Review of Welcome to the Punch (2013) by James W — 24 Mar 2014

The drive for this movie is the conflict and tension between devoted detective Max Lewinsky and criminal Jacob Sternwood, you know immediately when these two meet that there is fire and intensity between them.

Welcome to the Punch is a strong police drama that actually thrills, delivers some knockout action and shootouts alongside stunning camerawork, not a single shot goes by where there isn't something cool to look at whether it's neon lit London or vibrant city streets, the opening scene is just an example of visual refinery.

A lot of British action films don't have much excitement, most of them are heavily dialogue driven or slow moving but this one, directed by Eran Creevy, flies by, and it helps that James McAvoy, Mark Strong and Andrea Riseborough are excellent in their roles.

The only minor niggle I found was the ending, where the story comes to a car crash, it's convoluted and unclear, unless I wasn't listening properly because it felt unfinished, so this means another viewing which is fine because Welcome To The Punch is repeat-viewing material: Fast paced, fiery and explosive.