"Puncture" is a good rental for anyone enjoying a good drama. This is a based-on-a-true-story of two trail lawyers Mike (Chris Evans) and Paul (Mark Kassen) who meet a nurse Vicky (Vinessa Shaw) who was accidentally stuck by a needle and contracted HIV. Vicky tells them about a friend named Jeffrey Dancort (Marshall Bell) who invented a no-fail needle that is one-time use. This product would eliminate incidents like the one that infected Vicky. The problem is that hospitals won't buy it. Mike and Paul begin investigating this as an anti-trust case and quickly get in over their heads as heavyweights on the opposing side begin to pressure them to drop the case or settle. Mike, who is a functioning drug addict, is particularly intent on pursuing the case in order to save lives rather than any monetary payout.
Unfortunately the film is completely believable given the greed in every sector, including health care. This is well-acted especially by Chris Evans though I thought a lot of his storyline was kind of distracting. The film gives a lot of time to showing Evans' character doing a lot of drugs and attempting to cure his loneliness with hookers. It was a bit much for me as I didn't need half those scenes to convince me that he was a drug addict. Also I think this distracts from the main issue which was the anti-trust case and corporate greed. The film possibly could've been more effective with less of those scenes and more of a focus on how important it is to fight corporate greed especially when so many lives are at stake. A postive was Brett Cullen as the defense lawyer trying to intimidate Mike and Paul.
Overall, I like this one despite the script that deviates quite a bit. A solid B- for me.
Good movie, intersting subject matter and well acted. Watching the drug addicted lawyer trying to beat his habit was frustrating. You got the feeling that he'll lose the battle and sadly he does. B+
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