I was going to watch Warzone first and work backwards, I really was! One day that monstrosity will once again soil my player, but for now it will be the superior effort from Director Jonathan Hensleigh, starring Thomas Jane as Frank Castle.
I was never a huge fan of The Punisher. I mean I got the attraction, I understood that he was a complete anti hero and that for him killing was as natural as breathing and so on and so forth, I was just never that interested in his stories or the writers that they seemed to attract. But, then when Garth Ennis took over a run I took notice because I'm a fan of his other work. I enjoyed the run for what it was and felt that he tried to delve a little deeper into what really made castle tick, and the nature of vigilantism as a whole. Heinsleigh's movie isn't really like that at all!(although it does use characters/situations from Ennis's comics) But, I still prefer it over 2008's Punisher Warzone which some fans cite as being truer to Ennis's run. Why? Because its a better movie.
This film follows the basic Castle story we all know even if the locations/circumstances etc are re-jigged. Here Castle is an undercover FBI agent who inadvertently causes the death of Howard Saint's(John Travolta) son. Saint takes his revenge by having every member of Castle's family, including his wife and son, brutally murdered. His men leave castle for dead but he survives and transforms himself into the ultimate avenging angel of death, The Punisher. You want more plot? He kills lots of people! What more could you want from a Punisher movie? Well, personally I would like something more. I would like to give a shit about the characters I'm watching! And thankfully, Heinsleigh and co screen writer Michael France go some way to giving us that, even though their actual dialog is a bit ropey at the best of times. I know that the whole point of The Punisher is that he feels no emotion, that he has becomes a very black and white guy that kills without thinking about consequences, and I think that is captured in this movie. But they do add a tad more humanity to him and admittedly tone down his misanthropy quite a bit. But I think it works for the best. Don't get me wrong, this is still a dark dark film. Castle is no Bruce Wayne, if your a criminal your dead. And the violence is pretty unrelenting. Jane makes a great Punisher too. His performance isn't particularly showy or layered(God forbid!) but he's just icy and ruthless enough to convince as a man who has nothing to lose, while retaining a small fragment of his humanity. Travolta is ...Travolta! As far as I'm concerned the man hasn't played anyone else since Pulp Fiction. But he's effective enough as a right bastard. Supporting cast wise we have Rebbecca Romaign as the (sort of) love interest. She loves Frank, he loves guns. She's pretty good but her part is woefully under written. And she brings with her two "comic relief" buffoons as baggage. A major misstep. This film would have been a lot better without laurel and hardy, even though a pre
X-Men: The Last Stand Ben Foster is as good as always as the skinny one. Will Patton, another very under used actor, also pops up as Saint's right hand man with a secret (Shhh, he's gay!). The action is also very well done. A totally insane brawl with wrestler Kevin Nash is a high light and their are plenty more scraps, gunfights and explosions on offer too.
But, despite all of the positive things I have said about this, The Punisher is not a great movie. Its not even very good. Its decent. The film is just hamstrung by its script and the inescapable fact that this type of revenge movie follows a formula that is never not going to be too predictable. Fans of the character may suggest that thats the whole point, well I don't care if it is! It does not make for an engaging movie experience. As it stands its a dark, violent and entertaining throwback to revenge films like Death Wish but it keeps too much of the gloss associated with more mainstream fair to fully succeed. Still, like I said, its a damn sight better than the much more violent, darker but completely rubbish Warzone which I will attempt to review next week. Wish me luck!