Welcome to the Punch

This is a twisty, fast-paced crime thriller, seemingly with an agenda to prove that a British film can have the swagger and the sheen of a flashy Hollywood thriller. It succeeds, but this superficial mimicry doesn't mean it's a good film. The plot concerns a young, angry cop named Max Lewinsky (a possible allusion to Mad Max Rockatansky, visually referenced in a notable staircase scene), played by James McAvoy, seeking revenge on a crook named Jacob Sternwood (Mark Strong), who blasted his kneecap three years ago. Various double-crosses draw them together, at which point things take a fairly predictable turn. There are chases and gunfights along the way, although only a shootout in an empty nightclub really raises the pulse. The cast is great on paper, but it fails to elevate paper-thin characters. McAvoy is always engaging, but his anger here comes across as petulance rather than burning rage. Andrea Riseborough is wasted as his inexplicably patient sidekick. Strong, Johnny Harris and David Morrissey are all dominant presences, performers of great skill, but no amount of acting nuance can add depth that was never there. The surface similarities to Michael Mann are obvious - this is the nocturnal LA dreamscape convincingly transplanted to Canary Wharf. But Mann works with great scripts (or at least used to). Collateral began with a brilliant, character-forming dialogue in a taxi, furnishing the rest of the action with a deep human context. Heat was a mythic exploration of genre archetypes. Punch is more Miami Vice than either of these movies. Too many motivations are foggy. Too many plot threads go unfollowed. Too often the need to ape the glossy Hollywood standard undermines the opportunity for a unique plot hook or a surprising revelation. Complicated isn't the same as deep. The story meanders, but what good is that when the results are so predictable? There are some positives. Technically the film is impressive, creating something cinematic out of ordinary, familiar places. The action is decent, mostly clear without relying on confusing editing. And it's never boring as such, even though you'll see the ending an hour away. But for me it felt like an expensive TV pilot for a series that'll never take off.

Welcome to the Punch is a gritty, adult, Brit-flick, crime thriller. Got that? Whilst that's probably not an entirely fair summary, but it's better than 'It's the British Heat', which is what I heard a couple leaving the auditorium proclaim. It is a strong possibility that Eran Creevy had Heat in mind when shooting Welcome to the Punch, his second film as director (after Shifty, from which he has recast Daniel Mays and Jason Flemyng) but it lacks the class, it isn't as smooth, we don't identify with the protagonists in the same way and, heck, we're not going to be talking about it eighteen years later. Creevy opens the film moodily with striking strips of light that could be daylight through a blind or cold bars on a prison cell, something some of the characters do, should or will get to know very well. The imagery blends into a smoky scene with atmospheric music that heightens the expectation and builds the excitement of what this clever thriller will reveal. It's an excellent start to Welcome to the Punch that, unfortunately, isn't sustained. Jacob Sternwood (Mark Strong) is a crook with a moral compass, of sorts, as detective Max Lewinsky (James McAvoy) discovers when chasing him through the sewers after a heist. Rather than decorate the tunnel with Lewinsky's brains, Sternwood opts to shoot his knee out instead and make his escape without adding murder to his list of crimes. Fast forward x number of years and Sternwood is forced out of hiding after his son is involved on his own heist that goes belly up, which may give Lewinsky the opportunity to lock up his nemesis. But, naturally, it isn't that simple as the investigations suggest a conspiracy that runs deep. There are periodic moments of surprise, not least of all seeing Sightseers' Steve Osram in a 'squint to see it' role as a reporter and some fine action and suspense. Principal amongst the list of reasons to watch Welcome to the Punch is Andrea Riseborough as Lewinsky's sidekick, Sarah. In last year's W.E. she pulled off the remarkable trick of emerging from a quagmire unscathed and here, though this is far from a dreadful film, she is one of the few actors who convinces or is always enjoyable to watch. There's a rawness to her performance as she tries to counteract Lewinsky flailing cop with dwindling confidence. Strong is on a roll here, taking his time, exuding confidence in his own ability but never advancing beyond a steady pace. McAvoy is adequate but a far cry from the quality of his performances in Shameless and The Last King of Scotland. He's worth more than this and I'm going to brush over this performance in the hope that next week's screening of Trance sees him back on form. Wooden spoons belong (again) to David Morrissey and (yet again) to Daniel Mays who is dangerously close to steeling Danny Dyer's mantle. Overall, Welcome to the Punch is enjoyable but never blows us away. We're never really able to engage with the characters and it feels like a film with B-list stars and supporting a cast that is destined, deservedly, to remain a rung below them on the ladder. Catch it on DVD and then, a month later, see if you can remember anything about it. For more reviews from The Squiss, subscribe to my blog and like the Facebook page.

the film opens with our lead character London City Detective Max Lewinsky chasing a gang of thieves making their getaway on motorcycles after a bank heist, eventually Det Max gets shot in his right thigh by the leader of this gang and the criminal mastermind Jacob Sternwood. we then go further in time exactly three years from that incident, Sternwwod's son is in way over his head and he is bleeding from a bullet wound after a heist gone wrong in the end he gets busted in the airport and taken away to a hospital, this calls for his father Jacob to go back to London in order to help his son escape and settle the score with whoever framed his boy but detective Lewinsky is eager to get his revenge by any means necessary and the hunt starts. with a good supporting cast that involves Andrea Riseborough, David Morrisey, Peter Mullan, Daniel Mays, Johnny Harris and a Cameo from Jason Flemyng besides a very good Marc Strong as the cold blooded killer yet the kind of villain that you'd sympathies with, it's James McAvoy who steals the show with a stellar performance. The Dialogues are good, you feel like it was written by someone who knows what he is doing, on the other hand the story is not that good but it's OK, like so many people who reviewed this film i had a problem with the plot being predictable most of the time which is bad in this kind of films. this is an action film so let's talk about the gunfights, yeah it's set in London and yeah we know that cops in London don't use guns but in this movie something happens and the authorities are forced to use firepower i won't go deep in this matter because i might spoil the movie for you, anyway the action junkies wont be disappointed with this it's got a lot of shootouts, a good final shootout that reminds us of the excellent video game Max Payne(bad film), in fact in this film i don't know what is it with the characters but i find most of them extremely trigger happy, American like trigger happy not the usual gunfights from the UK. Overall this is a very watchable action flick that brings us back the nostalgia of the 80's and the 90's with good performances from the whole cast and good job by the director. My Rating: 7/10

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning Officer Max Lewinsky (James McAvoy) is still reeling after an encounter where he failed to snare career criminal Jacob Sternwood (Mark Strong), who's now retreated to Iceland, but is forced to come out of hiding when his son is mortally wounded, along with another boy who was killed. Desperate to catch his formerly illusive prey, Lewinsky closes in on Sternwood, but they find themselves working together when they find each other stalked by the same enemy. Sleazy politicians and corrupt arms firms are at the heart of Welcome to the Punch, a Brit action thriller with an overload of style but a serious short change of substance. Eran Creevy's film is littered with nifty production values and slick editing, but can't hide what a formulaic, predictable ride it is all the way. Despite trying to respect the viewer's intelligence with a fairly intricate plot, the clichés are no less in evidence. One of the many other, far superior films that springs to mind is Heat, in terms of the style the film is aiming for, and so we have McAvoy and Strong at each respective end of the desperate, determined cop/illusive prey end. Pacino and De Niro they are not. It's got an all star Brit cast, some fluid action sequences, everything, it seems, but real heart. And without that, what can you do? **

My good God this was awful. Let the rant begin.... I took the five minute walk from my house to the bus stop (in the rain) alighted the bus and walked a further five minutes (in the rain) to part up with my hard earned cash at Cineworld. I reversed the journey to get home after viewing this turd in celluloid form (in the rain) shaking my head in disbelief, the entire sodden way. Oh dear oh dear oh dear. What on earth are you all doing? You should all be thoroughly embarrassed this cast would give any movie maker a wet dream, if you had no script and asked this ensemble to make something up on the spot and improvise I'm positive the result would be superior to this drivel, Christ if the producer of a school play had this lot they would surely invent something more deserving of your time and money. Michael Caine was once asked why he had appeared in so many bad movies, he replied, and I do paraphrase; that a bricklayer doesn't question the design of the wall he is asked to build, and provided the working conditions and wages are favourable he will go to work. Well if that's the case with the cast here then good luck to them and their pension funds, no such luck for me for whom the cost of my cinema ticket roughly equates to an hour doing a job I dislike. Writer and director Eran Creevy previously gave us Shifty a run of the mill story of a drug dealer; compared to this tosh that was Citizen Kane. The plot if you can call it that of this tripe is the straightforward story of a wanted, retired mobster returning to London to find his son who 'phones him having been shot. The police know he will be looking for him and so plot to catch him doing so. There are a few other plot lines involving gun running and police and political corruption. Which might be interesting if it were better plotted and the characters were fleshed out, in fact the characterisation is so flimsy that when one of the lead characters is killed I lazily reached for another Werther's original. But above all this it commits the biggest crime a movie can, that of being boring. Rant over.

I watched this film despite Michael McGarry's Review which seems to hold the top review score. IMDb seems to of hit the bottom of the barrel as far as reviewers are concerned these days. This film was brilliant, the acting was great, the story and the plot was amazing. Only a moron wouldn't get this story line! Instead of the typical "hero" film, this is something different, something a bit special. OK, it does start off a bit slow, but at least your straight into some action instead of some boring "lets get to know the characters" rubbish. To sum up, I loved this film, it gave me everything the title suggested and more. I would highly recommend it. Ignore every other review and trust me!

I personally love this genre of film but I still don't think I'm being biased in saying that it was really good. I thought the story line was fairly simple which isn't a bad thing as it made it easy to follow while there were twists to come into the plot later on. The main character was played by James McAvoy and I found it interesting to see him playing a cop out for revenge as I thought this contrasted from anything I have seen him play before. The other lead role was portrayed by Mark Strong who I thought played his part really well. This film may not be the most original but the characters and the cast made it unique. There were some brilliant action scenes which were well placed throughout the film making it extremely gripping from start to finish. I think this is an enjoyable film and was pleasantly surprised at how good it was after reading some unfairly negative reviews.

I've been waiting to see 'Welcome to the Punch' ever since I heard about it (and managed to miss its cinema release). Mark Strong is such a talented actor. I've seen him in a few films which weren't very good, yet his performance has made it worthwhile. Then you have James McAvoy, who always turns in a great performance no matter what he's in. How could I lose? I did. Welcome to the Punch is billed as 'Britain's answer to Heat.' If that's the best we can do, I think we should let Hollywood win on this one. This is nothing like Heat. Never before have so many talented - British - actors been assembled and produced something so average. I won't say it's bad, just totally mediocre. It's about policeman, James McAvoy, seeking revenge on the gangster, Mark Strong, who shot him during a previous robbery. Nothing special plot-wise, but with such a good cast you should expect them to make something more out of it. However, the best part of the film was the way it's filmed. London has never looked so cool and stylish, plus it seems to be shot using some sort of blue/green filter to give it all an ultra-cool look. If you really want to see another British gangster movie then this one isn't bad. Then again, perhaps it's worse than bad - it's disappointing. http://thewrongtreemoviereviews.blogspot.co.uk/

A British thriller about a cop (McAvoy) seeking revenge of the criminal who shot him (Strong) who has returned from hiding to help his son after a heist gone wrong. The plot is quite deep and very clever with a few twists, there is plenty of good action scenes which keep you gripped, shoot-outs, and just good drama in general. The film keeps you guessing as to what the next twist is going to be and is left open for you to decide. James McAvoy and Mark Strong were excellent in the lead roles. I feel this film has been unfairly criticised, it turned out much better than I expected. Give this one a chance, you won't regret it. 8/10

The plot has several twists and turns, and thriller elements are catchy to follow - but it seems, however, that the screenwriter was very eager to add sophistication and all this resulted in a series of unlikely and strained scenes. Heists are seldom carried out with stylish clothes and technology in-sync, and ambitious corruption is not a sign of the UK police force - to name a few odd things... The ending scenes and the very end are scheming as well. The male cast is strong and even, particularly James McAvoy as Max Lewinsky, Mark Strong as Jacob Sternwood and Peter Mullan as Roy Edwards. Female characters tend to be sketchy and were uninviting to me. Although no Boyle or Ritchie, Welcome to the Punch is still more than a B-film. Violence is not playful, crime is gloomy and good persons tend to die as well...