First Look At James McAvoy In British Thriller Welcome To The Punch

Four years ago, British writer/director Eran Creevy made a name for himself with his debut film Shifty. The independently made, gritty crime drama marked the arrival of an important new presence on the U.K. film scene. The feature even ended up being nominated, despite its insanely low budget, for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer at the BAFTAs. Unfortunately, the young talent went up against Duncan Jones' Moon, so Creevy ended up empty handed. However, now he's back with his second film called Welcome to the Punch and he's bringing James McAvoy with him.

Welcome to the Punch not only features a great cast, headed by McAvoy and the sensational Mark Strong, but also a really interesting action premise. The film follows Detective Max Lewinsky (McAvoy) who's still steaming about the one that got away, namely, criminal Jacob Sternwood (Strong) who successfully fled to an Icelandic hideout. But when Jacob's son finds himself in some trouble, Papa Sternwood has to come back to London to sort everything out. Hearing about his return, Lewinsky jumps at his final chance to bring the man to justice, that is, until something forces them to put aside their differences, work together and uncover an even larger conspiracy. Weren't expecting that part were you?

While we may have seen many good and bad guys form unlikely partnerships (3:10 to Yuma and next month's Safe House instantly come to mind) the prospect of McAvoy and Strong as an on-screen pair is incredibly enticing. Screen Daily was able to catch up with the creative team behind the project, detailing the entire journey from putting Shifty together to approaching this second film without worrying so much about budgetary limitations. On the screenplay, Creevy said that “We wanted to be as ambitious as possible. People are held back by a budget and a concept sometimes, but I knew that if I made it good enough it wouldn’t matter.” And good it must be since the script for Punch placed third on the 2010 Brit List (the British version of the Black List).

The article is a really interesting read about the young filmmaker's rise and also included this first look at Welcome to the Punch. You can't tell much of what's going on but can get a bit of a sense of the tone and setting. It's obviously very modern and slick, with all that glass, the sports car and, that ever so popular, cool blue filter. For some reason it makes me think of a blue tinted version of Limitless with Bradley Cooper or even the Wanted sequel that never happened. Either way, it has me intrigued to see more and stop all these speculative comparisons. Take a look and see what you think.



Welcome to the Punch opens September 7, 2012 in the U.K. It should hit North American cinemas sometime this year. It stars McAvoy, Strong, Peter Mullan (awesome) and the lovely Andrea Riseborough.