This is a movie review of the 2011 film Puncture, with a big side helping of Rant.
Puncture is actually a far better movie than I expected. It was difficult to watch in the beginning. Drug abuse upsets me. I'm not a purist and I don't fancy myself to be a better human being than hardcore users. I used to drink heavily, although I was able to quit on my own when the time came. I've used marijuana recreationally, though not in more than 25 years. I used to use prescription drugs recreationally and combine them with alcohol. As I said, I'm not some sort of unsullied angel.
I've never touched cocaine and certainly never done heroin. I've known people who have, and I've known people whose lives have been damaged by having hardcore users in their lives. Twelve years ago, a friend of mine ended up dead from AIDS. She had been infected by her partner and her daughter's father, an IV drug user. (Thankfully, her daughter is fine. She has been raised by her grandmother.)
Addicts can be very charming and charismatic.
I made the mistake of letting an addict back into my life recently. He may have kicked the substances for now, but he's still a womanizer. Fifty-five years old and still can't manage to act like a real man. Just a damn hound dog in heat is all he'll ever be. I should have seen it coming, but I wanted to believe that he'd really turned things around and we could be together. Dumb, dumb, stupid, dumb.
Don't let anybody tell you that fucking everything that moves is a victimless act. The people that sex addicts lie to get hurt. I don't want to hear about how humans aren't wired for monogamy. Fucking be honest about your intentions from the beginning. There is no excuse for lying to and fucking over another person.
I almost didn't watch this movie because of the involvement of Michael Biehn. I'm not particularly fond of his treatment of women. As a sexual assault survivor, I really did not care for his directorial debut, The Victim, which starred his hand puppet/wife, Jennifer Blanc. I could not finish watching that shit. He seems to have quite the cavalier attitude towards sexual assault, seeing it as a vehicle for tittilation. Not down with that shit, not in any way, shape, or form. No sir, violence and sex do not mix in my book.
I'm also not down with guys who fuck over a good woman to try and recapture their lost youth with some starlet twenty years their junior. Bitch, your youth is fucking gone. You ain't getting it back. Being a man about it and aging gracefully is a lot more respectable than acting like the stereotype desperate middle aged asshat. Great behavior to be modeling for your sons on how to treat women, Buttmunch. Just sayin'.
Fortunately, I didn't have to see much of Biehn's cadaverous, scary-looking self. He really only appeared in the last half hour of the movie. Admissibly, he's an effective actor--always has been. His own drug use probably stopped him from being better recognized in the entertainment world. I've heard rumors that he has been kicked off movie sets for drug use and manhandling his female co-stars. In spite of this, I actually ended up feeling sorry for him after seeing Puncture. He doesn't look well. Years of pumping your body full of the wrong stuff will do that, I guess.
Tragically, Michael Weiss, the lawyer who was so keen on getting safety needles into hospitals and other health care settings, died from a drug overdose. He was so young and had so much ahead. Drugs suck, they suck, they suck, and they destroy lives. What a fucking waste.
In spite of my hatred for hard drugs, I do not believe that jailing drug users is effective or correct. We should decriminalize drugs and work on finding a cure for addiction, which is a disease.
And that's my take.
Puncture is worth the view. I actually ended up giving it five stars on Netflix.
Petra
The Pusher
You know I've smoked a lot of grass
O' Lord, I've popped a lot of pills
But I never touched nothin'
That my spirit could kill
You know, I've seen a lot of people walkin' 'round
With tombstones in their eyes
But the pusher don't care
Ah, if you live or if you die
God damn, The Pusher
God damn, I say The Pusher
I said God damn, God damn The Pusher man
You know the dealer, the dealer is a man
With the love grass in his hand
Oh but the pusher is a monster
Good God, he's not a natural man
The dealer for a nickel
Lord, will sell you lots of sweet dreams
Ah, but the pusher ruin your body
Lord, he'll leave your, he'll leave your mind to scream
God damn, The Pusher
God damn, God damn the Pusher
I said God damn, God, God damn The Pusher man
Well, now if I were the president of this land
You know, I'd declare total war on The Pusher man
I'd cut him if he stands, and I'd shoot him if he'd run
Yes I'd kill him with my Bible and my razor and my gun
God damn The Pusher
Gad damn The Pusher
I said God damn, God damn The Pusher man.
