Within the first ten minutes of the film Wild Target the audience bears witness to a hitman killing an innocent woman. Now, when a movie contains such a scene the reaction it would typically be after is a gasp of shock and/or horror. Not Wild Target. In this movie before the opening credits had finished rolling the darkly comedic tone had been set so precisely that the scene elicited laughter from everyone in the theater. Which is exactly why I freaking love this movie.
BY BEN TAHIJA, FILM NERD INTERN
Within the first ten minutes of the film Wild Target the audience bears witness to a hitman killing an innocent woman. Now, when a movie contains such a scene the reaction it would typically be after is a gasp of shock and/or horror. Not Wild Target. In this movie before the opening credits had finished rolling the darkly comedic tone had been set so precisely that the scene elicited laughter from everyone in the theater. Which is exactly why I freaking love this movie.
Wild Target tells the story of Victor Maynard, the aforementioned hitman. Victor has been trained since his youth to kill and is currently at the top of his profession (seriously, the way the characters talk you would think Forbes annually ranked professional assassins). Yet, he remains unfulfilled as the only person he has to share it with is his mother. He then meets Rose who, after swindling an art-loving gangster out of a Renaissance painting, has become Victor’s next mark. The hitman begins to fall for Rose, however, and cannot bring himself to pull the trigger. He then must become her protection when said art-loving gangster sends another hitman to finish the job.
The dialogue is clever even though the story itself sometimes wades in formulaic waters. The true power of this film, however, lies in its actors. Bill Nighy (pronounced “nye” just like the Science Guy) plays our protagonist, Victor. You know Bill Nighy even if you don’t know that you know Bill Nighy. He has had a supporting role in every other movie you have seen in the last few years. And each and every one of them has been the better for it.
When actors such as Nighy have proven themselves to be invaluable in supporting roles, their jump to lead actor is so often ill-fated. Their charm either runs thin after ninety minutes or their shtick is just not sustainable for ninety straight minutes. I’m looking at you, Jack Black. Bill Nighy, I am happy to report, is one of the rare exceptions to this rule.
The rest of the cast is simply stellar as most of them play off of Nighy’s dry delivery with some good old fashioned British slap-stick. A special mention is required for Eileen Atkins who played Victor’s mother. Think Elaine Stritch from 30 Rock, only brandishing a sawed-off shotgun. The only actor in the mix that could not to carry her own is Emily Blunt. Her character is supposed to be a charming con-woman but something was just missing. She seemed more a spoiled pretty girl who was used to getting her way rather than some wise-beyond-her-years confidence artist. MINOR SPOILER: The one aspect of her character that I found convincing, and am astonished I did, was her May-December relationship with Victor.
Wild Target set about to mate black comedy with light hearted rom-com. While such a pairing should have resulted in a mutated freak the likes of which are found only in the mountainous regions of West Virginia what we got was something even more shocking; a thoroughly enjoyable and hilarious movie. Especially with 2010 being relatively weak overall, I am able to say that this is one of my favorite movies from last year and it is now available on DVD.
–Ben Tahija, getting to go in front of the CFN curtain for a change.
