Welcome to the Punch

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Welcome to the Punch is a stylish cops and robbers film that looks great and allows Mark Strong (Tinker Tailor, The Guard, Kick-Ass, Zero Dark Thirty, Sunshine) to add another badass character to his resume. Director Eran Creevy wanted to make a British film that had the feel of American crime classics like Heat or Goodfellas. In Welcome to the Punch Creevy has made London a character in the film but fails to make anybody else very interesting. There is a lot of bluster and angry looks amongst the blue hue, cool gunfights and stylish shots. 

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Creevy made a name for himself with the 2008 micro-budget film Shifty. He showed some promise and got himself on Ridley Scott’s radar. Now he has a plethora of character actors shooting their way through London. James McAvoy, Mark Strong, Peter Mullan, David Morrissey, Andrea Rishborough and Jason Flemyng all have suitable swagger to fit in the high stakes world of robbery, death and looking cool.

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The film opens with a robbery followed by a car chase followed by James McAvoy getting shot in the knee by Mark Strong. Some time later Mark Strong’s son falls into some danger and everyone converges to a violent climax. Of course, there is a police conspiracy and the bad guy turns out to be not that bad.

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Welcome to the Punch wanted to have a unique look and make London sexy. The film succeeded but it doesn’t make too much else interesting. It is empty calories full of archetypes and not full blown characters. For instance, I wanted to know more about McAvoy’s and Riseborough’s relationship. They have a brief moment of strong chemistry and then it is over. I don’t need anything spelled out for me but a bit of back story helps me identify with the characters.

Welcome to the Punch looks great and shows promise for Eran Creevy. However, for his third film I hope he manages to focus more on the characters that inhabit his beautiful looking worlds.

Watch Welcome to the Punch. Appreciate the Strong. Enjoy the blue hue.