Puncture is a unique animal, a well-meaning film that can't mesh all of its elements together cohesively. Is it the biography of an extraordinary individual, a traditional legal drama, or something completely different? The Kassen brothers direct this film with sufficient visual flair and an observant camera that focuses in on Mike Weiss (Chris Evans), an attorney possessed of a massive intellect barely affected by Weiss's consistent drug use. He's a functioning addict, something that this author has not seen explored on film often (if at all), but while glimpses of his lifetime feel naturalistic and unbound, Puncture is intent on sprinting head-on into a detail-heavy case and then shuffling its feet when a slow-moving third act ends on a sour and unearned emotional note.
When an emergency room nurse Vicky (Vinessa Shaw) contracts HIV from a needle a convulsing patient inadvertently causes to prick her, a friend, Jeffrey Dancort (Marshall Bell) develops a new type of syringe that is substantially safer. When Dancort is stonewalled by hospitals refusing to purchase the syringe, Vicky contacts Weiss and Paul Danziger (Mark Kassen), lawyers on the rise, with Weiss looking to make a big move.
Danzinger is the more cautious of the two while Weiss sees something in the case and dives in head first. Evans is in good form here, coming off a strong summer with Captain America and slipping into a role that, while not dissimilar (both performances seem fueled by a childlike desire to do right with a martyrdom complex), requires more of the actor. Make no mistake about it, as much as Puncture tries to branch out from Weiss’s story, it returns time and time again, drawn to the charisma and almost supernatural fact-finding abilities the young attorney wields only when necessary.
The press notes make a point of comparing this film to The Verdict, which is a wise move on the part of the filmmakers, because those comparisons have already popped up on the web in anticipation of the film. There is a bit of a pained consciousness to Evans’s performance, but unlike Paul Newman’s Frank Galvin, whose malaise ran decades deep and whose transformation was a revelation both to the audience and the character, Mike Weiss’s consciousness is never offset by his dabbling in narcotics – and after all, why should it be? A scene mid-way shows Weiss utilizing a Safety Point syringe in order to administer his poison – but what does that say about the character?
If my focus remains on Weiss, it is not because I’m going out of my way to neglect the various subplots that the film piles on – the relationship between Weiss and Danzinger, Vicky’s battle with HIV, the struggles of the attorney’s practice, and the overwhelming damnation of Healthcare Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs) that almost swallows up Weiss’s character arc and threatens to overtake the film itself. If Puncture is meant to be an expose, it’s an oddly structured one, throwing out a good number of facts amid shop talk as Weiss comes to realize that corruption and greed run deep in corporate America (surprised, anyone?). It’s all well acted and shot, but nothing out of the ordinary – the film raises an issue with who’s looking out for the benefits of health care professionals who are not doctors but do work that is no less critical.
Puncture left me thoughtful but unaffected, and a lot of that has to do with a third act that simply damages the film almost beyond repair. The reappearance of a character we’d only seen in passing and a videotape form the very crux of Weiss’s arc, the key moment when the young attorney is faced with facts and larger consequences. Weiss needs to make a choice, to decide whether his consciousness is strong enough to take on insurmountable odds, corporations fueled by deep pockets and defended by sharp legal teams. The specific scene that forces Weiss to act, to literally get up and do something after he’s been beaten down, tugs so shamelessly on the heartstrings that I was pulled out of the film completely. I no longer cared for Weiss or his agenda, and in a film based on a true story, to dedicate this (hopefully) fictional scene to such a critical moment is ill-advised. A close equivalent would be if Erin Brockovich stumbled on Pacific Gas and Electric dumping toxic waste on a citizen tied to a chair, and then decided to do something about it.
To sum up, Puncture is certainly made with good intentions, but it must be judged as a film on its own merits and despite a capable performance by Evans, my criticisms prevented the film from making much of an impression. That is not to say the subject matter it explores is unimportant - in fact, you can check out this site for more info on the real life case and the people behind it.
"Puncture" opens September 23, 2011 and is rated R. Drama, Thriller. Directed by Mark Kassen, Adam Kassen. Written by Story by Paul Danziger and Ela Thier, Written by Chris Lopata . Starring Chris Evans, Michael Biehn, Vinessa Shaw, Mark Kassen.
