Punch and Run

Based on the title alone, I suspected that I wouldn't be the right target audience for this experience. I'm not really a fan of lawn keepers or other dimwits, so I didn't have any expectations whatsoever. But surprise, surprise, I actually enjoyed myself quite a bit throughout the whole thing, especially during the scenes with the duo Hoffman/Noha playing the detective/transporter pair. Seriously, I was expecting garbage worthy of the trash can, but surprisingly I got garbage that made me laugh and entertained me with its joyful disregard for political correctness. How else would I get acquainted with an advertisement for Down's syndrome that, if I upset someone, would eat my dog? 3*+ (09/01/2022)

Two pot dealers get the chance to sell their entire crop in one night, but someone stole it. There are also half-crazed cops, desperate musicians, seductive strippers, and the Bulgarian and Vietnamese mafia are on the rampage in Žižkov. This is gonna be a long night, and someone might get hurt in the process... The film is a variation on Guy Ritchie's gangster flicks and although it has its flaws and not all the plot lines work perfectly, there are enough ideas, humour and likeable characters to make it quite enjoyable in the cinema. Unexpectedly fine for a debut, and also proof that with a little effort, there can be other films than what we're used to from local filmmakers. (07/07/2021)

The Czech answer to Guy Ritchie could definitely have turned out worse, but Punch and Run fortunately stays at a decent level for most of its running time. Adam Hobzik could have pushed the black-humour envelope more and serve up a more vigorous piece that would certainly have stood out among Czech cinematography. The film has an ideal running, during which something is always happening, but it certainly could have been conceived in a more action-packed way. (15/04/2023)

Stylistically, it reminds me more of Karel Janák's directorial style than of the aforementioned Guy Ritchie, which is probably not exactly high praise, but to my surprise, I had quite a good time. The credit for this goes mainly to a couple of quirky policemen played by Martin Hoffman and Leoš Noha. Now that I think about it, I actually liked the whole cast. (60%) (27/11/2022)

We have seen it before from Guy Ritchie, and the whole thing is obviously cheaper, or rather it lacks the stylistic ambition and force of Ritchie's debut, which intentionally used an imaginative and, for its time, progressive formalistic rendering to  draw attention away from its shabby origins. At the same time, however, Punch and Run relies on a fine screenplay with superbly drawn characters, which are excellently fleshed out by the casting. With his likable debut, Hobzík sets himself apart from Ritchie and those who followed him primarily with the way he works with the genius loci of Prague's Žižkov neighbourhood, which invites similarly exaggerated and cartoonishly skewed genre puns. (02/06/2022)