When I first heard of Puncture, that is all I knew, the title. With that little bit of knowledge I assumed it was going to be some manner of horror movie. Seriously, doesn't that word evoke perhaps a bit of Saw imagery or perhaps something related to vampires, like The Addiction? Perhaps it is just me and an underlying desire to see horror everywhere. In reality, Puncture has absolutely nothing to do with horror, at least what we normally identify with cinematic horror, and everything to do with lawyer drama involving safety needles for hospital use. Yes, that sounds much more exciting.
In all seriousness, Puncture is half of a good movie. The plot is halfway interesting and we get a solid lead performance. The problem is that while it is half good, I also found it to be half bad. The thing of it is, is the movie tends to be a bit exposition heavy and does not allow the support to distinguish itself beyond being plot points. It is could be likened to walking down a steep incline, you keep going and going and can't stop, ultimately stumbling and falling down as you approach the finish. Still, there is enough substance to recommend.
Based on a true story, Puncture is the story of two lawyers, Mike Weiss (Chris Evans) and Paul Danziger (co-director Mark Kassen), who take on the case of a nurse, who contracted AIDS from an accidental needle stick, and an engineer who invented a safety needle. The goal of the case is to somehow force hospitals to purchase the item. The problem is that there are contracts and deals in place that only allow the medical establishment to work with certain suppliers and no one wants to even look at the data in favor of the safety needle. Of course, there is also the internal strife between Mike and Paul, as they are a small firm with little money and fewer resources to pursue the ever growing case. Paul wants them to drop it, Mike refuses.
Oh yes, there is something else to the story that helps push it forward a little bit and make you wonder about Mike's underlying interest in the needles. Mike, it turns out, is a drug addict. He is a heavy user and a functioning one, more or less. The movie follows him, primarily, as he works the case, getting more and more wrapped up in it, while also indulging his addiction in a variety of fashions.
The real case this is based on is a noble one and one that clearly sees them in the right. The problems with the become compounded because of this and the treatment of the drug addiction. With the lawyers so clearly in the right, the opposition feels overly simplified with many details just never explored. On top of that, we do not really see, definitively, the destructive effect the drugs are having on Weiss. It is a movie of good and bad and suffers from any shades of grey.
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