Welcome to the Punch, 2013.
Written and Directed by Eran Creevy.
Starring James McAvoy, Mark Strong, Andrea Riseborough, David Morrissey, Jason Flemyng, Peter Mullan, Johnny Harris and Daniel Mays.
SYNOPSIS:
A police officer with physical and mental scars is forced to confront his past pain as well as corruption in his city when the criminal who got away re-emerges to try to help his son.
Look at the image above. Just look at it. Very pretty, isn’t it? It’s got blues and… more blues. And look at James McAvoy. Very blue. And he’s not shaved in a couple of days, which is one step away from normal functioning member of society, but one step closer than hobo so you know he’s an alright guy who’s just too focused on his job. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a crime thriller through a blue lens where the main character’s too focused on the job for his own good and the bad guy has a sort of respect for him because they’re both intense.
Okay, I have, but I won’t tell you what it is because it’s so obvious… okay, skip to the next paragraph when you think you’ve got it. It’s got Al Pacino in it. He says ‘Whattya got!?’ more than is necessary. Robert De Niro’s in it. He’s the only person who can ring someone on the phone and start the conversation with ‘Yeah, what?’ Michael Mann directed it. He’s the one who says ‘cut’. Val Kilmer’s in it. His has long blonde hair that is very pretty, but would ultimately betray him.
Wrong, it’s not that, it’s Heat! Coming out of Welcome to the Punch, and indeed while watching it, I thought ‘That was great, that was just like Heat!’ Today though, all I can think is ‘What was that? That… that’s just Heat, again, but not as good.’ There’s a thin line between homage and rip off and, just like I’m sure I’ve said that in a previous review, the idea’s never as good if it’s the same second time round.
Eran Creevy’s film is fantastically stylised, but stays too close to Heat to be anything but a pretender. While films like The Dark Knight took inspiration from Heat, they had their own ideas as well. Creevy’s script seems to follow the blueprint (ha. ‘Blue’print. Coz it’s all blue) to the letter instead of creating new characters.
The cast perform very well. Max Lewinsky (McAvoy) is the hard up London policeman who, in trying to stop Mark Strong’s master criminal Jacob Sternwood, gets shot in the leg. I’ll say the same thing Alan Moore said about Stan Lee’s characterisation. Having a bad leg does not a character trait make. But McAvoy does well with what he’s given, Lewinsky having a strong but wounded presence in every scene he’s in.
The script and Mark Strong, his character so reminiscent of another famous criminal that all he’s missing is a bar code, provide Sternwood with another dimension when he comes out of hiding to save his son, Ruan (Elyes Gabel). The story runs the risk of treating his son like an object to be sought after, but gives Ruan enough time for the audience to understand. His son is not just an excuse to get Sternwood into the story, but at the same time isn’t given enough screen time for us to get to know him. This creates a distance between audience and character. We understand why Sternwood’s sad, because he must have loved his son, but ultimately it’s viewed with a coldness and no emotional connection.
Why Andrea Riseborough is in this, I won’t figure out. The one question that actually popped into my head during the film, because she’s given so little to do and her character arc is non-existent. Some of the twists and turns characters take are a little strange at times as well, sometimes fully taking me out of the narrative inexplicably unfolding in front of my eyes. Instead of organic betrayal, betrayal we can feel as an audience, it just sort of happens because that’s what happens in these films.
As said above, the production looks great. The sound matches up with the visuals, everything has a sort of weight to it. Even the gun shots, numerous as they are, are heavy. It’s just a shame that the atmosphere is largely, let’s face it, stolen from Heat. There were points where I loved the atmosphere of the film, but at the same time sat there regretting it because I’d seen it before and it really doesn’t deserve the same accolades as the movie that came before it. If only it had another couple of layers to make it seem fresh. Maybe it could’ve worked as a spoof, but even that seems like it’d be a waste of time. A promising directorial and writing outcome, until you realise it’s an exercise in aping what has come before.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Matt Smith
Originally published March 15, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
