Right to the point. I give it a B+, or 3 out of 4 stars.
The newest Marvel movie The Punisher isn't going to kill the franchise of comic book movies coming out. It was thoroughly enjoyable and had some really good moments. Although, geeks like me can pick out a few things we'd improve upon.
It stuck pretty close to what comics geeks imagine as the archetype Punisher anti-hero with no major changes to the comics that would adversely affect the known character. Thomas Jane was a brilliant choice as the Punisher, and they built up his graduation from law abiding FBI agent to kick-ass vigilante pretty well. The acting overall was excellent--from all the players. Rebecca Romijin (soon to be ex-stamos) has come far as an actress, and I think this was Travolta's best villain yet.
Why not an A grade then? For the same reason I didn't say that I'd "change" it, just improve upon it. For instance, much of the violence was gratuitous, which is what you would expect from this character so it didn't shock me too much, but they could have made some of it a bit more military looking and surgical. Meaning, when he was without a gun, they could have had Frank kill with the ol' stiff fingers jab to the larynx or something that showed off his training a little more.
My only complaints were:
1. I would have liked to have a bit more of the costume in there. The comics made Frank's Punisher costume a bit cooler--more than just a washed out T-Shirt, and it added to his ability to take more punishment himself. There was really only a couple times when the skull Tee was worn during the action. Come on Director's! Be proud to be making a comic book movie! That was a major fault of the Dolph Lundgren version--no logo. I mean, why even make a Punisher movie if you aint gonna use the suit? Am I right?
2. I agree with Nate's assessement about the ending. It was a bit corny--even for comic books. Howard Saint's death seemed too quick and contrived, and the finish was all too abrupt for the amount of set-up they put into the first part of the film. But like Nate said, they left it wide open for the sequel. So you gotta like that.
Overall, a worthy effort and worth my $5.00 matinee bucks. Hell, I'd have even seen it after 6:00pm and paid the full $8.00!