“Bullet-Proof” falls short of its motive in the most palpable way possible. The film’s characterization is bleak, which is why it is tough to connect with the characters. Moreover, the motive of the action doesn’t really have any impact and doesn’t invoke any emotion. So the whole affair turns into a sequence of events and nothing more. The creators have seemingly pulled their punches while making it clear that they did try not to.
Spoilers Ahead
What Happens In The ‘Bullet-Proof’ Film?
A thief (James Clayton) narrowly escapes from a scrap yard in a car before being killed by gangsters from whom he has stolen a bag full of money. Once he realizes that he is away from any trouble, he tends to his wounds. He checks inside the car for bandages, but there are none. He goes to check the trunk, from which, to his utter misfortune, comes out a pregnant lady (Lina Lecompte) with a gun. She is Temple’s (Vinnie Jones) wife, the very kingpin whose money he stole. She doesn’t want to go back, and the thief doesn’t want to take her with him. She gives him an address of a motel where someone will arrive for her the next day, and she’ll leave for Colombia. After much thought, the thief decides to give her the lift.
Back at the scrap yard, Rahul, the man to whom the car belonged, is almost beaten to death by Temple and his men. After much “convincing,” Rahul reveals that Mia, Temple’s wife, was the one who planned the escape. She wanted to leave with her baby, and he was supposed to take her to the motel, had it not been for the thief who bumped into his car and stole it. He gives Temple the address of the motel. But Temple isn’t happy. He kills Rahul. He then tells his men to contact the “Frenchman” (Janvier Katabarwa), his assassin, and send him after the thief and Mia at the motel.
The thief brings Mia to the motel and leaves with his money. On his way, he finds that Mia has mistakenly left a toy she had for her unborn son in the car. He decides to return it, but by the time he comes back to the motel, the Frenchman has already reached Mia’s location. While the thief and the Frenchman exchange punches and hits, Temple and his men arrive at the motel too. Mia pulls a gun at them while the thief stands behind her. Scared that Mia might get hurt—which would also hurt the baby—Temple, no matter how much he wants her to come with him, lets her escape with the thief. Will the thief and Mia be able to escape from the Temple? Or will the Temple find them and kill the thief? It all depends on just how “bullet-proof” the thief is.
The Thief
The thief, our main character in the film, looks more like a model. Perhaps this is what pulls us out of the story at its very beginning. Not saying that every thief looks a certain way, but even more than the looks, it is the way thieves carry themselves that sets them apart from the other characters in films. Perhaps, if only we had seen even one more robbery in the film, his being a thief would have been befitting. Or it can also be that he isn’t an all-time thief but rather plans to rob Temple due to some past dispute. The latter seems to make more sense. What happens after he meets Mia is a completely different ballgame. He loses all his thieving properties and becomes a guy who has taken up the responsibility to keep this pregnant woman safe and make sure that she gets on a plane at any cost. This could have had the intended emotional effect, but owing to the fact that the film doesn’t really establish his thieving nature, it doesn’t.
Temple Run for Son
In Mad Max: Fury Road, Imperator Furiosa took along Immortan Joe’s five wives, one of whom was pregnant with his child. And Joe wanted the child back desperately. “Bullet-Proof” too has Temple looking for his pregnant wife Mia, that too in a way much like Joe. It seems that an unborn baby either gives rise to fatherly feelings in an otherwise insensitive kingpin or is a means to carry forward his generation. When a situation arises where his men are shooting the thief, Temple tells them to stop as they might end up hurting his son. It seems as if the only reason he wants Mia back is that she is carrying her son. This is especially when, towards the end of the film, he tells her that he will show her how desperate he is to keep the baby, and runs his knife over her belly. In this case, too, we are unable to get a clear picture of Temple’s character other than the fact that he is the leader of his gang and is a bad person who loves his wife, or at least his unborn son. Even the possibility that he wants his unborn son more than his wife, which would certainly have added a new layer to his character, doesn’t seem plausible as it sounds too complex for Temple’s portrayal to the point where we just stop caring about it.
‘Bullet-Proof’ Ending Explained: Does Temple Bring Mia back Home?
The answer is as short as the film shows it to be, i.e., No. Furthermore, Mia is able to conjure up enough courage to shoot Temple and kill him towards the end of the film. Then, the thief gives Mia the money he stole from Temple so that she can get a new life. Meanwhile, he stays back, dumping his retirement plan. The thief tells Mia his name, but the audience isn’t able to hear it over the sound of the rotor of the plane that has just arrived to take her. However, Mia likes his name and it seems that she will probably name her son after the thief.
The reason that we do not find out his name is possibly that he’s an anonymous guy. His job is what gives him an identity (only if he is a full-time thief). But if we consider that stealing Temple is his first robbery (as we mentioned earlier to be more probable), not revealing his name is to add to his character, which doesn’t really have any effect either. Overall, “Bullet-Proof” will not stick because it doesn’t have anything worth being glued to.
“Bullet-Proof” is a 2022 drama action film directed by James Clayton.
