In 2004, the second Punisher movie was released to mixed to positive reviews. Among the fandom, however, opinions were a little more toward the negative, in part due to changes such as making Castle an FBI and being set in Florida. Several fans also complained of the Punisher being despite his claims, out for revenge rather than punishment, they also complained from a general lack of bloody violence, as well as a scene of Frank setting up a fire hydrant to keep a parking spot unoccupied. The prevailing sentiment was that it was flawed but alright, and certainly could have been much better.
In 2004, Garth Ennis – already an established name in the Punisher’s history due to having revitalized the character and writing two series, including Welcome Back, Frank, which was the bases for the aforementioned movie – began writing a new series under Marvel’s R-rated MAX imprint.
While previous Ennis stories were known black comedy and occasionally being outright comedic …
… The Max series was dead serious. It was set in its own continuity that mirrored the real world, with only three non-powered characters from past stories appearing, as well as a version of Nick Fury. The Punisher was still a Vietnam War veteran and he aged accordingly, beginning the series in his mid-fifties. Rather than characters like Jigsaw, Ma Gnucci and the Russian, the Punisher opposed sex slavery ringleaders, corrupt businessmen and military and mobsters Russian, Italian and Irish.
The MAX series under Ennis was deemed
the Punisher series, and further cemented Garth Ennis as being what Frank Miller was to Daredevil comics.
It also influenced
The Punisher: Warzone, a third film and a reboot. Warzone was critically panned, and though initially gobbled up by fans it has since been seen as not being a real improvement over the former films aside from being bloodier.
One could come to the conclusion that the Punisher simply can not succeed critically, what with three movies the most recent of which being based on the best run of the series. But I say no.
While Warzone featured many memorable MAX characters like Maginty and the Bulats and having a lead actor who looked exactly like Frank Castle did, the influence it got was almost purely aesthetic; the characters and storylines were seriously bowdlerized - the Bulats… Christ with a machine gun, the Bulats - and like the previous films, in relation to Frank himself it fell short of accurately portraying Castle and what makes him unique.
Frank Castle is not like other comic book heroes. He doesn’t angst about the life he leads, he doesn’t have doubts, he doesn’t long for his burden to be lifted. He’s less a hero and more like a samurai or a religious fanatic, fiercely devoted to a mission destructive to himself and those he opposes. He may even secretly be just a combat-junkie who used a tragic event as an excuse.
Frank Castle could even be said to be less a man and more of a force of nature. He has more in common with Frankenstein than with Batman. He has lingering qualities from when he was a family man and a soldier, a strict code moral code of never causing harm to the innocent, but he doesn’t experience much emotions beside rage and hate and he can’t really form connections with anyone, save for Fury and O’Brien who could just as screwed up as he is.
Frank Castle is a military man. The adaptation don’t really give due focus to that, barely mentioning he was a Green Beret or a special forces instructor. The Vietnam War in particular is quite important to Frank Castle, almost as important as WWII is to Steve Rogers. It was during it that he gained a thirst for combat that would contribute to his protracted war on crime.
The rights to The Punisher have recently reverted back to Marvel studios, so there’s hope. They’re currently focused on the Avengers and associated franchises, but they’ll get to it sooner or later. The down side is should they do so, it’s very possible they’ll want to make it part of the Marvel cinematic universe. I dearly hope not. The Punisher MAX has everything it takes to make it as great cinema on its own without showing up in
Luke Cage, it just needs a cast that gives a damn and a crew that’s not afraid to go against the grain.
In my opinion, the most essential thing is to establish Castle as a war vet, this could be done in three ways:
• Have Castle as a sixty year old man who served in the Vietnam War, just like in the comic. Easier said than done as very few actors of that age could do it, or would want to.
• Have as someone who served in Vietnam, but set the film in the seventies/early eighties. An interesting time with the mafia wars and the arrival of the Russian mob, but potentially more expensive.
• Update it to the present day by having Castle as someone who served in Afghanistan. Could work easily, but it might be a bit controvesial.
I originally wanted to cast The Punisher MAX as a mature viewers TV show, for HBO perhaps. I decided to do it instead as a movie series, preferably longer than a trilogy.
While there’s thirteen story arcs, the most essential arcs and memorable characters could be could be distilled into material for four to six movies. Each would be stand alone, with a shared running storyline that pays off by the last installment.
Daunting goal, I realize. I wouldn’t know how to do it. Hopefully some talented director would, and with Garth Ennis’ participation, an epic Punisher franchise could become a reality. As for who plays whom, I do have a few ideas.
Pvt. Stevie Goodwin
A Marine Corps draftee who served under Captain Castle’s command in 1971. While most of the other Marines in his garrison were apathetic junkies or complete psychopaths, Goodwin was concerned with staying clean, doing his job properly, staying alive and going home, which endeared him to Castle, a man he greatly admired.
Kathryn O’Brien
An eccentric CIA agent who as part of a taskforce, attempted to recruit Castle to hunt Osama Bin Laden. Castle refused, and much later, the two teamed up to take on the alliance of Castle’s adversary of the moment and O’Brien’s ex-husband.
Nicky Cavella
A sociopathic mobster who’d been exiled from New York but returns to eliminate Castle. In his attempts to lure Castle out, he desecrates the Castle family graves, which leads Castle to embark on his bloodiest rampage.
LTC Yorkie Mitchell
As a young SAS trooper, Mitchell met Castle when both were seconded to the Australian SAS. Mitchell later became an MI6 agent, and he sometimes exchanged favors with Castle whenever one was in the other’s sandbox.
Maginty
A truly psychotic Afro-Irish gangster who relocated to New York’s Hell’s Kitchen during the nineties.
Finn Cooley
A former IRA terrorist who blame his face off with his own bomb. Though claims loyalty to the continuity IRA, who actively reject the peace process, he has actually forsaken loyalty to any cause and is chiefly concerned with making a lot of money.
William Rawlins
A conniving, utterly despicable CIA agent and O’Brien’s ex-husband. At the Pentagon’s orders, he recruited and trained a terror cell in Saudi Arabia to be used in false flag operations.
Col. Nick Fury
The MAX version of Fury is quite different. He’s a seventy year old burned out cold warrior, his command of SHIELD is nominal which leads to some strange bedfellows and he lacks his high tech equipment. He has no age suppressant so he looks as old as he is, though that doesn’t slow him down one bit; as seen in his first appearance where he drinks, smokes and has sex with three prostitutes.
He also whips a USAF General with his belt. Inside a US Military base. In full view of other generals. And he gets away with it. The MAX version of Nick Fury
is so badass that a group of soldiers found a tour in Iraq preferable to getting on Col. Fury’s bad side. I mean who on earth could play him?
Oh, that’s right.
Gen. Nikolai Alexandrovich Zakharov
A vicious, controversial Russian General known for committing atrocities during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, so severe that even the Soviets though he was a monster.
Vera Konstantin
A member of the Romanian mob who manages the legitimate side of things, though she also has her hands in the sex trade aspect as well.
Christu Bulat
A Romanian gangster who fought in the Yugoslav wars with his father. After the war, father and son moved to America where they set up their sex trade operation While Christu was at heart a businessman who saw violence as a way to make money, his father was in love with suffering and bloodletting, which led them to clash.
Tiberiu Bulat
An absolute psychopath and a bona fide war criminal. He enjoys violence and would rather spill blood than make money without it. He claims to have fought against the Nazis and communists. He fought in the Yugoslav wars with his son Christu on the side of the Serbs, where he participated in the mass rape of Bosnian women and following the end of the war, he had them smuggled to the west to set up his sex trade operation.
Jen Cooke
A social worker and liberal campaigner against the slave trade. While she abhorred Castle’s actions, she also felt that the public at large was apathetic and unwilling to face the horrors that existed in their society and in desperation agreed to provide him with help in wiping out the slavers.
Barracuda
A Green Beret turned urban mercenary who becomes obsessed with Castle after he bests him in combat. ‘Cuda is characterized by a pleasant disposition and an upbeat personality which hide unending viciousness and rage.
I can’t take credit for this one as I got it from AlexDeLarge666. Alex, if you’re reading this, you’re a star.
Col. George Howe
A Vietnam veteran, former Green Beret and Delta Force’s commander. He volunteers to capture Castle and have him tried for his crimes, ostensibly out of outrage at the use he’s put his special forces training to, though he harbors other motives as well.
The Punisher
The lone son of Italian-American parents. Frances Castiglione had his first encounter with death at a young age when he set out to avenge the death of his childhood crush who’d been raped by the son of a local mobster, only to be beaten to the punch by her older brother, a Marine he’d come to idolize.
Later dubbing himself Frank Castle, he joined the Marine Corps and was deployed during the Vietnam war in time for the Tet offensive. He saw action in Khe Sanh and proved himself to the top brass who moved him to special forces where he spent the remainder of his tour as well as his second. By his third tour and with the war winding down, he was sent to Firebase Valley Forge near the Cambodian border, where he began to hear voices in his head, egging him to make some dark pact with an unknown power.
Returning home to his family and a new career direction as a special forces instructor. What followed is common knowledge; His family was killed in the crossfire of a botched mafia hit, and he has spent every day since then in a perpetual war on crime.
Frank Castle is the hardest character I’ve had to cast due to the criteria the perfect actor would have to meet. The actor would had have to be old enough to have been eligible for military service in Vietnam or close to it, someone in their fifties would do, with makeup bridging the gap. He’d have to have to be in excellent shape. He should look at least vaguely Italian.
Robert DeNiro? Now he’d be perfect, but he’s nowhere near the shape he’d need to be in.
Ron Perlman? Great actor, appropriate age, and in excellent shape. But he’s too great at playing Hellboy for me to buy him as any other character.
Bruce Willis? Hits all the marks, but doesn’t really look the part.
I found one guy who was in great shape and of the proper age, he’s not perfect, but he could be close enough.
My main choice is…
Hardly original, I know. Thomas Jane was a large part of what made the 2004 version enjoyable to me. In fact, aside from the Harry Heck scene, Thomas Jane is my only reason for watching that movie. He was intense and you could tell he cared about the character. The only reason I considered picking someone else is that he was a glint in his father’s eye when Vietnam was going on. Of course, makeup could be used to bring him to the proper age, its just not preferable.
On the other hand…
I won’t begrudge anyone disagreeing with this one, but Brosnan is only three years younger than Castle. He’s in pretty good shape and he is a tremendous actor. My only gripe is can he manage an American accent, a New Yorker’s accent to be more specific, or a guy from Queen to be definitive?