Journeyman (2018)

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Better Late Then Never

The acting in this movie is really good.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Matty Burton is the middleweight boxing champion of the world. Now, coming towards the end of his career, he knows that he must make his money and get out of the game. His aim is to secure a home with his wife Emma, and a future for their baby daughter Mia. Journeyman is unfortunately another 'Rocky' rip-off without the energy or the stamina of the famous fictional champion. The overall drama and perfomances didn't do it for me either and the boxing parts were definitely no better either. Stick to Rocky and Creed or just wait for Creed II.

I think this was an excellently acted film BUT only by Paddy Consadine, and again shows why for pure organic acting that he is one of the best in Britain. My main problem with this movie was the other cast members who were simply that bad that it made Consadine seem even better than he probably was, though in no way is this a sleight on Consadine at all because he was excellent and must of done his research to nail the part the way that he did. The 'other boxer' pulled these weird facial expressions which in no way represented the face of a genuinely 'sorry' person, and that actor was terrible. It was a bit all a bit too '9pm ITV on a Thursday' for me and although it will no doubt please several people as a spectacle it really is simply a TV drama made to pay homage to Sheffield. The barber, Kell Brook or maybe his brother (whoever it was) spoiled it for me and simply because they added nothing at all. A well acted tale but with one real actor only, and how the rest can actually earn a living as paid 'actors' in itself is embarrassing. The UK looks so boring and bleak in this film, which to be fair, it is... 5.5/10

Sets the record straight about the danger of the sport, and brain injury. In that respect, it is an "anti-boxing" film. The story is heartbreaking, but so visceral and real. Paddy Considine's performance is award-worthy. Well worth the watch. Edit: I do wonder if such an injury would be able to recover.

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.