Welcome to the Punch
Metascore
49 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 16 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 16
  3. Negative: 3 out of 16
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  1. The Playlist
    Reviewed by: Oliver Lyttelton
    Mar 11, 2013
    83
    For most of the run-time, Welcome To The Punch is thrillingly cinematic, beautifully made, smarter and funnier than you'd expect, and a phenomenal showcase for Creevy and his team.
  2. Empire
    Reviewed by: Dan Jolin
    Mar 11, 2013
    80
    A confident, ambitious and action-rich Brit thriller, albeit one whose characters and clarity suffer from the frantic intensity of its pacing.
  3. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Mike D'Angelo
    Mar 27, 2013
    75
    Writer-director Eran Creevy demonstrates little facility for kineticism — one of the movie’s best scenes gets flat-out ruined when he abruptly shifts to hackneyed slo-mo — and his cynical plot gets so convoluted that one of the bad guys has to break it down for the audience in a climactic monologue-at-gunpoint.
  4. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Robert Abele
    Mar 28, 2013
    60
    Writer-director Eran Creevy shows himself to be well versed in the mythic sweep of Christopher Nolan's and Michael Mann's crime sagas, if not their intelligence with storytelling.
  5. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Manohla Dargis
    Mar 26, 2013
    60
    There are good movies and plenty more bad ones and many, many more that fall somewhere in between. And then there are enjoyable absurdities like Welcome to the Punch, which contain evaluative multitudes and which, scene by scene, register as not bad, pretty good and flat-out ridiculous.
  6. Variety
    Reviewed by: Guy Lodge
    Mar 18, 2013
    60
    A proficient but personality-free policer that demands little of either its audience or its enviable best-of-British cast, this simplistic urban morality tale miscasts the appealing James McAvoy as one good cop whose dogged pursuit of Mark Strong’s alpha criminal only uncovers the rot within police ranks.
  7. Total Film
    Reviewed by: Emma Dibdin
    Mar 11, 2013
    60
    There’s an emotional vacuum at its centre but Welcome To The Punch is an adrenalin shot to the heart of the Brit-crime genre.
  8. Movie Nation
    Reviewed by: Roger Moore
    Mar 28, 2013
    50
    The diminutive McAvoy, trying his hand at all manner of action, may be hoping to become the Scottish Tom Cruise. But Welcome to the Punch shows he’s still more of a Scottish Michael J. Fox, an actor better served by roles with more charm and less grimacing than this one.
  9. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Frank Scheck
    Mar 27, 2013
    50
    Despite its fast pacing and well-staged action set-pieces, the film fails to make much of an impression.
  10. New York Observer
    Reviewed by: Rex Reed
    Mar 26, 2013
    50
    Empty, pointless and stupid, the barrage of gunfire called Welcome to the Punch is another unappealing entry in the overworked British gangster genre.
  11. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Steve Erickson
    Mar 26, 2013
    40
    When bullets aren't flying, the movie offers yesterday's goods in shiny new packaging.
  12. Time Out New York
    Reviewed by: Sam Adams
    Mar 26, 2013
    40
    Favoring style over substance isn’t a mortal sin, but Creevy isn’t as enthrallingly slick as compatriot Guy Ritchie, nor does he have anything like the "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" auteur’s feel for Britain’s criminal class.
  13. The Guardian
    Reviewed by: Peter Bradshaw
    Mar 15, 2013
    40
    It runs out of steam, with plot revelations visible from a mile away and a bit of a plausibility gap.
  14. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Sara Stewart
    Mar 28, 2013
    38
    There are a lot of casualties in this stylish, unoriginal thriller, but James McAvoy’s knee was the only one that moved me.
  15. Slant Magazine
    Reviewed by: Chris Cabin
    Mar 26, 2013
    38
    The sheer wastefulness of Eran Creevy's Welcome to the Punch is off-putting enough, but the film is also falsely painted-up as a crime epic.
  16. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Joe Neumaier
    Mar 30, 2013
    20
    Unfortunately, the rest of writer-director Eran Creevy’s film just shows that the Brits, too, make good-looking but empty thrillers, just like in Hollywood.

User Reviews

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User Score
6.3 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 8 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 2
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 2
  3. Negative: 0 out of 2
  1. Thegodfatherson
    6
    The movie overall is successful, as McAvoy and Strong bring seriousness to their characters with strong facial features and gritty personalities. The film, plot wise, was predictable and underdeveloped. Despite those aspects, the film was a success because of the two great actors, amazingly vivid colors and scenery and gun fights.
    The film runs for 99 minutes, which is not long for most movies, but I feel this movie is a few minutes too long, filled with slow, drawn-out, unnecessary scenes that were aimed at contrasting the fast and quick shooting scenes. Also the film is lacking rich or witty dialogue, it is all but nonexistent.
    Regardless, the actions scenes are colorful and blood pumping, which is the film's true strength that ultimately justifies watching it. The movie also stars Andrea Riseborough (Oblivion), David Morrissey (The Walking Dead), Jason Flemying (Snatch), and Peter Mullan (War Horse). The film, as you have read, includes many talented and known actors/actress.
    Welcome To The Punch is about Max (McAvoy), a headstrong and tough London Cop who has been chasing a infamous criminal Jacob Sternwood (Strong), later to realize there is more going on in the world than Sternwood. I won't spoil the film for anyone.
    This flick is good for a rainy day or a weekend movie night. But don't rent it and expect an In Bruges, Seven Psychopaths or Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels type of film. Welcome To The Punch is a good film, but slightly predictable and could use more interesting dialogue. Go into this flick to see some great scenery and fun gun fights, but that is all that can be promised. The old school Die Hard british version    … Full Review »
  2. hoops2448
    7
    A good British action film is hard to come by, one that emulates and builds on old school action directors like John Woo and John McTiernan is even harder. Welcome to the Punch is that film and because of that it is delightful. The film follows the events that happen when lifelong criminal Jacob Sternwood (Mark Strong) returns to Britain to investigate why his son has been attacked. While there he must contend with disenfranchised police officer Max Lewinsky (James McAvoy), someone Sternwood wounded years prior following one of his final heists. Welcome to the Punch isn't the most intelligent action thriller, in fact it can play quite predictable for a majority of its run time. It's not a film that tries to shock but it does try to impress in its writing (mostly successfully) and its performances (entirely successful), but most importantly the direction by Eran Creevy. The action in the film is sublime with an empty nightclub shootout being one of the finest gunfights since heat. The attention to detail is wonderful which adds a sense of realism to the action. Although John Woo Slow-Mo is used it never really feels out of place and gives the film a Max Payne Noir feel (the game not the film, never the film). Then again the film isn't all action, it's firmly placed in the thriller category as well as the film has an excellent sense of pace allowing for emotional moments as well as some very fast paced developments. It's a film that constantly shifts gears and because of that it is never boring and overall it manages to fit in enough great action moments to be a great movie.… Full Review »
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