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Journeyman centres around Matty Burton (Paddy Considine), boxer who is about to take on the biggest fight of his life, and it follows the death of his father. He’s up against young upstart, Andre Bryte (Anthony Welsh) – aka Andre The Future. Can an old dog teach a cocky dog new tricks? Whatever the outcome, he soon learns he’s suffered one knock to the noggin too many, and a trip to the hospital is called for.
Never mind the punches in the right, in the first half, this film delivers the brutality of life’s metaphorical punches that it delivers when Matty’s life changes forever, and we see how it impacts upon his wife, Emma. In fact, it’s quite heart-breaking as he even fails to recognise his own baby daughter, and he just says, “Who him?” In fact, it’s like Emma now has two children to deal with.
Can he get back to normality and restore family life for both of them? No doubt, if there’s one thing Jodie Whittaker‘s character wishes she could do, it would be to wave her forthcoming character’s sonic screwdriver in her TARDIS and go back in time (she’ll be in Doctor Who, if you didn’t know)
Considine is great in the role, and there are some powerful scenes, but overall, it does feel a little flat compared to what I was expecting, since things tail off in the second half. It’s certainly worth a watch, and doesn’t particularly overstay its brief running time.
wife Emma (Jodie Whittaker), and his best friend, Jackie (Paul Popplewell), look on.
The film is presented in the theatrical 2.35:1 widescreen aspect ratio and in 1080p high definition and it looks as crisp and clear as you’d expect from a modern movie, bringing us the bright lights when Matty’s in the ring, and more subdued and muted colours when he’s back home and suffering from his injuries.
The sound is in 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, and outside of the boxing scenes, it’s mostly a dialogue piece.
The extras are as follows:
- Interview (5:06): Morelike a brief few words, as Paddy Considine chats alongside boxing gym owner Dom Ingle, whose gym is featured in the movie. I definitely think I could use some help from their training regime!
- Extended scenes: Two scenes – a post-fight interview with Matty (6:24), portrayed as if it’s a live match; as well as a head-to-head interview (17:35), with Matty and Andre talking about the fight before it happens. There’s a lot more Andre here than in the film!
Both of these are fascinating extras, as while they’re not deleted scenes, they come across as believable to make the film ‘real’. Also, they’re in 16:9 whereas the film is in 2.35:1. Then again, if it was to be included, they could crop it down to 2.35:1 accordingly.
- Audio description track: Does exactly what it says on the tin.
- Audio commentary: with writer/director/star Paddy Considine.
The main menu features clips from the film set to a short piece of the score, subtitles are in English only and there’s the bog-standard 12 chapters, although I go by the rule of thumb of one every five minutes.
Journeyman is released today on Blu-ray, Amazon Video and DVD.
|
FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS |
6 10 8 3 |
| OVERALL | 7 |
Cert: 
Running time: 92 minutes
Year: 2018
Distributor: Studiocanal
Cat.no: OPTBD4153R0
Released: July 30th 2018
Chapters: 12
Picture: 1080p High Definition
Sound: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Languages: English
Subtitles: English SDH
Widescreen: 2.35:1
Disc Format: BD50
Director: Paddy Considine
Producer: Diarmid Scrimshaw
Screenplay: Paddy Considine
Music: Harry Escott
Cast:
Matty Burton: Paddy Considine
Emma Burton: Jodie Whittaker
Jackie: Paul Popplewell
Richie: Tony Pitts
Andre Bryte: Anthony Welsh
Referee: Paul Donnelly
Mia: Lainie Duffy and Lexie Duffy
Ring Girl: Danielle Hanson
VIP: Craig Thomas Lambert
TV journalist (Himself): Shamir Masri
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.