Welcome to the Punch

Welcome to the Punch is a 2013 British action thriller film written and directed by Eran Creevy and starring James McAvoy, Mark Strong, and Andrea Riseborough. The script had been placed on the 2010 Brit List, a film-industry-compiled list of the best unproduced screenplays in British film. With seven votes, the film was placed third. Plot Four gunmen emerge from a building in gas masks after a robbery and leave on motorbikes. DI Max Lewinsky sets off in pursuit of the gang in his car. He fails to catch them and suffers an injury after being shot in the leg by Jacob Sternwood, who could have easily killed him. Three years later, Lewinsky suffers from his wound and has to use drugs for the pain. He works with DS Sarah Hawks, with whom he is on good terms. While escorting the prisoner Dean Warns, an ex-soldier suspected of smuggling weapons, they are met by ambitious Commander Thomas Geiger and DCI Nathan Bartnick who inform them that Warns is to be released due to lack of evidence. A security guard said he saw Warns in a container yard in connection with the offence but has retracted his statement. Lewinsky learns that Sternwood's son, Ruan, has collapsed on an aircraft runway while travelling under an alias and has been hospitalized. Ruan called an Icelandic landline number before he collapsed, leading a police taskforce to journey to Iceland to find Sternwood. Lewinsky has no faith in this idea, but the police ignore his doubts. They surround Sternwood's property, but he escapes and detonates a booby trap bomb that kills several policemen. Lewinsky suggests that Ruan's location be made public to draw Jacob out of hiding and offers to stay in the hospital with Sarah to await Jacob's appearance. Jacob goes to the hospital to confirm his son's situation and leaves without being caught. Ruan dies shortly afterwards, but this is not revealed on the off-chance that Sternwood will return. Lewinsky tracks down the security guard who retracted his statement, thinking that Sternwood may have forced him to do so, but the guard refuses to help. Sarah follows Warns to the container yard to look for evidence, but Warns intercepts and kills her.