Welcome to the Punch is a cliché-saddled cop movie

Welcome to the Punch
Director: Eran Creevy
Starring: James McAvoy, Johnny Harris, Mark Strong, Andrea Riseborough, Peter Mullan
**

Apparently, Eran Creevy's script for this sleek but shallow crime thriller made it on a list of the best unproduced screenplays in British film - which says very little for the others on that list.

Creevy's cliché-saddled story about a cop (James McAvoy) obsessed with capturing the career criminal (Mark Strong) who shot his knee to pieces is meant to be the British answer to Michael Mann's Heat.

While there are thrills - not least the opening night-time heist through the empty, gleaming streets of London's Canary Wharf - this film lacks emotional weight. Without the urban authenticity of Creevy's debut, Shifty, its ambitions are overturned by miscast actors and a derivative plot. The result? More of a light slap than a punch.

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Welcome to the Punch is a cliché-saddled cop movie

Welcome to the Punch's ambitions are overturned by miscast actors and a derivative plot. The result? More of a light slap than a punch.

On Women's Day

UK's plans to cut net migration