Welcome to the Punch (2013)

Ex-criminal Jacob Sternwood 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.

Director:

Eran Creevy

Writer:

Eran Creevy

Stars:

James McAvoy, Mark Strong, Andrea Riseborough

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
James McAvoy	...	Max Lewinsky
Mark Strong	...	Jacob Sternwood
Andrea Riseborough	...	Sarah Hawks
Johnny Harris	...	Dean Warns
Daniel Mays	...	Nathan Bartnick
David Morrissey	...	Thomas Geiger
Peter Mullan	...	Roy Edwards
Natasha Little	...	Jane Badham
Daniel Kaluuya	...	Juka Ogadowa
Ruth Sheen	...	Iris Warns
Jason Flemyng	...	Harvey Crown
Elyes Gabel	...	Ruan Sternwood
Robert Portal	...	Robert Wiseman
Jason Maza	...	Luke
Jay Simpson	...	Barber

Storyline

Former criminal Jacob Sternwood is forced to return to London from his Icelandic hideaway when his son is involved in a heist gone wrong. This gives detective Max Lewinsky one last chance to catch the man he has always been after. As they face off, they start to uncover a deeper conspiracy they both need to solve in order to survive.

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Plot Keywords:

london england | police detective | written by director

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Crime | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site [Japan]

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 March 2013 (UK)

Also Known As:

Betrayer

Filming Locations:

indigO2 at The O2, Peninsula square, London, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$8,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$2,736 (USA) (29 March 2013)

Gross:

$6,787 (USA) (5 April 2013)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Worldview Entertainment, Between The Eyes, Automatik Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

When Max Lewinsky drains body fluids out of his knee using a syringe he is smoking a cigarette. After he drained the body fluids out of his knee he sprays the fluid into a pan and then taking a final smoke of his cigarette. The cigarette he throws into the pan with his body fluids appears to be taller than when he took the final draw.

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Quotes

Dean Warns: I'll tell you why I'm a good soldier, because of selfless commitment

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Connections

Featured in Top Gear: Episode #19.5 (2013)

User Reviews

Fails to land the knockout punch

When thinking about English Police dramas, The Bill usually comes to mind, episodes where two overweight police officers would run around estates trying to find out who robbed the local Sainsbury's. Thankfully, Welcome To The Punch, is a lot more sophisticated and glamorous than that, directed by Eran Creevy ,(who also made the fantastic Shifty), this film features quite possibly the most beautiful presentation of London as a modern city that I've ever seen on the big screen. But visuals are only part of a film, so how was the rest of it....

Dropping us right into the middle of a complicated heist, we see rugged cop Max (James McAvoy) ignore orders and get shot in the leg by one of the criminals (Mark Strong, bald bad guy from Sherlock Holmes). The film then zoom three years into the future and we're on board a plane, where a young Asian/Arab man reveals he's been shot and runs off the plane (it hadn't taken off yet, or that would have just been silly), whereby he calls his dad to come and help him.... his dad who happens to be the criminal we saw shoot the cop three years ago!!! Madness. This all leads to a broken down and now permanently injured cop Max realising that this is his big chance to get vengeance for what happened three years ago....but is everything as clear as it seems, who is he actually chasing?

This film is no classic, in fact, it's just about verging on being a good film, for all the spectacular scenes of explosions and shoot outs, there lacks an intensity to the film, James McAvoy does well in his scenes as a cop who's seemingly given up on life, but it's hard to really believe he is a tough and guilt-ridden cop when he still looks about 12 years old (even with a beard). To it's credit, the story does manage to change it's focus numerous times, and these twists initially kept me engaged with the plot, characters we hate manage to gain sympathy and vice-versa, but after a while, the plot just becomes too complicated, and verges on becoming a comedy. So overall, a decent film, one worth checking out on a Friday night if you're a fan of action, but in no ways a film that changes the genre.

6/10