Lowdown: A hitman falls for the woman
he’s supposed to kill.
Review:
We’ve seen that movie before in
various guises: of all the people a guy should fall for, he falls for
the one he’s forbidden to fall for. I suspect the formula was old
at the time Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet, but as far as I’m
concerned the formula was never as fresh and as entertaining as it is
with Wild Target.
Victor Maynard (Bill Nighy) runs the
family business and has been running it very successfully for years.
It’s at the top of its industry, actually, which is fine as long as
you don’t mind it being a hitman’s service. The secret to
Maynard’s success is in his lack of emotional involvement with
anything in life, or rather anything other than his possessive
mother.
On the opposite side we have Rose
(Emily Blunt), a kleptomaniac who goes a bit too far and steals from
Ferguson (Rupert Everett). The latter, being an ex real estate agent,
won’t lie down; he hires Maynard’s services to take care of
business. Instead of doing what is expected of him, what he's always done, Maynard trips; for the first time in his life
he feels love. Thus instead of killing Rose he ends up protecting
her, with the aid of a nobody they stumble upon on the way but which
Maynard suspects to have true hitman potential (a Rupert Grint that’s
probably working hard to shake the image of Harry Potter’s Ron from
the rest of his acting career).
Into the picture steps Dixon (Martin
Freeman), the hitman hired by Ferguson to finish the business off.
Dixon is and has always been the second best, but does he stand a genuine chance with Maynard going off his rails? And does Maynard stand a
chance with Rose in the first place?
As mentioned, there is nothing here we
haven’t seen before. Yet despite the obvious lack of Hollywood
grade budget, Wild Target is hilarious and fresh. Correction: it is
incredibly hilarious and fresh. So how does it manage to pull the
trick?
I think it is safe to say it starts off with a very cleverly written script, the type that can take a well versed story and make it sound smart and original. As much as I credit the script, though, I will give most credit to the cast.
This all British cast is simply wonderful through and through: I
don’t need to waste words on Nighy’s talents (he’s the reason I
wanted to watch the film in the first place), but Emily Blunt, whom I
recently fell for in The Adjustment Bureau, proves the latter
was no fluke; she is an extremely talented actress, and like the
polished Nighy she has great comedy talent in the timing department. There’s no point
in spending words on Everett or Freeman’s talents, so let’s not
do that, but I will add that Grint, seemingly the weakest link in the
chain, is far from failing this affair.
Further credit goes to director
Jonathan Lynn. To be honest, Lynn’s previous direction work did not
capture me (e.g., Clue); to his credit, though, Lynn is one of the
main men behind Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister. That is, he
knows his way around comedy, and this time around he applies his
knowledge very well. The result is an exquisite and unassuming
delight, a grand way to spend the night at home with a Blu-ray.
Best scene: To give you a fine example
of how scenes can be made effective without splashing much cash, Wild
Target features a car chase that has the camera stationary and set
wide in front of a narrow lane. The lane itself occupies a small part of the screen's width. Enter the action: All we see is the occasional
goodie/baddie car zooming across the narrow lane from one side to the other
for a brief second, going almost unnoticeable. Add some funny sound effects and you have a very
entertaining car chase on the cheap!
Technical assessment: The picture on
this Blu-ray looked very natural to me and devoid of any blemishes.
The sound department was rather too subtle, but sound is cleverly
used throughout for great effect.
Overall: Delightful British humor makes
Wild Target one the most enjoyable film I’ve seen in months. 4.5
out of 5 stars.
3 comments:
eyes hurt from dark background.
can't read blog or comment.
Sorry.
I was experimenting with Google's new dynamic templates. By the time I concluded these are not ready for prime time yet I was too tired to seek a proper template.
Hope the current one is better.
P.S. Back in the days of CRT, reading from a dark background was easier on the eye...
I'll take your word for it.
But until your blog is available on Kindle, I don't think you should can improve the eye strain with a color change.
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