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FILM DETAILS

Certificate 15

Cast Mark Strong Andrea Riseborough Daniel Mays James McAvoy David Morrissey Johnny Harris.

Directors Eran Creevy.

Screenwriters Eran Creevy.

Running Time 100 minutes

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Welcome To The Punch
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Plot
Three years after master-robber Jacob Sternwood (Strong) escaped England — and cop Max Lewinsky (McAvoy) — his son is mysteriously gunned down in London. Sternwood must return to hunt the culprit, giving the disgraced Lewinsky the perfect opportunity to bring him to justice and rescue his own reputation.

Review

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No-one would have blamed writer-director Eran Creevy if he’d stayed in the same suburban council-estate groove of his 2008 debut Shifty. Instead, with Welcome To The Punch, he’s boldly moved to The Big City (London, stylistically via Los Angeles and Hong Kong), ambitiously upscaled (with none other than Sir Ridley Scott as his mentor) and delivered a boisterous, unashamed and affectionate pastiche of the cops-and-robbers action thriller.

It’s to Creevy’s credit that, despite the change of direction and elevation of style, he’s refused to snap his roots. So Punch is firmly British, from the setting to the locations to the performers. No stunt-American casting here. It is a quality ensemble: James McAvoy playing against type as dogged, tightly wound police detective Max Lewinsky; Mark Strong playing to his strengths as career criminal Jacob Sternwood; Andrea Riseborough as Max’s tough-cored but supportive partner; David Morrissey doing the dour boss thing; and Johnny Harris putting his terrifying, pebbly glare to terrific use as a twitchy assassin. Elsewhere you’ll spot such stalwarts as Peter Mullan and Ruth Sheen, plus Shifty alumni Daniel Mays and Jason Flemyng. A more proficient and charismatic cast than you’ll find in most Hollywood offerings of the same order.

Yet there’s something about Welcome To The Punch that doesn’t quite land like you feel it should. McAvoy is offbeat casting for a gritty copper; the slimness of his frame and the boyishness of his features are only emphasised in the scenes where he goes eyeball-to-eyeball with the ever-imposing Strong. But that is not so much the problem. It’s more that the film is just so relentlessly, ruthlessly plot-driven. It’s as if its sheer, twisting velocity causes it to shed weight. While there’s welcome moral ambiguity and a constant shifting of sympathies, there are too few breathers for us to settle down with these intriguing characters and feel a bit of their respective backstories. It’s not like the audience needs to be told or shown every last aspect of Max’s home life, or his history with Riseborough’s Sarah, or Jacob’s relationship with his ill-fated son. But we’re left feeling like we’re watching, ultimately, a collision of (admittedly well-groomed) archetypes, rather than a clash of characters in which we’ve fully invested.

It’s a shame, given Creevy’s attention to nuance in Shifty. But Punch does supply a palliative: sheer panache. London has never looked so shimmeringly gorgeous on screen, Creevy washing it in Michael Mann blue and dry-brushing it with gunmetal. The city is evocatively lit (by Shifty director of photography Ed Wild) and immaculately location-managed. It is presented as almost otherworldly, or rather, future-worldly. Visually, Punch is borderline sci-fi; an ordnance-choked, post-austerity Britain. The action, too, is slickly impressive. Creevy proudly revels in his numerous influences, toying with, although never deviating from, kinetic-thriller formula. One darkly amusing set-piece puts John Woo slo-mo gunplay amid the chintz of a granny-flat living room. The opening post-heist chase sends motorbikes thundering down subterranean, arched tunnels in a sequence that feels like Bourne crashed Skyfall. And, appropriately for the Canary Wharf-centred setting, it all ultimately goes down at the docks in a furious, incendiary flurry. If Welcome To The Punch lacks Shifty’s heart and soul, it at least benefits from a better physique than many of its modern American cousins.

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Your Reviews

Average user rating for Welcome To The Punch

You've never seen London this deserted...

An efficient, minimalistic thriller which focuses on a surprisingly linear plot rather than character development. The script is as free from extraneous banter as it is from tertiary characters, and this leads to quite a claustrophobic atmosphere at times. I can see why the film isn't for everyone, but Welcome To The Punch has an intensity that's not easily matched these days. ... More

Posted by TheMightyBlackout at 18:13, 22 March 2013 | Report This Post

Surprisingly good

Went to watch it without really expecting anything (although I am a fan of both leading actors). It surprised me with both style and storytelling. And though I live in London, never have seen the city look like this :) ... More

Posted by Jucca at 02:01, 22 March 2013 | Report This Post

Great fun

Gritty London based thriller. Moves with pace and it all works rather well..... ... More

Posted by bretty at 21:04, 21 March 2013 | Report This Post

Hollywood visualpanache plus all the clichés

Vacuous style over content exercise-lovely looking London- a night time, neon lit, blue gun metal colours & glass. Lovely. But the characters are stock trade cut outs with little depth. You never really get to know them or feel for them. mcAvoy makes a lightweight tough guy cop- especially sharing time with Harris & Strong. Enjoyable but forgettable. Loved the dark humoured Slow-mo Mexican stand-off in the Grans council house though. ... More

Posted by nortonglr at 18:24, 21 March 2013 | Report This Post

RE: Liked it!

A few years ago, criminal mastermind Jacob Sternwood injured London detective Max Lewinsky and fled to Iceland to escape the clutches of the police. He has now returned to London because his son has been shot and wounded in a failed heist. This gives Lewinsky another chance to catch the man he has always been after. Max’s lieutenant tells him to back off, but he secretly works with his partner Sarah to join the hunt. Meanwhile, Jacob tries to find out why one of his gang members is on a murdero... More

Posted by Dr Lenera at 08:37, 18 March 2013 | Report This Post

Liked it!

Saw it today, really enjoyed it. It's a nice to see a British film that doesn't revolve around varying forms of depression on a council estate. Yes, the plot was a bit convuluted and it was a bit cast-to-type, but there was some nice splashy shoot-outs and, as the review said, it made London look fucking awesome! ... More

Posted by Mister Coe at 20:30, 17 March 2013 | Report This Post

refreshing rather than groundbreaking

Nice to see brit movies like this being made. It's not really clever or engaging, but it does have two great (suspenseful) scenes - the moment in the container, and the bit at with that guy's mum. ... More

Posted by tysmuse at 17:52, 17 March 2013 | Report This Post

RE: A refreshing amount of ambition for a UK thriller.

Bit of a disapointment for me this. Looks lovely but the storytelling didn't grab me and the whole thing was a bit cheesey. Dialogue didn't help. ... More

Posted by Davross at 19:12, 16 March 2013 | Report This Post

RE: A refreshing amount of ambition for a UK thriller.

e Spoilersp; Apparently he sees them in Hong Kong. Apt given London's starring role as HK in the film ... More

Posted by elab49 at 16:52, 04 March 2013 | Report This Post

A refreshing amount of ambition for a UK thriller.

Totally agree with Empire on this one. Really excited to see a London-based thriller that's doesn't cut to black cabs, red post boxes and Big Ben. Afficianados of the genre will see some of the plot points coming but the quality is undeniable. If Creevy continues like this and brings in another writer to help transcend expectations as well as polish up his dialogue (some of it was a little 'on the nose') then there is no doubt that he is soon going to make a true British crime classic. This is i... More

Posted by Nicky C at 12:07, 04 March 2013 | Report This Post

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