I’m always tickled when I get the chance to watch a movie without any preconceived notions about whether it will be good or not, few expectations planned for me by either great or poor previews or if its something I’ve heard nothing of but watch because it arrives in the mail. Such is the case with a movie I’ve just found one of the funniest I’ve seen in ages, WILD TARGET.
Bill Nighy stars as Victor Maynard, a professional hit man carrying on the family tradition of being the best in the business. No one has ever seen Maynard or witnessed him commit any murder, even his competition. He is a man who doesn’t exist who gets the job done quickly, neatly and efficiently.
At the same time Victor is being hounded by his mother. He’s just turned 55 and has yet to have an heir to carry on the family name and business. Having been taught by his father, who will he leave all his knowledge to?
Victor’s latest target is a young woman named Rose (Emily Blunt) who has staged an art robbery and the sale of a forgery of a famous Rembrandt painting. Having been paid $900,000 by a wealthy art fancier named Ferguson (Rupert Everett) for the original painting, she switched it out with a copy so that the original could go back to the museum it was located in. Ferguson wasn’t too happy about being swindled though so he’s hired Victor to kill Rose in 24 hours.
But things don’t always go as planned. Victor tracks down Rose but with each attempt on her life something stops him. Be it someone stepping out from a shop or finding a man slipping into her bed, something always gets in the way. And just as he’s about to get the job done in a parking garage, one of Ferguson’s henchmen gets in the middle of it and Victor kills him for interfering. When the second henchman gets the drop on Victor, a young drifter named Tony (Rupert Grint) shoots him giving the trio an opportunity to vacate before they’re arrested.
Realizing she’s in danger, Rose offers Victor $30,000 to be her bodyguard. Interested in seeing where this goes, Victor takes the job and begins to do what he does best, avoid being detected. Unfortunately Rose isn’t a willing participant in the endeavor instead doing things that draw more attention to them instead of keeping them under the radar. Not a good thing to do since Ferguson has hired the second best hit man in the business to finish the job.
As the story moves forward, Victor seems to think that Tony has a natural ability for firearms after having seen him shoot someone using a weapon for the first time. Realizing this, he takes Tony under his wing with promises of teaching him the trade. Although he doesn’t tell him he’s a killer, telling him he’s a detective instead.
An attraction between Rose and Victor develops through the series of events that unfold. This wayward young woman who no one has ever stood up for or protected begins to feel deep emotions for the first person who has ever done so, Victor. And in Rose, Victor sees perhaps a chance at life, something he willingly kept away from in his plastic covered home in the country, the location he chooses to protect Rose and Tony in. But eventually we know the bad guys will show up, truth will be revealed and the outcome will be unpredictable.
Sounds pretty straight forward, right? Well the fact is that it isn’t. In reading the synopsis one would think this is a hard core action film with plenty of bloodshed. But it isn’t. Instead it’s a dark comedy that ranks among some of the funniest I’ve ever seen. Everything from a potential witness to murder in the form of a parrot to banged up bad guys done so in the oddest ways possible fill this film with tons of laughter. Then again I have a twisted sense of humor so that helps.
Nighy does a great job here as he does in nearly everything I’ve ever seen him in. Blunt is an attractive young actress who gives more depth than her years would make one believe. And Grint, finally doing something outside of HARRY POTTER offers a good job as a potential assistant to Nighy.
The movie was much funnier than I expected it to be. I actually found myself laughing out loud a number of times. This is a movie that you could enjoy the first time around and perhaps even a second or third time. While you may not decide to buy this one, it is definitely one of the best titles around worth the money to rent. Give it a go.
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