There are a lot of low budget British thrillers about wanting to be the next 'Get Carter,' most of them poor and even though they might feature good actors, they end up being poor and pedestrian.
Welcome to the Punch is a mixture of hard boiled Hong Kong and Tarantinoesque USA edginess thrillers.
Dogged cop James McAvoy is after charismatic hardened criminal (but no psychopath) Mark Strong who plays the anti hero.
McAvoy is after Strong who wounded him (even though he could had killed him) in a getaway some years ago.
Now Strong is back in town because his son has been arrested and McAvoy now hooked up with a feisty female sidekick sees his chance of catching this big fish.
It soon becomes clear that there is more to this game of cat and mouse. There is a general election taking place and the Shadow Home Secretary is using all the shootings to go on a tougher law and order platform.
The Police Chief is under pressure with the murders in the capital and the press are after him for letting crime spiral out of control.
Johnny Harris playing an ex army henchman who rather enjoys his job.
Its is uniformly well acted, it has good story that moves pacily and although if you think about it, you see the twists coming.
It becomes clear that this film was written when there was a Labour government as the Shadow Home Secretary is very much a Tory.
With so many poor hard action British thrillers released, this is like an oasis in a desert.
Welcome to the Punch is a mixture of hard boiled Hong Kong and Tarantinoesque USA edginess thrillers.
Dogged cop James McAvoy is after charismatic hardened criminal (but no psychopath) Mark Strong who plays the anti hero.
McAvoy is after Strong who wounded him (even though he could had killed him) in a getaway some years ago.
Now Strong is back in town because his son has been arrested and McAvoy now hooked up with a feisty female sidekick sees his chance of catching this big fish.
It soon becomes clear that there is more to this game of cat and mouse. There is a general election taking place and the Shadow Home Secretary is using all the shootings to go on a tougher law and order platform.
The Police Chief is under pressure with the murders in the capital and the press are after him for letting crime spiral out of control.
Johnny Harris playing an ex army henchman who rather enjoys his job.
Its is uniformly well acted, it has good story that moves pacily and although if you think about it, you see the twists coming.
It becomes clear that this film was written when there was a Labour government as the Shadow Home Secretary is very much a Tory.
With so many poor hard action British thrillers released, this is like an oasis in a desert.