Wild Target Review

“Wild Target” Misses its Mark

How often do contract killers fall in love with their last victim? If the number of films that focus on this idea are to be taken as fact then the answer is pretty often. “Wild Target” tries to look at the lighter, comedic side of this idea, but manages to miss every target that it aims for.

In Jonathan Lynn’s “Wild Target” an extremely professional hitman, Victor Maynard (Bill Nighy), tries to retire after a last job of assassinating a art thief, Rose (Emily Blunt). He falls in love with her while following her every move and finds himself protecting her instead from other hired gunmen. Also along for the journey is Tony (Rupert Grint) a young man that is drifting through life and becomes Maynard’s assistant after helping Maynard save Rose’s life. After them is Hector Dixon (Martin Freeman) the second best hitman after Maynard with a fake tan and teeth too white to be natural.

The cast of the film is a major draw for fans of recent British films such as the “Harry Potter” series, “Hot Fuzz” and “Shaun of the Dead”. The cast may be interesting, but the mundane script by Lucinda Coxon fails to be as interesting as the cast promises. Every action or comedy beat has been done to death or done better in other films resulting in a boring experience. 

The direction by Jonathan Lynn doesn’t stand out as mediocre or great, but surely as the characters were spouting cliché ridden lines and performing logic challenging actions Lynn could have said something. At one point Rose decides that she must steal from a gas station while they are on the run from hitmen and she has millions in the trunk. The whole movie feels like an exercise in how not to make a movie stand out of the crowd.

There is one thing that the film does right: Martin Freeman. Martin Freeman is always a treat to see in British comedies like “The Office”. His character, in the film, is always trying to get out of the shadow that Maynard projects as the number one hitman. He just isn’t given much time to shine in the film and that is a disappointment. 

“Wild Target” fails at so much that even though films like “The Professional” or the recent “The American” aren’t comedies they are far funnier than “Wild Target”.