Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
Victor Maynard is a middle-aged, solitary assassin who lives to please his formidable mother, despite his own peerless reputation for lethal efficiency. His professional routine is interrupted when he finds himself drawn to one of his intended victims. After sparing her life, he unexpectedly acquires a young apprentice. Believing Victor to be a private detective, his two new companions tag along, while he attempts to thwart the murderous attentions of his unhappy client.
Wild Target is a breezy British remake of the 1993 French comedy Cible émouvante, starring Bill Nighy, Emily Blunt, and Rupert Grint. The plot is light and charming but formulaic — a hitman-falls-for-target premise with predictable beats. Nighy is reliably excellent and Blunt is effervescent, lifting the material above its modest script, but the ensemble never truly transcends the genre. Cinematography is competent but unremarkable London-set work with no distinctive visual identity. Novelty suffers as it is an acknowledged remake of an existing film with a well-worn premise and few surprises. The ending ties things up neatly but without much punch or memorability.