Welcome to the Punch
IFC Films | Release Date: March 27, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
49
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 16 Critic Reviews
Positive:
3
Mixed:
10
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
The PlaylistOliver LytteltonMar 11, 2013
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. Read full review
80
EmpireDan JolinMar 11, 2013
A confident, ambitious and action-rich Brit thriller, albeit one whose characters and clarity suffer from the frantic intensity of its pacing. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloMar 27, 2013
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. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleMar 28, 2013
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. Read full review
60
The New York TimesManohla DargisMar 26, 2013
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. Read full review
60
VarietyGuy LodgeMar 18, 2013
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. Read full review
60
Total FilmEmma DibdinMar 11, 2013
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. Read full review
50
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreMar 28, 2013
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. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckMar 27, 2013
Despite its fast pacing and well-staged action set-pieces, the film fails to make much of an impression. Read full review
50
ObserverRex ReedMar 26, 2013
Empty, pointless and stupid, the barrage of gunfire called Welcome to the Punch is another unappealing entry in the overworked British gangster genre. Read full review
40
Village VoiceSteve EricksonMar 26, 2013
When bullets aren't flying, the movie offers yesterday's goods in shiny new packaging. Read full review
40
Time OutSam AdamsMar 26, 2013
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. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawMar 15, 2013
It runs out of steam, with plot revelations visible from a mile away and a bit of a plausibility gap. Read full review
38
New York PostSara StewartMar 28, 2013
There are a lot of casualties in this stylish, unoriginal thriller, but James McAvoy’s knee was the only one that moved me. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineChris CabinMar 26, 2013
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. Read full review
20
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierMar 30, 2013
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. Read full review
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