Review: Welcome To The Punch

Welcome To The Punch
Cert: 15 / 99 mins / Dir. Eran Creevy



A selectively shot London of chrome and glass serves as the backdrop for an efficient, minimalistic thriller which focuses on a surprisingly linear*¹ plot rather than character development*². It works in this instance, but you wouldn't want all your films to be like it. Eran Creevy does a decent job of ramping up the tension, and an even better one of sustaining it; in the final twenty minutes, there really are no guarantees as to who'll walk away.

I could actually envision this film taking place in the same universe as last year's Sweeney (which I still stand by. What?). As with that film, …Punch isn't Guy Ritchie territory, and works all the better for it. James McAvoy and Mark Strong do the majority of the heavy lifting, albeit with very solid supporting roles from all around them. The script is as free from extraneous banter as it is from tertiary characters, and this leads to quite a claustrophobic atmosphere at times (the best example being a four-man shootout in a nightclub which has no punters and no music playing).

I can see why the film isn't for everyone (and even I wasn't convinced by the trailer), but it's great to be pleasantly surprised. Not as raucous as Rocknrolla, but not as downbeat as Harry Brown, Welcome To The Punch has an intensity that's not easily matched these days.



Largely.



Yes.



Yes.



…Cinema ideally, but DVD will still work.



No.



Yes.



YES!*³





*¹ Which is to say that there is a structure to the events, but it doesn't waste the viewer's time with twists, turns and red herrings. The unfolding plot is revealed in one neat scene. This would never happen in the Hollywood version.
*² Seriously, this is not a character-piece. The characters are fine, but you find out very little about them, and it doesn't really matter anyway.
*³ During the shootout at the container-yard. Get in!

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