just there because of bad luck. White Death actually wanted Carver, the agent Ladybug was substituting for.
Flashing back to the night of White Death’s wife dying, we learn that Carver was driving the car that crashed into hers, and very intentionally at that. Carver was actually trying to assassinate the White Death, but the crime lord wasn’t in the car because he was dealing with Lemon and Tangerine’s mess in Bolivia (which is why he targeted them). He begged his wife to not bail out their son but her love for him was too strong so she was forced into the car.
A few seconds after the crash, Carver is seen wearing stunt driving gear and walks away unscathed. Who was White Death actually after? Ryan Reynolds plays Carver in the most unexpected cameo of the movie. (Though logically, it makes total sense, given Reynolds’ connection to both Leitch and Pitt via “Deadpool 2”).
Ladybug, however, is simply filling in on the wrong date. Obviously, the White Death doesn’t exactly care at this point and opts to shoot him anyway. Unfortunatley, him, he tries to use the gun that he took off The Prince — which promptly blows his head off.
Naturally, that’s the moment when The Prince herself emerges from the wreckage of the train, boasting once more about her luck. It’s short-lived though, as she’s promptly hit by a truck (driven by Lemon, of course. Details can be found here.
The Russian crime family is gone and The Elder, The Father and Brad Pitt set off home together. Brad Pitt also meets his handler Sandra Bullock. The car she arrived in is destroyed by him, but he’s not too upset. They’re happy to have survived the mission and stroll off into the sunset, presumably to take on the next one.
So, that’s how you untangle the knots of “Bullet Train.” Yes, it’s all very convoluted. But what good assassin mystery isn’t?
“Bullet Train”This film is now in theatres