''Puncture Wounds'' (produced and released internationally as ''A Certain Justice'')
[Haynes, Stephanie]
"UFC: Cung Le's latest movie trailer: A Certain Justice"
''www.bloodyelbow.com'', published 12-12-2013. Retrieved 09-15-2015.[Friel, Eoin]
"Trailer for A Certain Justice starring Dolph Lundgren, Vinnie Jones & Cung Le"
''www.theactionelite.com'', published 12-13-2015. Retrieved 09-15-2015. is a 2014 American
action
Action may refer to:
* Action (narrative), a literary mode
* Action fiction, a type of genre fiction
* Action game, a genre of video game
Film
* Action film, a genre of film
* ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford
* ''Action'' (1980 fil ...
film directed by Giorgio Serafini and James Coyne, and starring
Cung Le
Cung Le ( vi, Lê Cung; born May 25, 1972) is a Vietnamese-born American actor, retired mixed martial artist, Sanshou fighter and kickboxer. He competed as a middleweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), holding a record of ...
,
Dolph Lundgren
Hans Lundgren (, ; born 3 November 1957), better known as Dolph Lundgren, is a Swedish actor, filmmaker and martial artist. His breakthrough came in 1985, when he starred in ''Rocky IV'' as the imposing Soviet boxer Ivan Drago. Since then, Lu ...
,
Vinnie Jones
Vincent Peter Jones (born 5 January 1965) is a British actor, presenter, and former professional footballer.
Jones played professionally as a defensive midfielder from 1984 to 1999, notably for Wimbledon, Leeds United, Sheffield United, Chelse ...
, and
Briana Evigan
Briana Barbara-Jane Evigan is an American actress and dancer best known for her roles in the ''Step Up'' series and for her scream queen roles in numerous horror films. Born in Los Angeles, Evigan is the daughter of actor Greg Evigan and his ...
. The film follows John Nguyen, a war veteran suffering from
posttraumatic stress disorder
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on ...
. After he rescues a prostitute, Hollis, a local crime lord, marks them for death. It was released
direct to video
Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was p ...
in the United States on March 11, 2014, followed by a limited release in other countries.
Plot
John Nguyen is a veteran suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder. Despite his status as a war hero, he has difficulty adjusting to civilian life. When he hears a woman scream, he investigates and gets into a fight with several
Aryan Nation
Aryan Nations is a North American Antisemitism, antisemitic, Neo-Nazism, neo-Nazi, white supremacy, white supremacist organization that was originally based in Kootenai County, Idaho, Kootenai County, Idaho, about miles (4.4 km) north of t ...
thugs who are hassling Tanya, a prostitute in the service of local crime boss Hollis. Tanya is horrified when John kills all but one of the thugs; although thankful for his help, she says that John has doomed them both to die at Hollis' hands. Planning to flee the city, Tanya buys a bus ticket, but Hollis convinces her to stay by promising her that she can come off the streets and live with him again. Hollis directs his lieutenant Vin to murder John's family. Although reluctant, Vin complies. Enraged, John tracks down Bennett, a drug dealer, and strikes back at Hollis' meth business, brutally killing several of the men responsible for his family's death.
As Hollis and John war with each other, two cops try to solve the case. Sgt. Mitchell believes John to be honorable, while his partner, a dirty cop in the employ of Hollis, attempts to derail the investigation. John recruits his disabled war buddy J. P. to help him in the final confrontation with Hollis. As Hollis is in the midst of violently raping Tanya, Vin intercedes. Before Vin and Hollis can come to blows, John assaults Hollis' house. John kills most of Hollis' henchmen and leaves Vin to die after a knife fight. Although John captures Hollis, reinforcements arrive and turn the tide against him. Both John and J. P. are captured, and Hollis murders J. P. John challenges Hollis to a one-on-one fight, and, when John appears to be winning, Tanya shoots and kills Hollis' remaining henchmen before they can interfere. After John kills Hollis, Mitchell arrives and tells him to leave the scene of the crime, as he will clean it up.
Cast
*
Cung Le
Cung Le ( vi, Lê Cung; born May 25, 1972) is a Vietnamese-born American actor, retired mixed martial artist, Sanshou fighter and kickboxer. He competed as a middleweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), holding a record of ...
as John Nguyen
*
Dolph Lundgren
Hans Lundgren (, ; born 3 November 1957), better known as Dolph Lundgren, is a Swedish actor, filmmaker and martial artist. His breakthrough came in 1985, when he starred in ''Rocky IV'' as the imposing Soviet boxer Ivan Drago. Since then, Lu ...
as Hollis
*
Vinnie Jones
Vincent Peter Jones (born 5 January 1965) is a British actor, presenter, and former professional footballer.
Jones played professionally as a defensive midfielder from 1984 to 1999, notably for Wimbledon, Leeds United, Sheffield United, Chelse ...
as Bennett
*
Briana Evigan
Briana Barbara-Jane Evigan is an American actress and dancer best known for her roles in the ''Step Up'' series and for her scream queen roles in numerous horror films. Born in Los Angeles, Evigan is the daughter of actor Greg Evigan and his ...
as Tanya
*
Gianni Capaldi
Gianni Capaldi is a Scottish people, Scottish actor and film producer, film and television producer.
Early life and education
Born in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire to parents Tony and Maria, Capaldi grew up in the town and went to St Mary's Pri ...
as Vin
* James C. Burns as Sgt. Terry Mitchell
*
Sean O'Bryan
Sean Michael O'Bryan (born September 10, 1963) is an American film and television actor from Louisville, Kentucky. He attended and graduated from St. Xavier High School.
Career
He co-starred with William Ragsdale on the series '' Brother' ...
as Detective Farragut
*
Robert LaSardo
Robert LaSardo is an American character actor.
Early life
LaSardo was born in Brooklyn, New York. He began his career studying at the High School of Performing Arts in New York City where he became an honors student, before attending the Stel ...
as Magico
* Jonathan Kowalsky as J. P.
*
Jake Jacobson
Lowell S. "Jake" Jacobson (1940-2021) served 29 years with the Union Pacific Railroad, later President and Chief Operating Officer of the Copper Basin Railway of Hayden, Arizona.
Mr. Jacobson was named ''Railway Ages Railroader of the Year in 1994 ...
as O'Hanrahan
* Scott Sheeley as Carsen
Production
Shooting took 17 days. Cung Le said that he suffered several minor injuries but considers this his best acting performance so far.
Release
''Puncture Wounds'' was released
direct to video
Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was p ...
in the United States on March 11, 2014.
Critical reception
Eoin Friel, of The Action Elite, praised ''Puncture Wounds'', saying despite the film not having a "huge budget" or "spectacular action", it does have "plenty of hand-to-hand" combat and "well-developed characters". According to Friel, none of characters are "one dimensional or over the top", and Dolph Lundgren is "very restrained" and "genuinely scary" in his role. He went on to say that the script didn't have any "clunky dialogue", and to him, the "whole film" had a "real and gritty approach".
[Friel, Eoin]
"''Puncture Wounds'' movie review"
''www.theactionelite.com'', published 03-17-2014. Retrieved 09-16-2015.
Ian Jane, of
DVD Talk
DVD Talk is a home video news and review website launched in 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman.
History
Kleinman founded the site in January 1999 in Beaverton, Oregon. Besides news and reviews, it features information on hidden DVD features known as ...
, awarded the film 3 out of 5 stars. He called it "fast paced and enjoyable if not particularly original", writing that "elements" were "borrowed" from ''
First Blood
''First Blood'' (also known as ''Rambo: First Blood'') is a 1982 American action film directed by Ted Kotcheff, and co-written by Sylvester Stallone, who also stars as Vietnam War veteran John Rambo. It co-stars Richard Crenna as Rambo's mentor ...
'' and ''
Rolling Thunder''. Jane criticized the film's cinematography, saying that it relies "too heavily on shaky cam tactics". On the other hand, he complimented the film for being "fast paced, reasonably well acted,
ery
Yeru or Eru (Ы ы; italics: ''Ы'' ''ы''), usually called Y in modern Russian language, Russian or Yery or Ery historically and in modern Church Slavonic, is a letter in the Cyrillic script. It represents the close central unrounded ...
violent and generally
solid
iece ofentertainment" for the "less demanding action movie aficionado". He summed up his review by calling ''Puncture Wounds'' a "satisfying low budget action movie".
Matthew Tilt, of
Stafford FM, gave the film a negative review, claiming that in "many ways", James Coyne made the "same mistake in his script as
Nick Love
Nick Love (born 24 December 1969) is an English film director and writer. His credits include the films '' The Football Factory'', '' The Business'', ''Goodbye Charlie Bright'', ''Outlaw'', ''The Sweeney'', and a 2009 remake of football hoolig ...
did with the British thriller ''
Outlaw
An outlaw, in its original and legal meaning, is a person declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, all legal protection was withdrawn from the criminal, so that anyone was legally empowered to persecute or kill them ...
''. He takes a very real issue; the treatment of ex-soldiers, which is alluded to in a brief scene early on, and then goes on to portray them as mindless psychopaths". Describing the directing as "poor", Tilt said the only positive aspect of the film "would be some well-choreographed actions scenes", but even then it's "too much".
[Tilt, Matthew]
"''A Certain Justice'' film review"
'' Stafford FM'', published 08-04-2014. Retrieved 09-16-2015.
Geek Syndicate heavily criticized the film, awarding 1 out of 5 stars. According to the website, the film is "clearly" one of those straight-to-video productions that Lundgren "hams up" for a pay check in between making sequels to ''
The Expendables''. They went on to say the film is "pretty brutal" and "cruel" in places, and that it adds nothing to the story except "shock value". The review was summed up by advising any readers to "save" themselves the effort and "give the film a miss".
[Silverfox]
"Film review ''A Certain Justice'' aka ''Puncture Wounds''"
''www.geeksyndicate.co.uk'', published 10-12-2014. Retrieved 09-16-2015.
References
External links
*
* {{Rotten Tomatoes, puncture_wounds_2014
2014 direct-to-video films
2014 films
2014 action thriller films
American independent films
American martial arts films
American films about revenge
Voltage Pictures films
2014 martial arts films
2014 independent films
2010s English-language films
2010s American films