Review : Welcome to the PUNCH

Welcome to the PUNCH

 

Ladies and Gentlemen, I'd like to Welcome you to the Punch, a British action thriller which looks into seeing the average action, thriller in a new way.

There's a certain category that you have with British drama which is ever so stereotypically British. Films like : Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch and The Sweeney all fit this category. Well I'd like to add 'Welcome to the Punch' as a newest edition to this category of British dramas. 

It's a very good film, atmospherically detailed in every aspect. The attention to detail that has gone into this is incredibly commendable, and sublime. It's original and has never been done before, in a drama that has been done previously. I understand that everything has to dare to be different a little in order to make it stand out. But Welcome to the Punch has that extra dare I say it 'Punch' to it which makes the title stand out all the more adequate to the setting of it.  

The story goes that Mark Strong is a criminal (Bad Guy) and James McAvoy is an Inspector (Good Guy) and as the film unravels it becomes a dangerous game of cat and mouse between McAvoy and Strong's characters. It takes a while for the film to actually get going but once you understand all the differnet contingenses going on in it, you'll get a clear veiw of what's going on which in turn helps you enjoy it more. I mean no director sets out to make a bad film, do they?

There's an interesting conspiracy happening somewhere withing 'Welcome to the Punch' as you watch it. This is an ambitious picture that may have drawn some inspiration from the Hong Kong Infernal Affairs movies, and I sense that it may well get box-office success. But it runs out of steam, with plot revelations visible from a mile away and a bit of a plausibility gap.  

Eran Creevy - The Director, is the British director who made the very good urban drama Shifty in 2008, and this is his step up to a big commercial picture – a London crime thriller with plenty of hardware: handguns, machine-pistols, automatic rifles, the lot.

The main problem is, I don't think it's constructed as a film. It could of possibly worked better and would of added more suspence as a televison series. There is no sort of leigh way with that at all. Other than that, I would say this a really good film. I'd watch it again. 8/10

NEXT : Fight Club