Welcome to the Punch

Saw Welcome to the Punch (thanks, Basil!) It was a semi-political thriller, following a cop tracking down some kind of super-assassin who shot him in the knee three years ago. The film gives the cop a quirky female side-kick, a boss who rubs his failures in his face, a 'driven' attitude, and also a gross knee-abscess which is periodically drained via hypodermic needle into pots and coffee cups and so on. An interesting little touch, but for the most part, the cop is a generic action star. The film is almost entirely blue and green, the characters are all kind of stock. The film is well-done but unoriginal.

Almost entirely blue and green, it feels very chilly. The locations are almost always corporate or industrial. Only one time are they in a homey environment and the contrast is meant to be jarring. Hotel rooms and hospitals give this film a modern and high-tech feel, even though it could well have been re-set in the 60s without requiring major rewrites. It could not have been written in the 60s however: its kind-of-nebulous plot is distinctly modern. Drenched in politico-phobia and purposeful plot-holes (I don't recall an explanation of exactly who this assassin bad-ass is. He's just "wanted" by someone.) It's a refreshing change from the belabored over-explanation endemic to action films and thrillers.

I was a touch disappointed by the female side-kick. She seems to exist only to help the protagonist. She is not a love interest, at least, but only barely. This is a minor quibble. All in all, the film was not brilliant and, being an action film, not really very interesting to me. It is well-crafted but generic. A bit of a miss.