Review of Welcome to the Punch (2013) by Phil P — 15 Mar 2013

"Who killed my son?".

Before I watched this I new it was never going to be amazing, it's just obvious the story, the actors they just screamed at me "probably ok". Not a bad thing because whilst it didn't look brilliant it did look a damn sight better than the average action movie and so I went in thinking as long as it's decent i'll be happy.

And it was, Although I was worried at first, it doesn't start of particularly well mainly because it doesn't really set anything up. The film doesn't really kick in for at least 25 minutes. but it builds momentum and creates a good if somewhat forced dynamic between 'Max' ('James McAvoy') and 'Jacob' ('Mark Strong') It's odd I feel like by 'Jacob' letting 'Max' go is suppose to tell me something but it doesn't it just seems like it was used as a reason for max not to kill him at the end. There are some moments in the story that are well thought out and I was actually surprised at times with who was involved. Unfortunately the ending doesn't cut it for me, it's clearly because he didn't know how to end it, this resulted in me feeling a bit cheated with not real outcome of consequence. A film like this shouldn't raise so many questions.

There are some clever action scenes here, they aren't as frequent as I expected. but they make sense when the story is considered. It's much like 'The Last Stand' in the sense that the action is only here when it's relevant to what is happening, there no the bad guys are here so they shoot the place up kind of crap. I like that because even if the story isn't great there are reason to what is happening and it stays more grounded and it gives more time for the characters to show they more than just people with guns. Characterization is probably one of the stronger elements of the story - it's clear they are human, particularly 'Max's' down trodden feeling after what happens in the first 20 minutes, he reacts realistically and that's is important.

'Welcome to the Punch' is a competent action film, despite a typical story of corruption the action is well placed and the characters are smoothed out well. It was never going to be a smart high quality showing but it does what it does well enough I wouldn't be opposed to seeing it again. If you want an above average actioner then this is god enough.