Puncture

"Sometimes the brightest light comes from the darkest places" This is the true story about Mike Weiss (Evans) a personal injury lawyer who takes on a huge health supply company after one of his clients is infected with a dirty needle. The client is a nurse in a hospital that uses plastic needles that are re-used over and over. Mike wants to make it so every hospital only uses the one time use only needles that his other client manufactures. The only problem is that Mike is a drug addicted mess. This movie is deceiving. The first half hour to me was a little slow and wasn't sure if I could make it through. When it picked up, it really picked up and sucked me in. By the end of the movie you are very engrossed and are pulling for someone you normally wouldn't. A movie much like "Runaway Jury" mixed with "The Lincoln Lawyer", not quite as good as "Lincoln Lawyer" though. Overall, a very good law movie that will make you think. I give it a B+.

*Also try - Lincoln Lawyer & Runaway Jury

I actually didn't know this was more or less a true story. Which does make it a bit more interesting although not in the least surprising since the medical industry has always been corrupt in this way. But on to the film.

I agree with some other comments. This film only further shows how versatile Chris Evans is. Not sure how seriously I took him 10 years ago in X-Men other than doing a decent job and being funny and quick witted. But he has definitely shown a larger range. He still gets thrown more action kind of roles. But if this movie is any indication he can definitely handle more complex dramatic roles as well. Personally I really liked this film. I thought the story was very engaging. And honestly I was very drawn in by Chris Evans' performance. Obviously there is no extension of the imagination in a drug addicted lawyer. But he plays it extremely convincingly. Other than that all the other supporting roles are done well and support well.

Some of the small criticisms is that it is a bit cliché in the goliath and David story line and all. And like one user pointed out I would have liked to see them show more about the court case itself that the entire film builds up to. But I don't really share the criticism of it being all about Chris's character. I think that was the intent. To show someone who was so smart with so much passion but also with many demons and vices. I think his story was as important as the case he was fighting for was.

All and all I found very enjoyable to watch. I actually didn't have the highest hopes but was pleasantly surprised by the excellent acting which more than made up for some of the more common or cliché parts. Check it out if you get a chance.

Movies based on true stories can sometimes be dull and dragging, unless they are well-directed and this one is more than well-made.. the first hour which goes into building of the story is slightly slow-paced.

But as the story unfolds, we come face to face the complicated deceit at mega-corporate levels - This movie shows how some of the large health service manufacturers stonewall any change affecting their profits - even if a million lives could be saved, dangerous diseases like AIDS and Hepatitis C could be reduced.. financial power, legal manipulation and finally criminal intentions..

Performance of Chris Evans both as a young righteous lawyer and also as a drug addict is authentic..and Brett Cullen as the suave high-profile lawyer is effective..

The movie at some level moves in the lines of "Erin Brokovich" another very good true-story-movie dealing the corporates, legal profession, health hazards and the strength of purpose

Puncture (2011)

A brave attempt to make an edgy drama from a current social event, mixing personal intensity with a critique of corporate greed and ethical inertia.

On that score, it might be loosely compared to the 1996 "The Insider," which focused on the tobacco industry. Here it is the hospital and pharmaceutical world. The trigger is a nurse who gets an accidental needle stick, and even though there was and is a solution to most needle sticks, the industry has been slow to change, at the peril of many lives.

The personal side of this is based on the lead lawyer who takes the case of this nurse, which leads to a general uncovering of the problem and a pressuring of the industry almost single-handedly. It also turns out that he's a total coke addict, and his life is in overdrive all the time, with the necessary crashes along the way. The actor here is Chris Evans, who reminded me a little of a young George C. Scott, but without the depth of character Scott managed to bring with his acidity. Evans is key here, and not quite enough. The movie holds him more than he drives the movie, mostly because he has a kind of blankness inside, a practiced intensity rather than a really out of the box abandonment we might find irresistible.

So why watch? Mostly for the plot, the story as it develops and reminds you of how the world works, and how some people have ideals that make them ignore the resistance of the rest of us. The only problem with this is that it's a story we've seen before, in the outline. It needs to be known and told, for sure, but maybe a twenty minute spot on Sixty Minutes might serve the cause best. Here, the drama and the social justice are jammed together into a single, overlong, somewhat predictable movie. Good might not be good enough.

Described by Sky Movies as a thrilling courtroom drama , all i can think is that person who does the film descriptions for Sky ,can't have watched this film. Puncture has everything going for it. It has a Good cast and potentially a good story but directors Adam and Mark Kassen have made a real pigs ear of this one.

This is the story of Mike Weiss , a talented lawyer , who with his partner , chose to take on the might of the drug companies and hospital administrators to get them to use a syringe that will save thousands of lives. The trouble is , Mike Weiss is partial to using needles himself as he has a bad drug habit.

The Mistake they made with this film is they concentrated too much on Weiss and not enough on the battle with pharmaceutical companies. The film builds up the story to the point of an exciting court case then It just ends Finish,. No court case .Just a lazy bit of on screen information at the end describing what happened. It's as if the money ran out and the directors and cast just walked away.

Puncture is a big disappointment and it's no surprise this was tucked away on a movie channel and not on the cinema.