Wild Target

Victor Maynard is a solitary, middle-aged hitman with a flawless professional record, yet his life is dominated by his demanding mother. His routine is upended during what should be a routine job: he cannot bring himself to kill Rose, a young woman he has been hired to eliminate. Instead he lets her live, and in the confusion that follows he acquires an unwanted apprentice, a young man named Tony. Both newcomers mistake Victor for a private detective, while the client who paid for Rose's death sends other killers after them.

The film is a British-French action comedy directed by Jonathan Lynn, written by Lucinda Coxon and produced by Martin Pope and Michael Rose. It is a remake of the 1993 French film "Cible émouvante" by Pierre Salvadori. Bill Nighy plays Victor, with Emily Blunt as Rose, Rupert Grint as Tony, Rupert Everett as Ferguson, Eileen Atkins as Mother and Martin Freeman as Dixon. At around 98 minutes, it was completed on a budget of about 8 million dollars and returned roughly 3 million dollars worldwide. On TMDB it holds 6.5 out of 10 from over 800 votes, while critics rated it considerably lower, at 4.8 out of 10 across 54 reviews, so audiences responded more warmly than reviewers did.

Wild Target arrived in 2010, the eighth film Lynn had directed, following a run that began with Clue in 1985 and included My Cousin Vinny, The Whole Nine Yards and The Fighting Temptations.