Bullet Train

A few months back, I watched an action, dark comedy called ‘Bullet Train’.  This post isn’t about the plot, but about the main character played by Brad Pitt.  They call him Ladybug, which is considered lucky.  Yet, he talks about and proves to have bad luck.  He also seems to have good luck.  How does this work?

Well, it’s both simple on paper, but appears to be difficult to pull off.  An unlucky lucky character will routinely wander into bad situations.  They just can’t stay out of trouble, which is why they end up in their adventure.  These are the types who will think they’re in the clear and step into a room to find every enemy and their 9th grade math teacher just hanging around.  It isn’t like the character was walking into a trap, but they are no running and fighting for their lives again.  The lucky part is simply that they always manage to get away and win.  It’s usually not by their own actions, but by a freak accident that goes in their favor.

I’m sure people can think of other heroes who stumble into their adventure.  It’s basically a staple of action movies, especially when there’s a comedic tone.  I keep thinking about Bruce Willis here since ‘Die Hard’ and ‘The Fifth Element’ have a lot of unlucky lucky hero aspects.  It’s this ‘curse’ that manages to keep the action and story moving since they can’t get out of the situation.  As long as the plot has yet to be resolved, these heroes are trapped in the tight grip of fate.  It’s like a story about destiny, but without the nobility or the hero’s full consent.  Many times the hero complains about their plight even though they repeatedly come out on top.

That odd negativity is a common staple of these characters too.  They aren’t necessarily pessimistic, but they have a sense of their bad luck.  One may hope for the best or to finish the adventure, but they aren’t that surprised when things go wrong.  Of course, they will hit a level of pessimism once too much has gone wrong.  At that point, they can’t really deny that they were born under a black cloud.  This is where some dark humor can come into play or the character starts testing the extent of their bad luck.  Maybe they’ll walk out into the middle of a gunfight to see if they’ll get shot.  Up to the author if they do or another bizarre accident saves them.

After watching ‘Bullet Train’, I still can’t seem to figure out what the appeal of the unlucky lucky character is.  I enjoy watching these characters, but I can’t put my finger on why they entertain me so much.  Is it the comedic aspect since I like humor?  That could be it.  Is it that I personally think it’s realistic for a person to wandering into a bad situation and flail their way to victory?  Possibly, but that isn’t very common.  It could really just be that this type of character and story keeps me guessing.  I know something will go wrong, but I don’t know what or how.  I know the hero will survive, but I don’t know how or in what condition.  I mean, these types of heroes tend to get a beating and finish with quite a few injuries.

From the writing perspective, these can’t be as easy to write as one thinks.  I would say Darwin Slepsnor falls into this category since he stumbles into his adventures.  He does have some luck too.  Going by that, I always have a challenge in finding a balance between him controlling his path and bad/good luck directing him.  You want these characters to have some control, but you also need them to be at the whim of the universe enough that they have bad luck.  Luck is all about chance, so you can’t have the character in the driver’s seat for every event.  If you go too far to one side, you make a mess.  Either the character is manipulating everything to the point where luck isn’t a factor or they have no influence of their own lives.  People may prefer the former, but that removes the unlucky lucky hero title entirely.  As usual, we’re all down to balance.

So, what do you think of characters who are both lucky and unlucky?