Welcome To The Punch

WELCOME TO THE PUNCH

Director : Eran Creevy

Year : 2013

Genre : Thriller

Rating : ***

Starring James McAvoy, David Morrisey, Andrea Riseborough and Mark Strong, 'Welcome To The Punch' is a beautiful looking but sadly, empty gangster thriller from director Eran Creevy. Combining the traditional elements of a conventional London crime film with the aspects of a Shakespearean revenge; 'Welcome To The Punch' is a much more intriguing and involving work than many of it's contemporaries. However, while it is well directed and shot absolutely stunningly by director of photography Ed Wild, it is badly scripted and the characters are barely developed. No emotion is generated from any of the actors on the screen and this does make it difficult for us to care about any of the action or the events that take place. I admire the film as a visual piece but as a police drama, it is pretty generic and is only saved by some great performances from McAvoy, Morrisey and Strong who give their all in the face of rather asinine material.

Jacob Sternwood (Mark Strong) is an Icelandic criminal who is forced to return to his native London when his son is critically injured in a heist that has gone seriously wrong. This gives his enemy Detective Max Lewinsky (James McAvoy) the chance to catch him red handed while also seeking personal revenge for an incident that took place three years before that not only damaged him physically but also damaged his masculinity and his reputation in the force. 

'Welcome To The Punch' is the second directorial work from Eran Creevy whose first film, the gritty urban thriller 'Shifty' was both a critical and commercial hit upon it's 2008 release. However while his debut was a moderate success, 'Welcome To The Punch' has been a considerable flop, failing to make back it's small $8 million budget; mostly due to the non existent marketing campaign that was desperately needed to make back it's money. Despite it's problems, 'Welcome To The Punch' is a very well made work and I for one wish that I had seen it in the cinemas. It's biggest success is that the cinematography is absolutely gorgeous, making London look like a futuristic metropolis full of light and glass ; a sheen clearly influenced by both the work of Michael Mann and particularly 'Blade Runner' by Ridley Scott (who coincidentally served as executive producer). Unfortunately, style clearly means more to Creevy than characters or plot development and as a result, the actors are sidelined and the screenplay is barely thought out. The slow nature of the convoluted narrative and the dullness of the dialogue really do drag the movie to an almost snail's pace and in turn, makes us lose interest in the predicaments of the characters and the momentum created by the great action scenes is completely ebbed away.

While the script is pretty weak, the cast are universally outstanding and each actor bring their A - game to their roles. James McAvoy is excellent as the wounded Lewinsky, whose search for revenge and redemption has taken control of his entire existence. Mark Strong is quietly menacing as the secretive and dangerous antagonist and Andrea Riseborough is headstrong as Lewinsky's female partner. As a whole, the cast work very well together and thanks to the great acting, the film is elevated beyond it's seemingly conventional roots. However, the characters are poorly developed so when the plot twists and changes of heart occur, we are completely left in the dark. They come as much of a surprise to us as they do to the other characters on screen, but not in a good way. Instead of seeming genuine or realistic, they appear to be very forced and somewhat unnecessary.

While nothing special at all, 'Welcome To The Punch' is a great looking film with some career best performances. Eran Creevy clearly knows how to direct and I have a feeling that it will not be too long before he delivers a groundbreaking thriller that will be both a critical and commercial success, making him a household name. However, 'Welcome To The Punch' is sadly not that film and while it is certainly not bad, it isn't particularly good either.