On Welcome to the Punch

In 1995 Michael Mann set the bar for city based crime cinema with close cop/robber relationships with Heat. Mann set the bar high and it doesn’t getter better than the Pacino/De Niro film. Eran Creevy’s second directorial feature, Welcome to the Punch, draws many comparisons with Mann’s film and suffers for them. Punch lacks the dramatic weight and quality script that has made Heat such a classic. Creevy’s camera explores and shoots London with great skill and perhaps this is something he has taken from the cityscapes of Mann’s films.

To look at Punch away from the Heat comparison, it is enjoyable but on a surface level only. The film looks good and the mise-en-scene is carefully crafted. It is refreshing to see London used to its full potential on the big screen. Yet Creevy seems to come from the school of filmmaking that promotes the MTV style of editing. Punch moves so quickly and at times is an assault on the senses. This results in a lack of connection to the characters and therefore there is no engagement with the story, just with the visuals. Punch has the ability to occasionally shock and the acting is good, but this is not the crime film that London deserves, although, it looks like it should be.