Wild Target
Encyclopedia
Wild Target is a 2010
comedy
film, directed by Jonathan Lynn
. It is based on the 1993 French film Cible Emouvante. Lucinda Coxon
wrote the screenplay, and it was produced by Martin Pope and Michael Rose.
Production began shooting in London on 16 September 2008, with Bill Nighy
, Emily Blunt
, Rupert Grint
and Eileen Atkins
heading the cast. Filming also took place on the Isle of Man
.
) is an expert and effective assassin living a lonely life in accordance with his family's business. Victor follows a family line of professional assassins, and he completes his assignments quickly and without remorse. One afternoon, after killing one of his targets, he hesitates in killing the pet parrot
, Roger, and instead takes him as a gift to his mother, Louisa (Eileen Atkins
) a formidable woman who was, until recently, also Victor's housemate. In celebration of his 55th birthday, she gives him a leather bound book with newspaper clippings of each of his kills from his first to his most recent, leaving pages for future hits to be included. She also expresses concern that he might be gay, wondering why he hasn't produced a successor.
Rose (Emily Blunt
) is a not-so-average girl with a talent for thievery. Her most recent theft involves the sale of a fake Rembrandt painting (painted by her friend in the Restoration Department of the National Gallery) to Ferguson (Rupert Everett
), managing to swindle him out of £900,000. Ferguson soon discovers the swap and hires the best hitman, Victor Maynard, to dispose of her. Victor takes the case and immediately tracks Rose down, missing several opportunities to kill her, and accidentally killing a random stall customer in a changing room. He follows her to a balcony opposite her hotel room and tries to shoot her through the window, but is interrupted by the arrival of the front doorman. Victor sets up a microphone and headset to keep her under surveillance, but falls asleep, unable to listen to their noisy lovemaking. He wakes the following morning, just as she is leaving. He has the opportunity to shoot but hesitates.
His mother, Louisa, is upset by this missed target (and has apparently murdered Roger with a knitting needle) and suggests that Victor apologize to his employer and offer to do the hit for free. He tracks Rose down in a parking garage where he sees another hitman ready to kill her. He takes the preemptive shot, killing the other assassin. He and Rose get into her car, only to be forced out again by another assassin hiding in the back seat of her Mini. The assassin knocks Victor's gun away and lines them up on the wall to be shot and killed, but instead is shot by Tony (Rupert Grint
), an apparently homeless young man who had picked up Victor's gun. Saying it was his first time shooting a firearm, he impresses Victor enough to consider a protégé. But he sends Tony home and Victor and Rose flee. The wounded assassin starts firing at them and they nearly run over Tony on his way out of the garage, forcing him to join the ride. Rose offers Victor his price of 30,000 pounds a week for her protection, as she is under the assumption he is merely a private detective. They travel to a luxury hotel where they can lie low, but inadvertently end up on the same floor as Ferguson. Ferguson hires Dixon (Martin Freeman
) to kill Rose and Maynard, as Dixon is the second most proficient assassin on the hitmans' list (second only to Maynard himself). After several close calls, Mike (Gregor Fisher
), who is also Ferguson's bodyguard, discovers their whereabouts when he spots a pair of boots that Rose had stolen from his dead partner. Tony is attacked in the bathroom and nearly drowned in the bathtub by Mike, but he turns the tables and accidentally shoots Mike's ear off before the three of them escape the hotel. Ferguson and Mike pursue them in a high speed chase through the streets of London until Mike loses control and crashes, sending the pair to the hospital.
They travel to Maynard's home, a quaint farm far in the country, where his furniture is shrink-wrapped and his cat, Snowy, resides with him. Maynard takes Tony on as his apprentice in "private detective" work. One night, Rose is attacked by Louisa, who had come back to the house to finish what her son had started. He eventually talks her down and after she leaves, the three of them work on becoming friends. Rose and Tony help Victor celebrate his birthday, and, after a brief period of sexual confusion between Tony and Maynard, Victor falls in love with and sleeps with Rose. Afterward, his attitude becomes more cheerful, and Victor peels off the plastic coverings on all of his furniture and opens up the house. Meanwhile, Rose snoops around Victor's room, finding the leather book that his mother had given him and learning that she was actually his target for assassination. She also finds Victor's father's first gun, a Broomhandle Mauser, and takes it for self-protection. She storms out of the house after making it clear that she trusts neither Victor nor Tony, and returns to the National Gallery, only to find her friend dead and Dixon and his assistant, Fabian, (Geoff Bell
) waiting for her. They quickly return to Victor's home, and Tony and Victor gain the upper hand when Louisa appears, killing Fabian with a machine gun. Dixon withdraws the old gun Rose had taken from Victor's room and fires at Victor. It backfires, sending the bolt into his skull. Victor, Tony and Rose bury the pair in the back yard and return to their lives.
Three years later, Victor and Rose are married with a son named Angel and Tony has moved in with them. While Angel is playing one morning, Tony comes outside asking Victor and Rose where the cat had gone off to. They look at Angel in awe as he is innocently patting soft dirt into the yard, suggesting he killed and buried the cat. Victor smiles with pride.
is equally negative; it says that the "talented cast keep some low-key action and tired gags from derailing this disappointing farce". Flick Filosopher enjoyed the film, saying "Movies hardly ever make me laugh out loud, but this one did, more than once, with its unpredictable twists... and unexpected punchlines growing out of the deliciously twisted characters". The film aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes
, which averages out professional reviews, gave the film a 32% average.
2010 in film
The year 2010 saw many new films released worldwide. 2010 saw a dramatic increase and prominence in the use of 3D-technology in filmmaking and film releases after the success of Avatar in the format, with releases such as Alice in Wonderland, Clash of the Titans, Jackass 3D, all animated films and...
comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
film, directed by Jonathan Lynn
Jonathan Lynn
Jonathan Lynn is an English actor, comedy writer and director. He is best known for being the co-writer of Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister.-Personal life:...
. It is based on the 1993 French film Cible Emouvante. Lucinda Coxon
Lucinda Coxon
-Plays:Coxon's plays include Nostalgia and Vesuvius at South Coast Repertory, California; Improbabilities at Soho Poly; Wishbones and Waiting at the Water's Edge at the Bush Theatre, London; Three Graces at Lakeside Theatre, Colchester and the Haymarket Theatre, Leicester...
wrote the screenplay, and it was produced by Martin Pope and Michael Rose.
Production began shooting in London on 16 September 2008, with Bill Nighy
Bill Nighy
William Francis "Bill" Nighy is an English actor and comedian. He worked in theatre and television before his first cinema role in 1981, and made his name in television with The Men's Room in 1991, in which he played the womanizer Prof...
, Emily Blunt
Emily Blunt
Emily Olivia Leah Blunt is an English actress best known for her roles in The Devil Wears Prada , The Young Victoria , and The Adjustment Bureau . She has been nominated for two Golden Globe Awards, two London Film Critics' Circle Awards, and one BAFTA Award...
, Rupert Grint
Rupert Grint
Rupert Alexander Lloyd Grint is an English actor, who rose to prominence playing Ron Weasley, one of the three main characters in the Harry Potter film series. Grint was cast as Ron at the age of 11, having previously acted only in school plays and at his local theatre group...
and Eileen Atkins
Eileen Atkins
Dame Eileen June Atkins, DBE is an English actress and occasional screenwriter.- Early life :Atkins was born in the Mothers' Hospital in Clapton, a Salvation Army women's hostel in East London...
heading the cast. Filming also took place on the Isle of Man
Isle of Man
The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...
.
Story
Victor Maynard (Bill NighyBill Nighy
William Francis "Bill" Nighy is an English actor and comedian. He worked in theatre and television before his first cinema role in 1981, and made his name in television with The Men's Room in 1991, in which he played the womanizer Prof...
) is an expert and effective assassin living a lonely life in accordance with his family's business. Victor follows a family line of professional assassins, and he completes his assignments quickly and without remorse. One afternoon, after killing one of his targets, he hesitates in killing the pet parrot
Parrot
Parrots, also known as psittacines , are birds of the roughly 372 species in 86 genera that make up the order Psittaciformes, found in most tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three families: the Psittacidae , the Cacatuidae and the Strigopidae...
, Roger, and instead takes him as a gift to his mother, Louisa (Eileen Atkins
Eileen Atkins
Dame Eileen June Atkins, DBE is an English actress and occasional screenwriter.- Early life :Atkins was born in the Mothers' Hospital in Clapton, a Salvation Army women's hostel in East London...
) a formidable woman who was, until recently, also Victor's housemate. In celebration of his 55th birthday, she gives him a leather bound book with newspaper clippings of each of his kills from his first to his most recent, leaving pages for future hits to be included. She also expresses concern that he might be gay, wondering why he hasn't produced a successor.
Rose (Emily Blunt
Emily Blunt
Emily Olivia Leah Blunt is an English actress best known for her roles in The Devil Wears Prada , The Young Victoria , and The Adjustment Bureau . She has been nominated for two Golden Globe Awards, two London Film Critics' Circle Awards, and one BAFTA Award...
) is a not-so-average girl with a talent for thievery. Her most recent theft involves the sale of a fake Rembrandt painting (painted by her friend in the Restoration Department of the National Gallery) to Ferguson (Rupert Everett
Rupert Everett
Rupert James Hector Everett is an English actor. He first came to public attention in 1981, when he was cast in Julian Mitchell's play and subsequent film Another Country as an openly gay student at an English public school, set in the 1930s...
), managing to swindle him out of £900,000. Ferguson soon discovers the swap and hires the best hitman, Victor Maynard, to dispose of her. Victor takes the case and immediately tracks Rose down, missing several opportunities to kill her, and accidentally killing a random stall customer in a changing room. He follows her to a balcony opposite her hotel room and tries to shoot her through the window, but is interrupted by the arrival of the front doorman. Victor sets up a microphone and headset to keep her under surveillance, but falls asleep, unable to listen to their noisy lovemaking. He wakes the following morning, just as she is leaving. He has the opportunity to shoot but hesitates.
His mother, Louisa, is upset by this missed target (and has apparently murdered Roger with a knitting needle) and suggests that Victor apologize to his employer and offer to do the hit for free. He tracks Rose down in a parking garage where he sees another hitman ready to kill her. He takes the preemptive shot, killing the other assassin. He and Rose get into her car, only to be forced out again by another assassin hiding in the back seat of her Mini. The assassin knocks Victor's gun away and lines them up on the wall to be shot and killed, but instead is shot by Tony (Rupert Grint
Rupert Grint
Rupert Alexander Lloyd Grint is an English actor, who rose to prominence playing Ron Weasley, one of the three main characters in the Harry Potter film series. Grint was cast as Ron at the age of 11, having previously acted only in school plays and at his local theatre group...
), an apparently homeless young man who had picked up Victor's gun. Saying it was his first time shooting a firearm, he impresses Victor enough to consider a protégé. But he sends Tony home and Victor and Rose flee. The wounded assassin starts firing at them and they nearly run over Tony on his way out of the garage, forcing him to join the ride. Rose offers Victor his price of 30,000 pounds a week for her protection, as she is under the assumption he is merely a private detective. They travel to a luxury hotel where they can lie low, but inadvertently end up on the same floor as Ferguson. Ferguson hires Dixon (Martin Freeman
Martin Freeman
Martin John C. Freeman is an English actor. He is known for his roles as John in Love Actually, Tim Canterbury in the BBC's Golden Globe-winning comedy The Office, Arthur Dent in the film adaptation of Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Dr. John Watson in Sherlock and Mr. Madden...
) to kill Rose and Maynard, as Dixon is the second most proficient assassin on the hitmans' list (second only to Maynard himself). After several close calls, Mike (Gregor Fisher
Gregor Fisher
Gregor Fisher is a Scottish comedian and actor.-Early life:Fisher was born in Glasgow and following the death of his parents was brought up in Edinburgh, Langholm and Neilston and attended Barrhead High School...
), who is also Ferguson's bodyguard, discovers their whereabouts when he spots a pair of boots that Rose had stolen from his dead partner. Tony is attacked in the bathroom and nearly drowned in the bathtub by Mike, but he turns the tables and accidentally shoots Mike's ear off before the three of them escape the hotel. Ferguson and Mike pursue them in a high speed chase through the streets of London until Mike loses control and crashes, sending the pair to the hospital.
They travel to Maynard's home, a quaint farm far in the country, where his furniture is shrink-wrapped and his cat, Snowy, resides with him. Maynard takes Tony on as his apprentice in "private detective" work. One night, Rose is attacked by Louisa, who had come back to the house to finish what her son had started. He eventually talks her down and after she leaves, the three of them work on becoming friends. Rose and Tony help Victor celebrate his birthday, and, after a brief period of sexual confusion between Tony and Maynard, Victor falls in love with and sleeps with Rose. Afterward, his attitude becomes more cheerful, and Victor peels off the plastic coverings on all of his furniture and opens up the house. Meanwhile, Rose snoops around Victor's room, finding the leather book that his mother had given him and learning that she was actually his target for assassination. She also finds Victor's father's first gun, a Broomhandle Mauser, and takes it for self-protection. She storms out of the house after making it clear that she trusts neither Victor nor Tony, and returns to the National Gallery, only to find her friend dead and Dixon and his assistant, Fabian, (Geoff Bell
Geoff Bell
Geoff Bell may refer to:*Geoff Bell , Australian rugby league footballer*Geoff Bell , British actor*Geoffrey Bell , economist, banker*Geoffrey Bell -See also:*Jeffrey Bell...
) waiting for her. They quickly return to Victor's home, and Tony and Victor gain the upper hand when Louisa appears, killing Fabian with a machine gun. Dixon withdraws the old gun Rose had taken from Victor's room and fires at Victor. It backfires, sending the bolt into his skull. Victor, Tony and Rose bury the pair in the back yard and return to their lives.
Three years later, Victor and Rose are married with a son named Angel and Tony has moved in with them. While Angel is playing one morning, Tony comes outside asking Victor and Rose where the cat had gone off to. They look at Angel in awe as he is innocently patting soft dirt into the yard, suggesting he killed and buried the cat. Victor smiles with pride.
Cast
- Bill NighyBill NighyWilliam Francis "Bill" Nighy is an English actor and comedian. He worked in theatre and television before his first cinema role in 1981, and made his name in television with The Men's Room in 1991, in which he played the womanizer Prof...
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 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 nearby lay-about, Tony. He adopts Tony as his apprentice and Victor realizes he's fallen in love with Rose. - Emily BluntEmily BluntEmily Olivia Leah Blunt is an English actress best known for her roles in The Devil Wears Prada , The Young Victoria , and The Adjustment Bureau . She has been nominated for two Golden Globe Awards, two London Film Critics' Circle Awards, and one BAFTA Award...
as Rose: A bold con artist who oversteps the mark when she cons Ferguson out of £900,000 and fobs him off with a convincing copy of a Rembrandt self portrait. Realizing the danger she is in, she sticks with Victor and Tony in an attempt to escape her attempted assassination. Her mad-cap lifestyle takes a turn when she realizes her enjoyment of Victor's company. - Rupert GrintRupert GrintRupert Alexander Lloyd Grint is an English actor, who rose to prominence playing Ron Weasley, one of the three main characters in the Harry Potter film series. Grint was cast as Ron at the age of 11, having previously acted only in school plays and at his local theatre group...
as Tony: A young man who witnesses Victor shooting Ferguson's bodyguard and decides to stick 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 AtkinsEileen AtkinsDame Eileen June Atkins, DBE is an English actress and occasional screenwriter.- Early life :Atkins was born in the Mothers' Hospital in Clapton, a Salvation Army women's hostel in East London...
as Louisa: Victor's formidable mother who, while impressed with his profession, is concerned as to what will happen to the family business. - Rupert EverettRupert EverettRupert James Hector Everett is an English actor. He first came to public attention in 1981, when he was cast in Julian Mitchell's play and subsequent film Another Country as an openly gay student at an English public school, set in the 1930s...
as Ferguson: A gangster who hires Victor to kill Rose. - Martin FreemanMartin FreemanMartin John C. Freeman is an English actor. He is known for his roles as John in Love Actually, Tim Canterbury in the BBC's Golden Globe-winning comedy The Office, Arthur Dent in the film adaptation of Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Dr. John Watson in Sherlock and Mr. Madden...
as Dixon: A sadistic assassin who plays second-fiddle to Victor Maynard. While in awe of Victor, Dixon jumps at the opportunity given to him by Ferguson to dispose of the greatest hit-man ever known. - Gregor FisherGregor FisherGregor Fisher is a Scottish comedian and actor.-Early life:Fisher was born in Glasgow and following the death of his parents was brought up in Edinburgh, Langholm and Neilston and attended Barrhead High School...
as Mike: Ferguson's bumbling henchman whose several attempts to kill Victor, Rose, and Tony leave him in hospital ... and with one ear. - Geoff BellGeoff Bell (actor)Geoff Bell is an English actor.-Career:He has appeared in many films, mostly as a cameo appearance or as a supporting role.He has appeared in Girl with a Pearl Earring, Stardust, The Long Firm, Making Waves, The Business and RocknRolla.One of his most well-known films is Green Street, where he...
as Fabian: Dixon's half-witted partner.
Critical reception
Wild Target was met with a largely mixed and negative critical reception, with Timeout London only giving it two out of five stars, saying that it feels like nothing has been "thought through." The verdict given by Empire onlineEmpire (magazine)
Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. From the first issue in July 1989, the magazine was edited by Barry McIlheney and published by Emap. Bauer purchased Emap Consumer Media in early 2008...
is equally negative; it says that the "talented cast keep some low-key action and tired gags from derailing this disappointing farce". Flick Filosopher enjoyed the film, saying "Movies hardly ever make me laugh out loud, but this one did, more than once, with its unpredictable twists... and unexpected punchlines growing out of the deliciously twisted characters". The film aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, which averages out professional reviews, gave the film a 32% average.
External links
- Wild Target at MetacriticMetacriticMetacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...