Review of Welcome to the Punch (2013) by Caesar M — 31 Mar 2013

Last week my experience in the theaters were less than stellar. That trend continues with Welcome to the Punch an action/crime film whose clumsy script nearly single handily ruins the whole picture.

Welcome to the Punch tells the story of ex-criminal Jacob Sternwood who is forced to return to London when his son is involved in a heist gone wrong. This gives his nemesis, detective Max Lewinsky, one last chance to catch the man he's always been after. It contains some originality which is done away by predictability and running on formula making a big twist visible from a mile away. Characterization is the weakest point because of how much the writers makes such a mess of the narrative. It becomes convoluted towards the end. Some of the sub plots could have been better fleshed. One interesting sub plot deals with the issues if police man should carry guns, but is an issue hardly touched upon. One sub plot that could have been completely left out is Max romance with his partner which lacks any kind of importance. It has some good ideas, though the proper execution is missing. To the script advantage it moves at a brisk pace making it possible to forgive some of it shortcoming. It's better written than the average action film and attempts to inject some intelligence, but fails as the writers clearly had no clear idea where to go.

James McAvoy seems an unlikely pick to carry the tough cop role, but is fine a leading man with his London-ish accent. Acting wise he gets the job done, but physically looks unconvincing during his action scenes. Mark Strong was a very good casting choice. He plays his role with a silence menacing presence that suits the character well and helps to mask the lack of character development. The supporting cast underwhelms because of the weak script. The supporting cast do a fair job, but none of them will be able to shine as much as the leads. The cinematography is excellent making London feel vibrate and electric. The action scenes are inspired. There's some well executed shoot outs and a varied uses of weaponaries with the camera being still to see it. They bring the film a much need energy boost when the plot does not.

Welcome to the Punch is a well made action/crime film that does not contain well a told story. Granted it's tight direction and cast make it worth viewing. On the other hand the weak script makes a recommendation a rather difficult one falling into "At your own risk" territory.