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37 reviews in total

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53 out of 69 people found the following review useful:
This is why I love going to the theater!, 25 September 2011

Author: saulcook from United States

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.

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27 out of 35 people found the following review useful:
Great movie, 29 November 2011

Author: buypluto from United States

I watch this movie with no expectations or aware of the cast. I have an eye for details and as I watched this the scene where they open the refrigerator and there is a news clipping on the door and it say Bellaire High School. I hit pause and rewind and freeze and read the article. No way. This movie is real and it happened in my hometown of Houston. I went to Bellaire HS and I was thrown for a loop.

The movie is one of those that tells a tale of injustice and a lawyer suing for a large group of people. Finding out that Bono liked this movie so much since it relates to his charity touches on the fact that this tries to be a feel good movie for heart.

It tells a story that after doing research on the facts, safety needles, makes you think. Makes you want to know why the Hospitals have all the power and why we have no health care in America.

Wish it touched more on personal lives of the lawyers especially since one wrote the script. Great movie.

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22 out of 33 people found the following review useful:
See for yourself, 21 November 2011
Author: Gaston Bacquet from Chile

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.

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10 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
A familiar mix of personal high stakes and social wrongs, not quite compelling, 29 April 2012

Author: secondtake from United States

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.

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11 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
A great movie, 3 December 2011

Author: ripe_51 from Finland

I thoroughly enjoyed the movie but the reviews seem to go from one extreme to the other, i belong the ones that really liked the movie. It's a great story (based on a true one) and the acting is top notch and seriously it is well worth watching, despite the bone crushing judgement of some reviewers' (i bet some of them work for the "evil" greedy companies that this story is about :P jokes aside, i'm shocked how appalling the movie's success is compared to how interesting the film is. Just see it for yourself, don't expect too much, then decide. If you're not a cynical a-hole, I reckon you'll enjoy the movie like i did.

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16 out of 22 people found the following review useful:
Idealism versus Mafia, 31 December 2011

Author: Claudio Carvalho from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

The lawyers Mike Weiss (Chris Evans) and Paul Danziger (Mark Kassen) are partners in the Danziger and Weiss and they both are idealistic. Mike is a drug-addicted and needy for love man and Paul is a family man with a pregnant wife.

When the nurse Vicky Rogers (Vinessa Shaw) seeks them out, they learn that she has contracted AIDS a couple of years ago when she was accidentally pinpricked with a contaminated needle by a violent patient. Vicky shows a retractable safety needle invented by the engineer Jeffrey Matthew Dancort (Marshall Bell), who owns the Safety Point Company, but is unable to sell his product to any hospital from the United Medical but the San Antonio Memorial Hospital.

The Danziger and Weiss accept the case and go to court against the United Medical, defended by the powerful lawyer Nathaniel Price (Brett Cullen). Sooner they see all the doors closed in their fight against the powerful mafia of the medical supply system.

"Puncture" is the third American film that I see this year ("Love and Other Drugs" and "Side Effects" are the other two) about the medical care system in the United States. Using partially the IMDb storyline, this is a David and Goliath law drama showing a story of idealism versus mafia apparently based on a true story.

The hopeless plot is engaging and the cast has good performances. However Jeffrey Matthew Dancort seems to be a contradictory character since the guy is completely wasted when he has a chance to present his project to investors. The ambiguous fate of Mike Weiss induces the viewer that he has been murdered but it is not clear. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Código de Honra" ("Honor Code")

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8 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
Corporate Malfeasance and Public Health Issues, 5 January 2012

Author: gradyharp from United States

PUNCTURE is an apt title for this movie, a true story that pokes a hole in the corporate and governmental greed that endangers public health, and a story about the lawyer who despite poking holes in his veins as a drug addict brought to the attention of the public a safety problem of overwhelming significance. It is tautly written by Paul Danziger (a character in the story), Ela Their and Chris Lopata and directed by Adam and Mark Kassen. It is an important film for public viewing and knowledge and awareness.

Opening this true story with a young nurse mother Vicky Rogers (Vinessa Shaw) departing for work at the hospital we witness her accidental stabbing herself with a needle while trying to calm a boisterous patient. Fast forward a few years later and we meet two law partners - Mike Weiss (Chris Evans, brilliant in a demanding role and boasting one of the most impressive physiques in cinema!) and Paul Danziger (Mark Kassen) - both seemingly committed to idealistic cases but bogged down in the routine accident settlement cases to make a living. Enter Vicky Rogers, now with full blown AIDS she contracted form the needle puncture we observed and asking Mike and Paul to take on a case of making the hospitals across the country aware of a retractable safety needle invented by engineer Jeffrey Matthew Dancort (Marshall Bell), who owns the Safety Point Company, but is unable to sell his product to any hospital from the United Medical group, apart from San Antonio Memorial. Mike and Paul are committed to Vicky and the cause and take the case on, only to be blindsided by hospital purchasing agents who want to save the hospital money and not buy the slightly more expensive safety needle. As the young men take on the horrors of the case they encounter the powerhouse lawyer Nathaniel Price (Brett Cullen) who represents the stonewall of United Medical. The money in the office of the young lawyers runs out and Paul wants to pass the case on to another law group, but Mike wants to keep the case, gathers mountains of evidence to prove that hospitals and supply companies are preventing the distribution and sales of the safety needle. He even gains the support of Senator O'Reilly (Kate Burton) until she withdraws her support as United Medical makes a huge contribution to her campaign!

Complicating the tense story is the fact that Mike is addicted to cocaine, pain pills and heroin and his addiction is constantly resulting in his being late and missing deadlines. At the point where Mike decides to give in despite his idealistic motives to win the case the story ends with a staggering reality. The results of the story are given on the screen before the credits role.

This is a very strong story, well directed an written, and in many ways due to the bravura performance of Chris Evans drives home some realities we all need to acknowledge: money and greed speak louder than patient and hospital staff safety. Food for thought.

Grady Harp

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11 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
A different take on the lawyer movie. Starts slow, by the end you are rooting for a drug addict. Not a usual thing. I say B+, 30 November 2011

Author: Tony Heck from United States

"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

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6 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
Gripping movie..commendable performances, 16 June 2012

Author: Mere Humsafar from India

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

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8 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
Potentially heartbreaking, 23 November 2011

Author: visanchezdiaz from Chile

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Yes is true, Chris Evans doesn't cut as the drama actor or the best performer, or so I thought. His performance here completely changed my perception about him, definitely worth the time to watch, not just as a weekend movie or a "not-a-better-thing-to-do" movie, but as an actual ground-shaker. He does get in the role and you believe him. I'm not going to spoil you the movie, but I must add that at a point you get to feel sorry for the pour bastard trapped in his drug addiction yet following a more than just cause despite all odds, makes you wish he gets better and solves the case, you know... the happy ending; but it is a true story and the happy endings are for fairy tales, at least in the shoes of the hero in this pic. Very real, emotional to a certain point, leaves you with some feelings of anguish and for my personal appreciation, it's a potentially heartbreaking story.

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