Wild Target is a comedy based on the 1993 French film Cible Emouvante.
Plot
We are introduced to Victor Maynard (played by the usually brilliant Bill Nighy) who is a slightly older then middle-aged solitary assassin. Victor is extremely close to his retired killer mother who broaches upon the subject of legacy: if Victor does not continue the family line, who will inherit the family business? Soon he is given an assignment to dispatch the young and beautiful Rose (played by Emily Blunt). Unexpectedly sparing her life, Victor is soon on the run from his employer (played by the excellent Rupert Everett, a rival assassin (The Office's and soon to be Hobbit Martin Freeman ) and his mother as he is suddenly thrust into the role of protector of his would be crush / victim and a tag-along soon-to-be apprentice (played by Rupert Grint). Needless to say, stiff-upper-lip wackiness ensues.
Review
Movie trailers are made by companies that specialise in producing movie trailers. They are sent all cuts of footage and are free to use them in any way that they see fit. Usually, this is done even before a final edit is done on the movie, where sometimes footage seen in the trailer actually doesn’t make it in the film (Gwyneth Paltrow gave Iron Man’s mask a kiss before throwing it out of a plane, and The Transporter batted a missile away using a silver drinks tray, both unfortunately didn’t make the final cut!).
Movie trailer music is also a specialised industry. Music heard in the trailers are rarely part of the movie’s soundtrack, and this is why the same operatic theme used for the King-Kong trailer and The Fantastic Four were the same, and neither movie had it in their soundtrack. Basically, there is a lot of room to move to make a trailer extremely exciting and a limitless media to showcase your product to a wider audience. With all this at hand, the trailer for Wild Target looked like an early 90’s trailer that you would fast-forward through on your VHS player and not look back. Unfortunately, this is just a taste of what was to come............
The movie starts off well as we are led to believe that the movie will be a strong, dark comedy, what with Bill Nighy’s character trying his best to dispatch Rose through a silent, stealthy deadly chase through a London street. Soon however, the usual romantic plot mechanisms kick into gear and this deliciously dark comedy turns into an awkward, flaccid experience.
It is quite uncomfortable watching Bill Nighey as the relatively extremely young Emily Blunt uses her feminine wiles on him. It is even more irksome when she suggests to him that his parental instincts directed at young Tony may be sexual. This is at least a clever sub-plot exploring Victor’s middle-age complex, but is dropped so quickly one has to wonder why it was introduced in the first place.
Even if one was to suspend their disbelief over the romantic coupling of Victor and Rose due to the age difference, it is hard to believe the character change in Rose: she starts off as a selfish, irritating Lolita type- bratty child, and then suddenly becomes a dow-eyed romantic. The abrupt clash of characterisation could be accepted as the onslaught of ‘true-love’, but to me it seemed forced and totally unconvincing.
The ending is incredibly lazy, as if the director himself wanted to end it as quickly and as painlessly as possible, knowing that the movie is a turkey, and it would be best to snuff it as quickly as possible.
Rating
It is good to see Martin Freeman in a different sort of role, Rupert Everet is always a pleasure and Rupert Grint is enjoyable. However, the sum-of-its parts is not enough to raise this above a pleasant, but missed opportunity of something more. Needless to say, the trailer to this movie was truly horrible, but unfortunately it had all the best parts in it.
2 out of 5 moustaches.
Check out what Rotten Tomatoes has to say, and see the trailer (which is actually different to the one screened in cinemas)!
Luke McWilliams, December 2010
