Puncture

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.

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

I didn't know what to expect going into "Puncture," but what I found, surpassed even my most hopeful wishes for an evening at the movies. "Puncture" is a perfectly acted true-life story that still has me thinking about its message 3 days later. It was gripping from the opening credits and I was emotionally pulled in a number of directions. Chris Evans proved he can really act, not just dress up as a superhero and run around a big budgeted set. Mark Kassen was marvelous alongside him as his legal partner and the Houston backdrop made for an unlikely protagonist in and of itself. A story that needed to be shared and with tremendous talent. I only wish there were more films like "Puncture." I encourage people to go see the film.

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.

By the time you read this review, you already know what the movie is about so there's no point going over that again. You know it's supposed to be a courtroom drama and a personal one as well as we take a look into Mike Weiss' demons and struggle with his drug addiction. Chris Evans' performance alone is worth the price of admission, but the movie itself, although well-intentioned, fails to deliver. It seemed as though the filmmakers didn't know how to make the two story lines converge coherently and thus gave us a shallow passage through both with an ending that.... Well, I leave it up to you to comment on it after you've seen it. Make no mistake, the movie is worth your time. But don't expect to be shaken or astounded by it; just go and enjoy a good piece of cinema that had great potential but didn't fully live up to it.