To start off, When I was little, Punisher was a huge deal to me. I had an uncle who started me off on comics at 6 years old and one of the first things he showed me was Punisher. I thought he was the coolest comic book character next to Daredevil and Rorschach (My top 3). Then a little bit of time later I saw the Dolph Lundgren film, and as a little kid who knew nothing about production value, I thought the movie was amazing. But let's fast forward to 2008.
Based on the trailer, I thought War Zone was going to be amazing. It was obviously based on the MAX series, Ray Stevenson had the look, lots of guns, lots of blood. I was too psyched to start picking at it like I would with any other CBM. But things hit a downward spiral once I got 5 min into it.
First of all, what kind of military officer, when faced with a bunch of enemies who are WAY less experienced with a firearm than himself is going to hang down from a chandelier and start shooting in every direction? As cool as it looked, it's simply not practical or realistic in any way. I would have much preferred to see the way it should have happened where he lures everyone out to the yard rigged with claymores and starts blasting them with an M-60.
Another issue is characters. It's probably my biggest issue. See, I love Ennis'MAX series and I love the character depth. You really feel like you know everyone and each person has a motivation. This movie, everyone is just there, doing everything with no motivation at all and characters from every story arc are presented just as a cameo. Everything just feels rushed and melted together. When I first got news that they were doing a MAX influenced film I was excited to say the very least, I was hoping for Nicky Cavella or Finn Cooley but no. I got Jigsaw. A man who has a horses ass literally sewn onto his face. Really? Ink is a wuss and Pittsy is a fat guy that looks like he should have gotten cast as Larry from the first arc. Wayne Knight plays Micro. I wouldn't have an issue with that if they did it right. They made him a stupid comic relief and a nerd. Maginty is in here too, which is fine, there is no issue with him there, I just wish that they would have put Finn in too. and we also have Cristu and Tiberiu Bulat. What the hell? Fine, I can see the down play on Cristu's part but on Tiberiu? He's supposed to be a hardcore war monger that... whatever. Last, they're not even supposed to be Russian. Castle, I will not complain about however, I believe Stevenson did as good as a job that he could with what he was given and I believe with a better script and director, he should be given a 2nd chance.
The last thing is the plot. There's so many holes. If this movie were a woman, I'd be the happiest person I'd be the happiest person in the world. Why does Castle walk and run everywhere? He's walking through New York with his gun in plain sight and no one says shit, Jigsaw just happens to be connected with everyone and can get whatever he wants, but can't get a decent facial reconstruction. Anyway, all in all. I watch this movie from time to time because it's supposed to be a MAX adaptation. It's a limbo film to me, it's not good but it's not so horrible I'll never watch it again. Thanks for reading my first article all, hope it wasn't as bad as the film.