Review of Wild Target (2010) by Ola G — 18 Dec 2012

Victor Maynard (Bill Nighy) 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. 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. Eventually he tracks Rose down in a parking garage where he sees Ferguson´s henchman ready to kill her. He takes the preemptive shot, killing the other assassin. Rose and Victor manages to flee together with the homeless young man Tony (Rupert Grint) who ends up as a witness. Rose then offers Victor a price of 30,000 pounds a week for her protection, believing that he is merely a private detective. They travel to a luxury hotel where they can lie low. Ferguson hires Dixon (Martin Freeman), reputed to be second only to Maynard in proficiency, to kill Rose and Maynard. Thus they need to outsmart Ferguson and Dixon to get away alive...

With this talented cast you would expect so much more than a tired "slip on a banana peel" comedy/ farce. As someone else has said, nothing seems to really have been thought through properly in "Wild Target". I reckon the only one who doesn´t seem to squirm/seems lost in the role is the always radiant Emily Blunt, who does an ok performance as Rose, but the character is quite unlikable. The rest seems to not know why they are there... Kind of painful to see to be honest. "Wild Target" is one to pass. Just pass and forget. F O R G E T.