Paddy the ageing boxer doesn’t quite ring true . . .
Journeyman (15) Verdict: A bit heavy handed ★★★✩✩
PADDY CONSIDINE is a marvellous actor whose debut feature as a writer-director was the powerful 2011 film Tyrannosaur.
Journeyman is his second such venture, and once again he boldly tackles a difficult subject, in this case the tragic decline of a champion boxer who has suffered brain damage in the ring.
Considine himself plays Matty Burton, the world middleweight champion who wins his final fight, but pays a terrible price. Before the fight he is a devoted husband to Emma (Jodie Whittaker). They have a baby he adores. He is a good man. But then he collapses and when finally he emerges from hospital he has become a child himself — and a difficult one at that, prone to sudden, violent rages.
At its best, Journeyman is a harrowing spectacle, superbly acted. But the story-telling is uneven. Once Matty has been reduced by brain damage, his entourage abandons him. The media show no interest in his sad story, either, which is not even remotely plausible of a British reigning world champion. Apart from a spot of occupational therapy, society and even the medical profession appear to leave him alone. So, in due course, does Emma.
Not much of this rings true. And I’m not sure I quite buy Considine, who is well into his 40s, as a boxing champ. It’s a role for a younger actor.
On the other hand, he is brilliant at conveying the physical and emotional transformation of a fit man into one who is desperately reduced. And Considine’s own manifest love of boxing shines through; the film is not an indictment of the so-called ‘noble art’. Indeed, it is boxing that enables Matty to make sense of his life again.
So if it’s possible to admire a film without quite believing in it, that’s how I feel about Journeyman. It isn’t a knock-out, like last year’s superior Jawbone, but there are rewards if you go the distance.