Review of Welcome to the Punch (2013) by Yavuz Sultan S — 19 Oct 2013

James McAvoy plays a seasoned cop who doesn't want to play by the rules in this American influenced crime thriller from the UK. It has all the clichés of the 1980s cop film - belligerent bosses, "contradictory" colleague (this time a girl) and a villain who is driven by his own insistence to stick to his moral code, all filmed against a colour palette of cool blues and streetlights.

Whilst nothing is wrong with the film, Mark Strong is all moody as the cat and mouse antagonist, the film is a soft jab of a production that fails to achieve the heights of a Michael Mann vehicle such as "Heat" which it obviously aspires to be.

Not without its positives, the film has a few action highlights including the opening heist but as it has more in common with Jason Statham's "Blitz", it feels more like welcome to the credit crunch with its television-style cinematography and low budget office scenes.

Sadly, this resulted in a slightly cheap and shabby knockoff of a movie that failed to knock me out with any of its hooks. 6/10 Midlands Movies Mike.