Journeyman

Boxing is a very well decorated sports sub-genre. You can list off a number of high-quality films from this category that have received high praise from the audience and been given a number of major awards. Two of them have even won Best Picture at the Oscars, Rocky and Million Dollar Baby. But nowadays, I think it's tough to make a really good one now. I feel it as a bit of a worn-out genre. There's not much else you can do different with it.

Now that I've seen Paddy Considine make and star in his own Boxing drama, the story certainly concentrates outside of the ring rather than in it. That's definitely a root that might refresh this genre.

But I felt to be really torn with this one in the end. It starts off with some potential. But I think the pacing of it and general look to it made it look pretty ordinary and dare I say more of a TV drama.

The second half does get better and by the end of it it was a heart-wrenching finale and that was all thanks to Considine.

Paddy Considine was great. It's hard to know what to think of his performance at first. But by the turn of the second half, that's when he truly shines and we get a couple of really emotional moments that did not have a dry eye in the house by the end of it.

Jodie Whittaker was a solid support and had great chemistry with Considine. But sadly, like with a lot of this film, her performance felt better suited to TV.

I've briefly mentioned this already, but the major problem I had with this film was that none of it felt cinematic. It felt more like an excellent one-off TV drama that would win many National TV awards. The story does fall into the trap of a what you expect in a TV movie, the forced themes and melodramatic presentation.

It is a real shame, because Considine's performance comes out really strong by the end of it and enhances everything around him.

Despite the high praise for his acting, there was very little exceptional content outside of that I'm afraid to say. After his incredibly powerful directing in Tyrannosaur, it pains me to say that this did feel disappointing. It's certainly made with good intentions and I think it is still worth seeing for Considine's acting. But maybe wait until you can access it from your home, as that seems to be where you get the best viewing experience.

Rating: 7/10

One of the most consistent and consistently underrated talents working in the industry today, British gun actor/filmmaker Paddy Considine has taken his time to step behind the director's chair again after his heart wrenching debut Tyrannosaur from 2011 but Journeyman re-establishes the fact that Considine is a force behind and in-front of the camera.

Not as powerful as Tyrannosaur or as unique, with Journeyman feeling a little more like well-trodden ground, Considine's film is still a great showcase for its lead performers in the form of Considine as champion boxer turned debilitated husband Matty Burton and Dr. Who herself Jodie Whittaker as Burton's caring but concerned wife Emma.

A boxing drama that barely spends any time in the ring, viewers should understand that Considine isn't concerned about following the general boxing movie tropes as he instead draws his focus away from the arena as we follow Burton on his journey to recovery after he suffers significant brain trauma in a title fight, ensuring the strain on his relationship with Emma and his friends is tested more than ever before.

Journeyman is a quiet affair, there's not much grandstanding or cinematic flair on offer and while it would've been nice for Considine to shake-up the familiar formula more often, the film is clearly the work of a performer that knows and understands his craft and remains in tune with the human intricacies that more polished and large-scale films can often lose sight of.

Considine himself is great as the determined, flawed and broken Burton while Whittaker takes a backseat to Considine's powerful turn, she to shows great heart and depth in her role, with the two top quality actors working magic when they get to share the screen together.

After Tyrannosaur and now this, it's safe to say Considine is a fine director of actors and should he continue to attract the type of talent to his productions as he has, it's an exciting fans for film fans the world to see what he has in store for us next.

Final Say -

It never punches above its weight class but Journeyman is another fine effort from one of the industry's most underappreciated talents, a boxing film with a different goal than the usual affair, Journeyman is well worth tracking down.

3 washing machines out of 5

To my surprise, 'Journeyman (2018)' isn't so much a typical 'boxing film' as it is an unexpectedly realistic and heart-wrenching examination of how a single, blindsiding moment can change your life, for the worse, forever. It's also an exploration of one of the darker, less emphasised sides of a sport in which the participants consistently receive blows to the head, any one of which could end their careers or, worse, their lives (either as they know them or entirely). The film really is powerful. It's sobering stuff delivered through a phenomenal, award-worthy central performance and an incredibly nuanced, tactile screenplay that never feels heightened or 'Hollywood', instead feeling pretty much 'real' and incredibly raw right the way through. I was totally taken by surprise and on the edge of my seat throughout, watching through gritted teeth and teary eyes. It truly is brilliant, unbelievably compelling work, even if it isn't always easy to sit through. 8/10.

It started about 20 minutes into the film. It then reoccurred every 10 minutes or so for the remainder of the duration. I've not cried like that at a film for I don't know how long. Like an emotional dementor Paddy Considine's second picture as a director takes so much, and give it back in equal measure.

I could say it was a like a punch to the face. A knockout of a film. It took me the full 12 rounds. It had me up against the ropes and... I could say these things. But they'd be naff -especially when describing this bruiser of a film.

It follows Matty Burton, an ageing boxer who knows his times spent and is ready to take his last steps into the ring before hanging up the gloves. But fate has another idea. Sounds familiar right? That's what I thought. Benefitting from having not seen the trailer, which I'd strongly advise avoiding if possible, I was of course shocked at the tale that followed.

Matty revives an injury which alters the course of his life. The film is really about how it affects not just him but those around him, namely his two friends and most of all his devoted wife, portrayed by Doctor Who's Jodie Whitaker, in a career best role. It's a boxing film but more than that it's a film about those we love and who care for us. It's about identity in some ways, fight in others, but love in every way.

Set mainly in the family home of Matty, his wife and their baby daughter Mia, the film is, for the most part, a domestic tale about a man recovering from a traumatic injury and a family recovering from the fallout of it.

When I say domestic I mean in the sense that the action is all contained within the confines of the house; not the ring. As a director Considine creates tension from the most ordinary of sights and sounds, a crying baby, the call of a name. He also crafts more than a couple of shocking moments, also within the house. These really shock. They're sudden, viscous and yet they create no feelings of anger, only anguish and desperation for our two leads.

Considine proved himself as a more than competent director with Tyrannosaur, and also a capable writer with Shane Meadows' Dead Mans Shoes. Here he goes beyond that. The original score is used when necessary and removed entirely at just the right moments, a certain phone call scene is one of the films standouts. It never tips into the melodramatic or pandering which I was very worried it would.

However above all this directorial talent which produces and almost insist on such incredible emotional response, it's the acting of Considine and Whitaker which truly blew me away. Considine is utterly convincing, scarily so at times. Whitaker more than matches him too in what is a very different but no less enthralling portrayal. Being a small British film (small only in the sense of it not getting a wide release) I don't expect any awards to come raining down. But I also don't think I'll see another pair on screen this year who put as dynamic and heartfelt a performance as these two. Absolutely stellar.

Yes it is a knockout. It did hit me with an emotional guy punch. And yet it's so much more than the cliches thrown its way would have you believe. See it.

Journeyman is a great emotional experience that focuses more on the family life of a boxer rather than the boxing itself. Paddy Considine's direction is great and his performance as well as Jodie Whitaker's are both incredible. However, the fight itself isn't that well filmed and lacks the weight and impact it needs but the drama and acting in the rest of the film is good enough to overcome this flaw.