Jack is a sound engineer at a movie studio that makes second-rate horror movies. One day, dubbing another movie, he hears strange noises and records them. It turns out that this is the sound of a gunshot and a punctured tire of the car that got into an accident that killed a presidential candidate. Jack has proof on his hands that the car crash was not an accident, and he has an entire political faction against him.

4k movies reviews
I respect the work of Brian de Palma, the admirer and follower of the great Alfred Hitchcock. At one time I watched with pleasure the noble ‘Untouchables’, the dashingly twisted ‘Mission Impossible’, the magnificent ‘noir’ ‘Black Orchid’, not to mention the legendary ‘Scarface’ and ‘Carlito’s Way’.

The thriller ‘Puncture’ dates back to de Palma’s earlier work, to the ancient days when audiences raved about ‘Carrie’ and ‘Razorback’. On the wave of success of these tapes Brian was allocated a bigger budget (18 million – no kidding even for those days), agreed to play the main roles played by an old friend of the director John Travolta and Brian’s wife at the time – Nancy Allen.

But in the end, the picture failed at the box office, and the critics were pretty tough on it. What was the reason for the failure and is the film as bad as they say it is? This is what I decided to look into.

The plot of ‘The Puncture’ is quite intriguing. Sound engineer Jack, recording overnight the sound of the wind for the movie, becomes an accidental witness of an accident, as a result of which a car falls into the river from the bridge. Not confused, he jumps in after and saves a young girl.

Already in the hospital strange things begin to happen-policemen advise him to forget that the girl was in the car, and very soon Jack becomes clear why-the dead driver of the car-candidate for president. And not the president of the Society of Shopaholics Anonymous, but the president of the United States.

But Jack doesn’t give up, he knows exactly that the accident was staged, as the shot is clearly heard on the tape. Trying to make a deal with the ‘caught’ girl, he thus exposes both her and himself to mortal danger…

Admittedly, the film is indeed not without its faults. Lingering takes place, especially in the middle of the tape, and the actions of the main villain of the movie, played stunningly by John Lithgow, are not very clear – having received a “command” to cancel the mission, he still wants to bring the operation to its conclusion.

The ending did not please either – it turned out very silly.

But there are more pluses than minuses in the film. First, the young Travolta in his prime is amazingly organic and convincing. Second: Nancy Allen – no associations with Robocop – two different women. Thirdly: John Lithgow, a very vivid villain he made, one scene at a train station is worth a watch.

And, of course, de Palma’s trademark camerawork, editing and sound tricks. There is an abundance of them here. And the time was merciful to The Puncture. Not for nothing, it is now a classic of the thriller.

In general, the film for fans of the director’s work is a must-see, the rest – at will.

Info Blu-ray
Video
Codec: HEVC / H.265 (74.2 Mb/s)
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1

Audio
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: Dolby Digital 2.0

Subtitles
English SDH.