Wild Target

''Wild Target'' is a 2010 black comedy film directed by Jonathan Lynn, written by Lucinda Coxon, and starring Bill Nighy, Emily Blunt, Rupert Grint, Eileen Atkins, Martin Freeman, and Rupert Everett. It is a remake of the 1993 French film of the same name.

Plot

Victor Maynard is a reclusive hit-man perpetuating a family line of professional assassins. His father, a well-known assassin, is deceased, but he operates under the constant watchful gaze of his domineering mother, Louisa, who wants him to preserve the family reputation.

Rose is an ingenious con artist, who manages to sell a fake Rembrandt, painted by her friend in the Restoration Department of the National Gallery, to Ferguson, a billionaire, for £900,000. Ferguson responds by hiring Victor to assassinate her. Victor takes the contract, but misses several opportunities to kill her, finally giving up the attempt entirely as he falls in love with his intended victim.

Thwarting another assassin's attempt to kill Rose, Victor encounters Tony, an apparently homeless young man, who is thrown into the already complex lives of Victor and Rose. For a while Victor mistakenly wonders if he is sexually attracted to Tony, but later adopts the young man as a protégé and apprentice in the assassination business.

Ferguson, still determined to have his revenge, hires Dixon, reputed to be second only to Victor in proficiency, to kill both Rose and Victor. While staying at a luxurious hotel to hide from Ferguson's men, the trio are discovered and Ferguson chases them in the street, resulting in a car crash where Ferguson becomes grievously injured, and the trio successfully escapes.

Dixon, with a henchman, tracks the trio to the Maynard family home, deep in the English countryside. Louisa kills the henchman, but Dixon grabs Victor's father's Mauser gun to kill Victor. The gun turns out to be a booby trap, which fires backward due to a clogged barrel, killing Dixon. Victor and Rose bury the two assassins.

Three years later, Victor and Rose are married and have a son named Angel. While eating lunch outside their house, Tony comes out and asks where the family cat is; and Victor sees that his son has killed and buried the cat discreetly. Victor proudly smiles at his son, realizing that his son has what it takes to be his successor.

Cast

* Bill Nighy as Victor Maynard: A middle aged hit man who is hired by Ferguson to kill Rose after she cons Ferguson out of £900,000. After purposely missing an opportunity to shoot Rose, Ferguson sends his henchmen to do the deed. Victor kills one henchman and injures another when he is looking for Rose and, concealing his true profession, helps her escape with the help of local slacker, Tony. He adopts Tony as his apprentice and Victor realises he's fallen in love with Rose.
* Emily Blunt as Rose: A con artist who oversteps the mark when she cons Ferguson out of £900,000 and leaves him with a convincing copy of a Rembrandt self-portrait. Realizing the danger she is in, she stays with Victor and Tony in an attempt to escape her attempted assassination. Her adventurous lifestyle takes a turn when she realises her enjoyment of Victor's company.
* Rupert Grint as Tony: A young man who witnesses Victor shooting Ferguson's bodyguard and decides to stay with Victor for safety. Victor employs him as an apprentice (with Tony thinking Victor is a private detective and later, upon learning Victor is a hit man, taking it in stride) and he soon realizes he has a 'killer instinct'.
* Eileen Atkins as Louisa Maynard: Victor's intimidating mother who, while impressed with his profession, is concerned as to what will happen to the family business.
* Rupert Everett as Ferguson: A London gangster who hires Victor to kill Rose.
* Martin Freeman as Hector Dixon: A sadistic assassin who plays second-fiddle to Victor Maynard. While influenced by Victor, Dixon jumps at the opportunity given to him by Ferguson to dispose of the greatest hit-man ever known.
* Gregor Fisher as Mike: Ferguson's incompetent henchman whose several attempts to kill Victor, Rose, and Tony leave him in hospital with one ear.
* Geoff Bell as Fabian: Dixon's dull-witted partner.

Production

The film was backed by a film fund established by the Isle of Man, and was produced by Martin Pope and Michael Rose. Lucinda Coxon wrote the screenplay, based on the 1993 French film of the same name.

Filming began in London on 16 September 2008, with location shooting on the Isle of Man.

Reception

Critical response

David Jenkins, writing for '' Time Out'', gave it two out of five stars, saying that it felt like nothing had been "thought through." The review in ''Empire'' also gave it two out of five stars, saying that the "talented cast keep some low-key action and tired gags from derailing this disappointing farce". One of the more favorable reviews was given by Steven Rea at ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', giving the film two-and-a-half out of four stars, praising its lead actors for carrying the "slight screwball thriller" and noting that the screenplay "delivers enough drolleries and a workable running gag or two."

Box office

''Wild Target'' grossed $0.1million in a very limited release (13 cinemas) in the United States and Canada, and $3.4million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $3.5million, against a budget of $8.0million.

References

External links

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{{Lucinda Coxon

French black comedy films
2010s English-language films
British black comedy films
Films shot in London
2010 black comedy films
2010 films
Films directed by Jonathan Lynn
Films about contract killing in the United Kingdom
British remakes of French films
2010s British films
2010s French films
Magic Light Pictures films
English-language black comedy films
English-language French films