Every now and again a film comes out that sounds good, looks good and has a solid idea, but somehow doesn’t quite manage to translate onto the big screen. Welcome to the Punch clearly has the essentials of an action thriller: pace, suspense, a smattering of chase scenes and some cockney geezers to carry it off. So why is it still lacking?
The movie starts by plunging the audience into the world of Max Lewinsky (James McAvoy), for whom things aren’t going too well. He goes it alone in his pursuit for justice and winds up on the floor of a tunnel, having received a bullet in the leg from the mysterious Jacob Sternwood (Mark Strong of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Sherlock Holmes). So far so good. We then meet Sarah (Andrea Riseborough of Made In Dagenham, W.E.), who adds a touch of comedy to proceedings, showing clear disdain for Lewinsky’s disillusionment with his work for the police. In the course of all this we meet Daniel Mays (yet another Made In Dagenham alumni) who plays Nathan, a corrupt police officer embroiled in…well actually it’s not that clear what he’s embroiled in. It’s from here that things start to go awry.
From the very beginning we’re geared to hate Sternwood, who ruthlessly shoots poor Lewinsky, however the focus shifts to the point where we see the two adversaries collaborate with little trouble. Sternwood’s son Ruan turns up (albeit briefly to try to help make the plot at least semi-intelligible), then Riseborough’s character breathes her last in a storage container at the rather brutal hands of Warnes. Warnes appears to be a key player in the mess of plot lines and unexplained events, however his lack of screen time at the beginning of the movie fails to convey this. To top all this off, neither the police nor the various unsavoury characters in Sternwood’s circle seem to be able to shoot. As a result, we experience extended shoot-out scenes, disconnected dialogue and James McAvoy running around quite happily, despite supposedly sustaining a leg wound in scene one and a further shot to the arm later on.
The main problem is whilst on paper this movie is packed with ingredients set to induce cinemagoers to perch on the edges of their seats, ironically, it lacks punch. McAvoy is obsessed and consumed by a vendetta, we get that, the policemen are all corrupt because they’re aiding an election bid, we get that, but what we don’t get is anything new. There are no surprises, just a different combination of well-used elements. It’s a disappointing turn from McAvoy and Strong who are both involved with huge movies set to hit our screens: the next X-Men instalment is in pre-production for McAvoy and Strong is currently filming Before I Go To Sleep alongside Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman. Hopefully these projects will be more successful, as despite the good intentions of those behind Welcome to the Punch, it’s a far cry from the knock-out that was promised.
3 stars
