Pat's Movie Review: Punisher - War Zone

 

I will admit this.  I walked into Punisher: War Zone with very low expectations.  I've been burned before twice now by the previous Punisher films, and I was fully expecting to get burned again.  You wouldn't think this would be a character that would be hard to translate to the movie screen.  Frank Castle a former cop who's family is killed one day when they go to Central Park in New York for a family picnic.  They accidentally witness a mob execution and are then themselves killed to eliminate the witnesses.  Somehow, Frank survives.  Now, tortured over the loss of his wife and daughter, Frank goes on a one man killing spree through the criminal world of New York City murdering mobsters left right and center until all of them are dead.  There's no reasoning with him, there's no compromise.  If you're a criminal of any kind, he kills you.  He's the Punisher, he punishes criminals by killing them.

 

Sounds simple enough, right?  Create a film about man pissed off about the deaths of his family, set it it New York, have him wear a black shirt with a big white skull on it and have him kill large numbers of faceless criminals.  Somehow though, this simple concept has managed to elude Marvel's previous attempts to adapt it to screen.  First there was 1989's The Punisher starring Dolph Lundgren as Frank Castle.  While this film managed to get the basic story and the setting right, something in the execution was definitely lacking.  The production values were B movie quality at best, the acting was atrocious and the script was pretty poor quality.  The kids of a bunch of mobsters have been kidnapped by the Yakuza and Frank and the mobsters have to work together to save them.  Wait...WTF?  The Punisher wouldn't help out mobsters.  That makes no sense.  Also, at no point in this film does Doplh Lundgren wear a shirt with a big white skull on it, thus committing a cardinal sin.  All around, this film gets a D.

 

Then came 2004's The Punisher starring Thomas Jane as Frank Castle.  Admittedly, a much better film than the 1989 version, the film was not without some serious problems though.  This time around they did a better job getting the character of Frank Castle right.  Thomas Jane kind of looks like the character, he acts like the character, hell he even wears a shirt with a big white skull on it (although they give the skull shirt a stupid backstory).  The problems with the film is everything else.  For some stupid reason the film takes place in Miami instead of New York, so everything is bright and colorful and doesn't look anything like a Punisher comic.  Also, the main villain is John Travolta who is absolutely horrible to watch in it.  All around, this film gets a B-.

 

Now, in 2008 we get Punisher: War Zone starring Ray Stevenson as Frank Castle. 

 



 

As the film began, I was sitting next to my friend (and Geek-tastic's Batman reviewer) Matt and he said the following:  "All I want to see in this film is a guy with a big white skull on his chest shooting people in the head.  If that's all I get to see, I'll be happy with this film."  I heartily seconded this notion, and in less than five minutes time we were satisfied.  In fact, in about five minutes the film had already proven itself to be greater than its predecessors.  I would even go so far as to say the film was already a masterpiece about five minutes in.

 

This movie makes no bones about what it is.  It is a straightforward, over the top in violence and gore action film.  It makes no apologies for what it is.  It doesn't try to be anything else.  It just is what it is.  Finally, a Punisher movie has come out that has properly adapted the comic Character to the big screen.  First off, there is Ray Stevenson himself.  The man looks dead on like Frank Castle.  Just see for yourself.  This is what Frank Castle looks like in the comics:

 



 

And this is what he looks like in Punisher: War Zone: 

 



 

You aren't going to get better casting than that.  You're just not.  Now let's run down the rest of the films requirements.  The film is set in New York?  Check!  Frank Castle's family was killed because they saw a mob killing?  Check!  The Punisher wears a big white skull on his shirt?  Check (and there's no stupid backstory reason for it)!  Lots and lots and lots of criminals get shot, stabbed, beaten, punched, kicked, thrown through glass, impaled on stuff, blown up?  Check!!!

 

This film was everything I could ever hope a Punisher movie could be.  If you want a well acted well thought out and complicated plot, this isn't the movie for you.  This is definitely not the Dark Knight.  The plot was paper thin but was just enough to keep the story moving.  The focus was on the action.  The characters of the criminals are two dimensional most of the time, and their acting is questionable even in their best moments.  But that's not the point of the film.  The point of the film is to watch Frank Castle blow the holy hell out of New York's criminal underworld...and you get to see that in spades.

 

The Punisher finds some incredibly fun and gruesome ways to kill people throughout the course of the film.  He uses the usual stuff of course like guns, knives and grenades.  He even beheads one dude.  But he also finds ways to kill people with a chair, with rockets, with a spiked metal fence and even with his feet.  At one point in the film, he even punches a man in the face so hard that he breaks the man's skull and his fist goes completely into his head.  Now that's what I want to see in a damned Punisher movie!!!

 

The film was beautifully directed by Lexi Alexander, and let me say how incredibly awesome I find it that it took a woman director to finally bring us a properly dark and violent version of the Punisher to the big screen.  Lexi is also apparently a former world karate and kickboxing champion and according to IMDB she decided to become a filmmaker while travelling the world competing and teaching martial arts seminars, so it's no wonder the action in the film was so fast and intense.

 

Sadly, it looks like the film is going to be a commercial failure.  It cost $35 million to make and it only brought in $4 million over the weekend, which is a damn shame.  I can't imagine any fan of the comic books not liking this film, and I can't imagine any non-comic fans who just happen to love good action movies not loving it either.  This film deserves to be a success, if only so the cast and crew can be rewarded for a job well done and be granted the opportunity to make sequels.

 

I implore you, go see this film.  It's highly entertaining and is as faithful to the source material as any other comic book film I've ever seen.  Please, see it.  Help make this movie a success.  If you love a good, violent action film with amazing stunts and a kickass hero character, you will love Punisher: War Zone.  Trust me.

 

All around, this film gets an A+