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.
March was an interesting month for movie fans, ESPECIALLY James McAvoy fans, as not only was he in Welcome to the Punch, but also the CRAZY Trance aswell (which I’ll be writing the review of later this week (yes I’m catching up on reviews)
So yes, Welcome to the Punch, is a proper old school British gangster film, with a star cast of the finest calibre British actors aswell.
Now I must say from the off, I am a huge fan of British films, especially the gangster films like Lock, Stock and L4yer cake. But Welcome to the Punch added an even grittier, almost American story to the British gangster styling that works really well.
James McAvoy plays Max Lewinsky, a London detective that’s injured while trying to arrest Mark Strong‘s character, Jacob Sternwood.
A gruff and injured detective, still injured and trying to move on with his injury and his job and life and smarting from missing out on capturing Jacob. His captain, played by the awesome David Morrissey, and his partner/girlfriend, played by the very attractive Andrea Riseborough, try to keep him on track, but he is slowly spiralling into anger and depression.
During this time, Sternwood’s son has gotten himself into a heist gone bad and before he can escape the country to join his dad in Iceland, his injuries get the better of him and he ends up in hospital, bringing Jacob back to London to find out what happened and in the process, brings him back into the sights of Max.
Of course nothing is as simple and the two very soon realise more is going on than they realise and the grittier side of the story starts to unfold
Now, compared to other gritty British gangster films, especially those that Danny Boyle have done (because lets face it, he’s one of our best Directors), Welcome to the Punch is up there! I’ll definitely be adding it to my DvD/BluRay collection next to Lock, Stock and L4yer cake for sure. The story is solid, the characters are believable, but not over the top and the actors playing them are all top notch aswell. It’s also beautifully shot aswell, all the sets are rather lavish and believable aswell.
If you haven’t already seen it (yes this review is a little late, ok its a month late I know, I forgot to post it earlier), then make sure you grab it on Netflix or DvD/BluRay when you can, it deserves space on your shelf/hard drive for sure!
8/10
~Lone
