Most people don’t like to think about it but revenge is a natural emotion. At times all of us have wanted to get back at someone for an actual or even a received offense. Revenge has been driving stories long before the written word and has been a vital theme for movies from the very beginning. Revenge doesn’t have to be a reaction to a personal affront; often it takes the form of vigilantism. Many of us have thought on occasion that the governmental justice system has failed. It would be better if someone took on the job of judge, jury and executioner on their own. From New York City’s Bernhard Goetz to the main character in the ‘Death Wish’ film franchise and on to a myriad of first person video games the public has demonstrate an acceptance of this topic. The latest member of this ever growing club of movies is ‘Juncture’ by film maker James Seale. Although the thematic elements of the story are reasonably strong the film falls short of its goal. It does, however, remain an interesting thriller and a good popcorn flick. It is not that this is all that bad of a film it just had unfulfilled potential. This seems to be something that plagues a lot of smaller production. It sets out fine and then unravels by the all important third act. Even with that being said the film is well worth watching and you will garner some enjoyment out of it. It is interesting and will pull you into the story. The only question is whether is able to maintain that interest throughout the course of the movie.

The script comes from Robert Gosnell who has worked in a fairly wide spectrum of genres. He has comedies, action and dramas to his name with a bit of an emphasis on family films. This is one of the first true thrillers he has attempted. Gosnell does a great job in setting up the story. There are a lot of revenge and vigilante stories but Gosnell has come up with a fresh twist for his. The protagonist is first of all a woman. Most of these films do tend to go with a leading man. Second she is diagnosis with a terminal brain tumor. This helps to set up a secondary moral question for the audience. Of course the first topic of morality is whether taking the law in your own hands is right. We would all agree it is illegal but many would argue that under the proper circumstances a vigilante is necessary. Since this brand of self serving justice has been with us through our history as a country many people understand and even agree with it. Many of the old westerns showed a citizen comprised posses riding out too catch a killer as normal. This has helped to form a basis for tolerating this as a theme. The twist of the vigilante having a terminal disease adds a fascinating turn of events. If you knew that you had only a handful of months to live there is no deterrent in the formal justice system that would deter you from taking revenge on the outlaw parts of our society. With nothing to lose the normally ingrained social and moral restrictions and trepidation are swept away. When the possibility of prison is removed from the moral equation a person has to have a different view of the world. In this film all the pent up anger and need for revenge boil over in this character in a way that although the results are violent and deadly the audience still can emotionally connect with her and understand what drives her actions.

James Seale has been directing thrillers for about a decade now. True to form for an independent film maker he wrote and produced several of these films himself. He is not the kind of director who has to get something out on a regular basis. It would appear that he strives more for quality and realizes that this takes time. Here he loses some focus towards the conclusion of the movie but overall he manages to keep on track. He paces the movie very well taking some time to setup the characters and allow for the required exposition. Once that is out of the way he goes into the action. In many ways there are more dramatic elements here that the usual thriller possesses. As such this is more a psychological thriller than the ‘shock them fast and hard’ variety. He plays on the moral dilemmas of the script and uses his camera to explore the inner workings of the characters mind. The interest he develops in the audience is more focused on the motivation for her actions not the actual execution of them and her victims.

The opening shot is of Anna Carter (Kristine Blackport) standing on the Golden Gate bridge. Her hands are on the rail and she is looking up into the sky obviously very distressed. She turns her gaze down to the murky water below contemplating suicide. Later Anna is sitting in a park when she gets a call with an address she wanted. We see a rave in progress; lights flashing while people are frantically dancing. An older man out of place in a suit and tie steps off the elevator and makes his way through the crowd. Standing off to the side Anna watches the man. She watches has the man meets up with one of the kids and exchanges brown paper bags. Anna follows the man to his home and before he can turn the key in the lock she has a gun to his back. He immediately tells her she had better have a warrant. The man is extremely frighten as Anna, wearing black gloves, moves around the room closing the blinds. She pulls the brown paper bag from his jacket and demands to know what is on the tape. He tells her it is only a movie that a friend gave him. Anna tells him that she would like to believe that the movie is not a little girl being raped, like the ones he used to rape. Okay, we get the idea. Anna is going after child molesters; the lowest form of criminal possible. As Anna watches the tape the man rushes her and she shoots him dead.

There are a couple of mitigating circumstances for Anna. The man did force her hand by going to attack her. Besides, he was a lowlife pedophile and even though he severed his sentence in jail it was only a matter of time before he raped another little girl. Anna has been having extremely bad headaches lately. She goes to the doctor and discovers that she has frontal-lobe Glioblastoma, an inoperable and terminal brain tumor. The position of the growth does affect her personality bringing up the question as to whether Anna is acting on her own or driven by her disease. She works as the director of an foundation that cares for children. She is still helping children only now her methods have turned dark and deadly. Her job does provide Anna with access to a private jet and numerous locations so a little thing like jurisdiction is no problem at all.

Although there are some technical faults here and the end of the movie is not great this is a gripping film. It is part of an Anna Carter trilogy so which helps explain why the ending is the way it is; there is more to come. Some may feel that Blackport’s performance is lack luster. Such comments are not taking into account the character she is playing, a woman with brain cancer and an altered personality. I felt she did an excellent job here. I am looking forward to the next two installments of this series.

The DVD is out thanks to MTI. They are not one of the biggest distributors around but they concentrate on finding the most intriguing independent films on the circuit and releasing them to DVD. Like the a lot of their catalog this is a strange and compelling movie that you will enjoy.