Welcome To The Punch (15.)
Directed by Eran Creevy.
Starring James McAvoy, Mark Strong, Andrea Riseborough, David Morrissey, Daniel May and Peter Mullen. Released to rent 12th July. 99 mins
It opens with a scene that is an archetype of light-polluting noir – after a night-time bank heist in the City of London, four motorcyclists make an Italian Job style getaway through the gleaming empty streets. A lone cop screeches to a halt at a crossroads, jumps out of his car and tries to listen for any trace of the gang in the silent morning. It is a fitting opening for a film that is always a little bit too silly for the flash and grandeur with which it is presented.
It is cast beyond its means with James McAvoy starring as the cop who is “too close to the case” and Mark Strong as the master criminal he is obsessed with. Such villainy comes easy to Strong but you can see the effort McAvoy and Riseborough, who plays his partner, are putting in and these are not the kind of roles where you can let the audience see you acting. In contrast Johnny Harris brings so much genuine menace to his role as a murderous former soldier he unbalances the film’s ecosystem.
Director Creevy made such a good job of micro budget drug dealer drama Shifty that he has been handed a big cast and a big budget, much of it spent on numerous aerial shots of the City. You warm to his ambition but this was all done a lot better in the film version of The Sweeney.
Directed by Eran Creevy.
Starring James McAvoy, Mark Strong, Andrea Riseborough, David Morrissey, Daniel May and Peter Mullen. Released to rent 12th July. 99 mins
It opens with a scene that is an archetype of light-polluting noir – after a night-time bank heist in the City of London, four motorcyclists make an Italian Job style getaway through the gleaming empty streets. A lone cop screeches to a halt at a crossroads, jumps out of his car and tries to listen for any trace of the gang in the silent morning. It is a fitting opening for a film that is always a little bit too silly for the flash and grandeur with which it is presented.
It is cast beyond its means with James McAvoy starring as the cop who is “too close to the case” and Mark Strong as the master criminal he is obsessed with. Such villainy comes easy to Strong but you can see the effort McAvoy and Riseborough, who plays his partner, are putting in and these are not the kind of roles where you can let the audience see you acting. In contrast Johnny Harris brings so much genuine menace to his role as a murderous former soldier he unbalances the film’s ecosystem.
Director Creevy made such a good job of micro budget drug dealer drama Shifty that he has been handed a big cast and a big budget, much of it spent on numerous aerial shots of the City. You warm to his ambition but this was all done a lot better in the film version of The Sweeney.
