Welcome To The Punch - EXCLUSIVE Dr.Action preview prescription

I have just been to see an advanced screening of Welcome to the Punch release date 15/03/13 for the uk
It stars James McAvoy and Mark Strong with support from David Morrissey and Peter Mullan. It's the second movie from Eran Creevy.

So as a British, ahem, gentleman, let me first tell you that this is a British action thriller, yes British, so thats pretty great in itself. What do I think of the British movie industry? frankly and honestly? I can’t stand it. Ok if I liked kitchen sink dramas, East End cockney gangster movies and romantic comedies starring the latest dope, I’d love our film industry, but I don’t.
Lets not forget our endless need to make meaningful tosh to win awards and our actors who, seemingly, crave so much to win them, that's right Colin Firth I’m talking about you.
Its not so much the movies, its the ambition, why can’t we break free from the norm?
Step forward Mr Creevy, time to make an original action thriller thats not a remake of an old tv show (The Sweeney)

Thank god the missus convinced me to take that dance class

So here's a brief summary of the plot, McAvoy plays policeman Max Lewinsky who is hot on the heels of master criminal Jacob Sternwood, after a chase Sternwood manages to escape. Flash forward three years, Lewinsky is still reeling from not getting his man. When Sternwood is forced to return to London following an incident involving his son, Lewinsky just might get the chance to finally right his mistake. The plot is quite a bit more complex than that, but if I was to go on, I’d ruin it for you wonderful people.

Strong, Mark Strong... professional villain in EVERY film EVER

So it has a pretty good plot, but its an action film and we're an action blog and so the burning question is: how is the action?
Well for a start, for a Brit movie, the action set pieces are extremely well staged, its mainly gun fighting set pieces, and it looks fantastic. Stylish slow motion action, then full on machine gun fights that would not look out of place in a Hollywood movie, and better than a fair few of them. The themes and action throughout the movie reminded me a bit of early John Woo, and that is no mean feat, I for one absolutely love Woo’s The Killer and Hard Boiled.

why is the pipe on fire again?

shut up, it looks cool

Creevy has made London look stylish again, no kitchen sinks in site. Acting is first class also, McAvoy and Strong give strong performances and Andrea Riseborough, who I didn’t recognize from anything, also stands out as McAvoy's partner, and gives it her all. Everyone is pretty great in it.
Writing is also great from Eran Creevy, not just his directing, and he has made a great story with enough in the tank to keep you engaged and, of course, with awesome action.

sorry, who are you again?

So, in short, go see it, support British cinema and see a talented writer/director explode onto the action scene. My faith in a tiny pocket of the British film industry has been restored and made me think, hey we can make action look great. I hope Creevy makes an exciting follow up action movie, we need to give him the money to do it now before Hollywood inevitably calls and give him the keys to the action castle.

- The Doc