Excellent but underrated film

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

The acting in this movie is really good.

There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.

When this movie popped up on Netflix recently, I decided to give it a look since it had Dolph Lundgren in it, one of my favorite B movie actors. Also, with this movie he returned to his acting roots of playing a bad guy after so many years of playing heroes. Sadly, this novelty did nothing towards saving this pretty bad movie. There are many problems with the movie, but the main problems are that the movie is very slow and boring. The pacing is sluggish, and there are some plot holes and murky plot details that reek of amateurish writing. The movie could have been livened up by some good action, but the movie disappoints in this area as well. Believe it or not, in the first hour of the movie, there are only about two minutes of footage that could safely be called "action". And when the action does come, it's choreographed, directed, and edited in a way that comes across like the protagonist (or antagonists) are not skilled at all in hand to hand combat (or other kinds of combat, for that matter.) As for the acting, lead actor Cung Le (who in many scenes looks like Cuba Gooding Jr.) is really bland and lacking charisma, and Lundgren gives a very lazy and unemotional performance, clearly just being here for the paycheck. Not the worst action movie I've seen, but it's so boring that I would only recommend it for insomniacs.

John Nguyen (Le) has all sorts of problems. After serving his country in Iraq, he comes home to L.A. and has to deal with not just his PTSD, but also his lazy, none-too-bright roommate (not sure of his name, but he could possibly be in the next casting for Jersey Shore, if his acting was better). One night Nguyen unleashes his Martial Arts skill on some toughs harassing local prostitute Tanya (Evigan, daughter of My Two Dads' Greg Evigan), and some of the guys die. This upsets crime boss Hollis (Dolph). So Hollis sends some more of his goons to kill Nguyen's family. Now in full revenge mode, Nguyen vows to go after Hollis - but to get there, he must get info from Bennett (Jones) and figure out what the detectives investigating the case know. Will Nguyen get revenge? Will someone die of PUNCTURE WOUNDS? Man, this Cung Le guy looks like Cuba Gooding, Jr. I mean, he REALLY looks like him. Note how on the box art, his Cuba-face is strongly emphasized, while no actors' names are present. Could this be a trick? Well, that aside, it's a dark day in DTV-land once again, as these modern-day productions prove time and again they cannot hold a candle to their far-superior 80's and 90's counterparts. You know it's a bad sign when two separate directors get two separate credits (and on the version on Netflix streaming at least, it's shown under its alternate title, A Certain Justice). Here is no exception. The stupidity is all-encompassing, as everywhere you turn in this movie, something dumb is happening - with the possible exception of Dolph. Whenever he's on screen, things are better, but he and his walrus 'stache can't save this turkey from its own sophomorically-written ways.It is indeed hard to believe someone over the age of 14 actually wrote this inanity down on pieces of paper. Hey, writers - instead of writing down to us, how about writing UP to us for a change? We're action movie fans, not automatons that will just accept any old slop. From the unnecessary narration, to the gratuitous use of slow motion, to the puzzling stylistic choices such as quick cuts and foggy, blurred edges on screen, to printing the names of the characters on screen as if that matters/has never been done before, to the nu-metal-esque soundtrack, the whole thing seems targeted towards the 'stupid market'. It all screams "NEW DTV production", to its detriment. Yes, we're glad Dolph is still working, and it's nice to see mainstays like Vinnie Jones and Robert Lasardo (who is in one scene), so we don't want to seem ungrateful, but Puncture Wounds is just not enjoyable to watch. We're sorry, but there's no getting around that, no matter how hard we try.The premise is even very similar to fellow Cung Le vehicle Dragon Eyes (2012) - Cung moves into an apartment complex in a bad neighborhood in L.A., beats up a bunch of people, and there are crackheads running around. But thankfully Dragon Eyes was directed by John Hyams, so it was better than Puncture Wounds. While we liked seeing Dolph as the baddie, and we thought that was a nice change of pace, it was really a wasted opportunity.So, yes, Puncture Wounds does have some action, but at what cost? The movie typifies some of the worst aspects of modern-day DTV, unfortunately. We thought it was a tough sit

Wow. I would like to have been a fly on the wall when this piece of utter detritus was first pitched. I have not seen a movie so ridiculous, so badly written, so comically badly acted, so full of terrible clichés in decades, if ever.Cung Le is devoid of any acting talent and would be well advised to not quit his day job, whatever that may be. Dolph Lundgren is obviously "past it" and looks like a total alcoholic has-been in this horrible production. Blood flows freely, people die like flies, but acting and any genuine character development are absent and might not even have been able to rescue this turkey. I started laughing out loud at one point when even the fight scenes were so preposterous that even a four year old would not have believed them.Save your money. Don't even wait for it to go to cable. Just don't go and say you did. You'll be better off.

Cung Le's best acting so far. still has a few more wrinkles to iron out like his "ape mode" facial expression when expressing anger. It has to be more subtle and appropriate for the emotion that the script called for. Good script and well placed dialog. Action and fighting scenes are too slow for Cung or my taste. editing of fight scenes were not on point. too long of shot and slow as heck. Overall, decent story (better than half of "A" listed movies. Bad guys were not bad or dirty enough to be viewed as authentic. good actors were: motel manager, good cop, Cung's OC officer, bald drug dealer. decent actors: Cung Le, mob boss, Cung's vet "brother". There were no bad actor in this movie. No cheesy comments, no over the top agenda or political statement.