Wild at Heart

Wild Target (2010) is one of those international spy/assassin farces that attracted our attention because of the cast.

It stars Bill Nighy as a very proper, very deadly assassin. It also stars Emily Blunt as a sexy amateur art thief - she steals from the mob, so she doesn't have to worry about the police. But she does need to worry about the mob, who hire Bill Nighy to kill her. But when he finds her in a carpark, he saves her from another assassin (the mob are belt and suspenders types). In the process, homeless waif Rupert Grint gets sucked into the action, and the trio get away and go on the run.

A lot of the movie is about the little family dynamic, with Nighy as the stern father, and Grint the son he wants to mentor - which is funny, because he is a total klutz, while Blunt is pretty sharp for an amateur. Nighy spends most of the time annoyed with her, but could it be the beginnings of an attraction? Which is a little weird, because she is kind of a daughter figure. Anyway, they spend a lot of time squabbling with Nighy threatening to turn the car around if they don't behave, and so on.

Then there's Nighy's mother - assassination is the family business, and she hasn't quite retired.

There's a lot of predictable business here, but it is all quite well done. Blunt is not as good as Nighy and Grint, but she has a lot less to work with. Kind of just decorative, really. We know she can do better. Nighy was just about perfect in his role - the fussy Englishman, who is also a deadly murderer without a conscience.

In conclusion, not a must-see, but a pleasant time waster.