Welcome To The Punch
Starring: James McAvoy, Mark Strong, Andrea Riseborough, David Morrissey, Peter Mullan
Director: Eran Creevy
Rating: 4/5
Welcome To The Punch is one of the movies that I have been looking forward to for some time as it sees Eran Creevy back in the director’s chair while James McAvoy teams up with Mark Strong in front of the camera.
2012 was a great year for British film and that looks set to continue into this year as Welcome To The Punch is a fast paced crime thriller that is both action packed as well as entertaining.
Ex-criminal Jacob Sternwood (Strong) is forced to return to London when his son is involved in a heist gone wrong.
This gives his nemesis, detective Max Lewinsky (McAvoy), one last chance to catch the man he’s always been after.
It is hard to believe that this is only Creevy’s second directorial outing as Welcome To The Punch is an incredibly confident as well as ambitious movie - and he really does pull it off.
Creevy doesn’t hang about as he keeps the action coming thick and fast and keeps the story whizzing along. And while I like the fact that the film never drags it’s feet perhaps - and I don’t say this very often - the running time is a little short.
The 100 minute run time is perhaps a little snappy and I think that it really did need to be longer to drive up the tension a little more and to also develop the characters a little further.
Having said all that this takes nothing away from this really great movie as there is intrigue and betrayal at every turn.
It is great to see James McAvoy back on the big screen, it really has been a while, and he plays the haunted Max Lewinsky. He is a man who very much suffers from events of the past; the injury that he sustained at the hands of Sternwood and the fact that his nemesis got away.
It is a strong and compelling performance from McAvoy as his character is forced to side with the man he has tried to put behind cars as corruption sweeps through the police force.
Mark Strong has always made a villain and it is another great performance for the actor who is driven by the death of his son.
McAvoy and Strong make a great team; two men on either side of the law who are brought together by grief and the desire to find the truth.
Creevy kicked off his directing career with independent drama Shifty and this really is a step up for the filmmaker as this is a stylish and slick crime drama - he really has the potential to be a very fine filmmaker.
London has never looked so good on screen as Creevy has captured the city at night perfectly - some of the shots over the city really are incredibly beautiful.
Sure Welcome To The Punch isn’t quite the perfect movie but it really has breathed new life into the British crime drama as this movie is exciting and compelling from start to finish.
Welcome To The Punch is out now
Tagged in James McAvoy Mark Strong