Helmer Had Punisher Issues
Jonathan Hensleigh, writer-director of the upcoming film The Punisher, told SCI FI Wire that he doesn't condone the brand of vigilantism on view in the Marvel comic book on which his film is based. "It sort of runs counter to my politics," Hensleigh, a former lawyer, said in an interview. "I believe that if you're aggrieved that you should call law enforcement and have the person arrested and prosecuted."
Frank Castle (Thomas Jane), the central character in The Punisher, takes matters into his own hands when his family is murdered. He transforms himself into The Punisher, a gun-toting judge, jury and executioner who sets his sights on a particularly formidable villain, Howard Saint (John Travolta). Hensleigh, best known for writing The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, Jumanji and Armageddon, makes his directorial debut with The Punisher, which hews closely to Garth Ennis' "Welcome Back, Frank" comic series.
"I had to ask myself intellectual questions like, 'To what extent do crimes against a person become so unconscionable, so heinous, that even a person who does not believe in vigilantism can resort to vigilantism in a more just way?'" Hensleigh said. "That was the equation for me. I told Marvel that I didn't just want to do a revenge story, that I wanted to do the mother of all revenge stories. I wanted to ramp everything up. I can't really go further without doing spoilers here. The underlying events that give rise to Frank Castle's vigilantism are not from the comic. I invented a lot of that. I made it a lot worse."
Ultimately, Hensleigh acknowledged, The Punisher is a revenge picture. "There's no way around that," he said. "That is the way that The Punisher was originally created by Marvel, and this is certainly part of the DNA of Garth Ennis' treatment of The Punisher. If you are going to be in any way faithful to the underlying material you have to go down that road, and you have to embrace it." The Punisher will be released on April 16.