Rating: Burnt Popcorn
What has happened to the Punisher? In 2004, Thomas Jane became the second actor to play the lead role as filmmakers tried to revamp the 1989 film which starred Dolph Lundgren. The 2004 version, The Punisher, wasn’t too bad of a film as it told the story of how Frank Castle became the vigilante named The Punisher. The Punisher/Frank Castle, a normal looking ex-Delta Force soldier, was portrayed pretty well through Thomas Jane. Shortly after the film released, Lionsgate announced that it was pursuing a sequel, Punisher 2, which would show how Frank Castle takes the law into his own hands, but with Thomas Jane and director Jonathan Hensleigh leaving the project, the studio decided to revamp the franchise again rather than producing a sequel, making it the third attempt in getting it off the ground.
Continuing on his one-man vs. the criminal world crusade, vigilante-hero Frank Castle’s next victim is mob boss Billy Russoti. After being mutilated by Frank, Russoti seeks revenge under his new pseudonym: Jigsaw, not to be mistaken with Saw’s villain of the same name. With the cops on his back and the FBI not able to take down Jigsaw, Frank must stand up to and take down the large army Jigsaw has recruited before more damage is done to the city.
Taking the lead in the film is HBO’s Rome star, Ray Stevenson, while director Lexi Alexander takes on the helm behind the camera.
Right from the get-go, Punisher: War Zone is plagued with cheesiness, stupidity and blood-loving characters. Within the first 5-10 minutes, you think the movie is going to end soon as Frank Castle kills every person in the building! Who’s left to kill? The joke in the theatre wasn’t “Who’s going to die?”, but “How will they be killed?”.
Throughout the movie, the audience is shown some of Castle’s backstory of how he became The Punisher as if we had never seen the 2004 action flick. The family pictures and memories were re-done with Ray Stevenson and some of the flashbacks didn’t coincide with what we have seen before: his family being run over by a truck on a dock (The Punisher) vs. his family being killed after witnessing a mob execution while picnicking in Central Park (Punisher: War Zone). With the images from the 2004 film still so real in our heads, how can you tell us something different, although it may be more true to the comic book? If the film with Thomas Jane was made in the 1980’s or early 1990’s, we would be more accepting to these changes.
The senseless violence and the blood-thirsty characters in this film is unbelievable! Heads literally flying off shoulders, blood gushing out of bodies and axes stuck in foreheads, is this really an action movie or is it a gory horror flick? With Frank Castle’s image looking more like a Steven Seagal straight-to-DVD character, you could say that Punisher: War Zone is a mash-up of a Steven Seagal flick, a slasher film and a B-movie not worth seeing. You could also describe the film as a look-alike to Jigsaw’s face: ugly, beaten up and mutated! Punisher: War Zone cannot be taken as a serious film because it is so ridiculously bad, that the male dominated theatre was laughing at the movie’s stupidity, senseless brutal violence and bloodfest. On top of not being suitable for children, Punisher: War Zone is not made for the weak stomaches. Unless you like bloody B-movies, you definitely don’t want to waste your money on this flick! If you’re so apt to seeing a Punisher film, you’re best off renting The Punisher, the 2004 action movie starring Thomas Jane.
Release Date: December 5, 2008
2 Comments, Comment or Ping
ken
Great movie, although somewhat cheesy… I think the Studio was afraid to make it too serious. However, this Punisher was definitely better than the 2004 version.
Truer to the comic, but definitely not done as well as it could have been. I thought Ray Stevenson was a good Punisher and I hope they make a sequel.
You could argue that Braveheart or Gangs of NY were overly gory in the same way. Yet the characters were portrayed in a much more serious light. I would like to see Ray Stevenson as the Punisher again, but taken more seriously.
Dec 12th, 2008
Ryan
Thomas Jane’s Punisher was awful….
It wasn’t true to the character, and showed the Punisher as a complete P*ssy.
Warzone showed the Punisher as he was in the comics- if you’ve actually read any of the damn things, you’d know it’s true to them.
Let’s see whats in the comics that was throughout the movie.
It’s very violent (check) has a lot of dark humor, throughout (check) It is a bit cheesy, but not completely (check) , the heartless bastard who lost his parents that we read about (check)
Jan 6th, 2009
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