A CERTAIN JUSTICE / PUNCTURE WOUNDS (Serafini/Coyne), 2013)

[Jox]

Voltage Pictures new trailer (with Dutch titles)
http://vimeo.com/85290724

and international artwork

[savagesketch]

It's not great, but it's much better than the atrocious PUNCTURE WOUNDS cover that was released a few weeks ago. Any chances of them changing the artwork for the US release? It's not unheard of... I remember the artwork was changed for a few of Van Damme's DTV releases, notably UNISOL: REGENERATION, THE HARD CORPS, and UNTIL DEATH...

[Jox]

They didn't use that one for a (bad) reason, doubt they change it now, it's too late. The ones you're referring to were more "updated" (because Sheldon Lettich or others in VD camp protested) were updated yet in the same style of Sony's artworks. I welcome Serafini to try though. I'm sure some international releases will use it or some other better ones.

EDIT: At least the DVD price ion Amazon dropped to $12.96, but I might still wait for another release.

[savagesketch]

They didn't use that one for a (bad) reason, doubt they change it now, it's too late. The ones you're referring to were more "updated" (because Sheldon Lettich or others in VD camp protested) were updated yet in the same style of Sony's artworks. I welcome Serafini to try though. I'm sure some international releases will use it or some other better ones.

The US cover is just so piss-poor... Doesn't Dolph have anyone within his "camp" to protest his covers? This isn't the first time where's he's been shorted with his covers, particularly when First Look released DIRECT CONTACT and COMMAND PERFORMANCE using images of Dolph from his previous film(s)... I would think while the actual product of the film may not be great, he would at least protest for an updated version rather than this...

[dude hallenbeck]

I think he's more concerned with Skin Trade, and probably didn't have too much artistic/emotional investment in this one to begin with. It was a paycheck, and a bit of fun at the most.

[Jox]

It does affect him (I know he was pissed about he UK cover of HARD RUSH and the U.S. one for BLOOD FOR REDEMPTION) to some extent but he doesn't have that much power, or even if he says something they won't do anything or argue it's too late and often we're not aware of it soon enough. We did try to change the cover for COMMAND PERFORMANCE (even with one made from one of the board members here) but of course they didn't do anything about it. And yeah sometimes he won't even bother (especially for these) it's a lost cause and he has other thing on the burner... At least with CP and First Look it made sense as it was the same as Nu Image/Millennium who just did that (use stills from previous movies for advance artwork that often end up on the shelves), but at least it's within their style and the B action genre, whereas PUNCTURE WOUNDS here, it's not even something that even seems attractive, sales friendly for this type of film with these actors... And it's Lionsgate who, let's be honest, have bast taste even for marketing bigger movies like THE EXPENDABLES (see the final poster of EX1, pretty ugly IMO), but they know better and could have at least attempted something more "actiony", which says a lot about their total lack of interest in this release.

[savagesketch]

Looks like Lions Gate has altered the cover for PUNCTURE WOUNDS / CERTAIN JUSTICE slightly to better represent Dolph's character...

http://www.amazon.com/Puncture-Wounds-C ... ure+wounds


Perhaps they listened to the cries of the members on this forum... Not great, but a slight improvement.

[dude hallenbeck]

http://www.ezydvd.com.au/DVD/certain-justice-a/dp/6149736

Coming 7th May to Australia.

[Jox]

Now in stock and shipping from ImportCDs.com
http://www.importcds.com/movies/2747626/puncture-wounds

[Jox]

Out tomorrow and Lionsgate has done nothing about it so that there's not any reviews yet (at least if they didn't send screeners it might avoid leaks).

[Moltisanti]

Not the most in-depth review but here's some site that liked it:

http://alienbee.net/dvd-review-puncture-wounds/

Bottom line is, Puncture Wounds was a pretty cool action flick with a good story and exciting action scenes. It had its flaws but was still a pretty interesting movie.

I'll watch it tomorrow, don't know if I'll see it on-demand or take a risk and blind-buy the DVD.

[Jox]

This one is a little more in-depth but less positive.
http://cinapse.co/2014/03/10/puncture-wounds/

[Moltisanti]

Well, it's better than BLOOD OF REDEMPTION and AMBUSHED. That's about where my praise ends. Le can't carry a film. Pretty much none of the action scenes are staged with any sense of excitement. Lundgren isn't really as over-the-top as most of his villain performances. Not that he always needs to be a crazed maniac but here he's just kind of ugly, and I don't mean his appearance.

Let this be the end of the Gianni Capaldi/Giorgio Serafini phase of his career.

[savagesketch]

Sorry folks, but this is another disappointment. Like Moltisanti said, it's at least better than BOR and AMBUSHED, but that's about it. The main problem with the whole film is how cheap the whole thing looks... The limited three-week shoot is quite evident. Within the first 15 minutes, we are treated to a titles sequence that flashes the stars' names, while showing scenes of the characters that appear later on in the film (similar to a porno film... at least so I've heard ). We're also treated to freeze frames along with the name(s) of the various characters (similar to in BOR, which wasn't too groundbreaking then either). Plus, there's narration courtesy of the Le's bland lead to move the story along that is downright laughable... "Here's my crappy motel where I make sense of life. Only life doesn't make sense at all..."

Quite honestly, I could forgive all of this if Lundgren's villain was memorable. He's proven that he can make a great bad guy. Here, his villain is just forgettable. He has a cool look, I guess, but he's never truly evil or intimidating. Wasted opportunity. Which begs the question, Why cast Dolph as a bad pimp, when he's not gonna truly exude Dolph? The role coulda been played by anybody.

Guess the good thing with these three films with Serafini is that they were shot and released in under a year. Now that they're behind him, it's on to better things. Bring on TEX3 and SKIN TRADE.

[dude hallenbeck]

I can't think of anything more sleep inducing than Cung Le narrating. The guy's just not a natural actor. John Hyams was really smart to keep him silent and imposing in Dragon Eyes, because he makes for a great screen fighter.