Puncture (2011)

Number Rolled: 2

Movie Name/Year: Puncture (2011)

Genre: Drama

Length: 99 minutes

Rating: R

Director: Adam Kassen, Mark Kassen

Writer: Paul Danziger, Chris Lopata, Ela Thier

Actors: Chris Evans, Mark Kassen, Marshall Bell, Brett Cullen, Jesse L. Martin, Vinessa Shaw, Rozanna Hope, Michael Biehn, Kate Burton, Erinn Allison, Tess Parker, Jack Lee, Jennifer Blanc, Matt Hill, Amelia Jeffries

Michael Weiss is not your average junkie. You won’t see him exhibiting some of the tell-tale signs of his drug use, nor will he adhere to the majority of stereotypes movies tend to lean toward. He’s a lawyer. Not a very dependable one, perhaps, but he is brilliant. After nurse, Vicky, is accidentally stabbed by a needle she used to sedate a patient in the emergency room, she contracts AIDS. As her health continues to fail, she goes to Mike and, his partner, Paul to take on her case. It’s not money she wants, though. As a reaction to her accident an engineer friend of hers came up with a genius invention called the “Safety Needle.” All Vicky wants is for hospitals to use this life-saving invention.

This movie is frightening mainly because it’s based on a true story. Most movies that work off real life in the way “Puncture” does, do so in order to strike an interest in the audience. The directors and the writers want the people watching their work to be curious enough to walk away at the end of the movie asking questions. This movie absolutely succeeded in doing that. To be honest, what I saw is going to occupy my thoughts for a while.

I did some research after the movie was over and it seems like they didn’t stray too far from what actually happened. The facts at the end of the movie were also relatively true; which is kind of infuriating.

My mother was an office manager of a doctor’s office for roughly thirty years. Never took a day off, until she started getting sick, rarely ever complained about it until the last few years. When I got to be around seventeen, I began to see that opportunities and pay for nurses were greater than office managers. She’d been in the medical field over twenty years at that point and she certainly knew enough to be a nurse, so I asked her why she chose to do the office work instead.

I don’t think I fully understood her answer until now.

My mom told me that she knew she could probably make more money, have more advancement opportunities, if she switched titles. In fact, she told me she’d actively decided not to switch over because it was more important for her to be alive and healthy than it was to have a few extra dollars in the house.

With the statistics noted in the movie (which I researched for validity), I understand now why she wanted to stay far away from needles.

On top of informative, this movie was enthralling. The actors were great at what they did and passionate enough that I was able to feel what they wanted me to. I’m glad I got to see this movie before it expires on Netflix (it’s set to on 9/30/13). I hope they renew the contract in order to get it back.

Overall Opinion – 4/5

Movie Trailer: