The Punisher
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Movie Reviews of The Punisher
Movie Review: Spent 30 MIllion, Made 70 Million, Before the DVD Release...
Summary: 5 Stars
And someone somewhere calls "The Punisher" a box-office failure, because it does not hit the number 1 spot, both Daredaevil and Hulk were #1 in the Box Office. I paraphrase Thomas Jane when I say that the film industry is in a sorry state if this is how we gauge a successful film...
I have been a Punisher fan since 1986 (thanks to my best friend Morris Koplow. Morris, if you read this, Thank you. I can never repay you for the enjoyment this Comic has brought me.).
After lagging book sales in Marvel's Punisher, Punisher: War Journal and Punisher: War Zone, executives at the comic powerhouse decide to follow a sad trend at the time and "redefine" the Punisher Character. Simply put, Marvel wrote Frank Castle into a depression and left him with no alternative but to end his own life, something DC did with it's own vigilante, creatively titled "Vigilante". The results was a rippling sense of betrayal for the fans, who felt that Castle was never written to be so weak as to suicide.
A few years later, Marvel breathed life into the Punisher through one of the classicly odd returns. Castle was resurrected by angels. This, too, did not fly (imagine a tank with little butterfly wings). Then Garth Ennis took over.
Ennis's work with the Punisher has brought back the grit and out and out nastiness that Frank Castle has always had. It was this work that the movie has been based on.
Yes, there has been "creative liberties" taken with "The Punisher", but they have been, for the most part, all for the better.
In the Comic, Castle loses his wife and two children to a mafia hit crew. While a justifiable reason to enter a world of vengence and punishment in comic books, film-goers wouldn't justify Castle waging a never-ending one man war on crime for that easily. Thus, wiping out his entire family was the key.
The Crime family (Make no mistake, Travolta and company were 100% unadulturated criminals, all businesses were fronts/laundering for their activities) in question certianly never appeared in any issue of the Punisher comic, but when the hero's "Rogue Gallery" is largely the cast of the Godfather, Casino, Goodfellas, Donnie Brasco, Resevior Dogs, etc, etc..., then a specific villian is not necessary, especially since most Punisher fans cannot name the Mafia Family that called the hit on Castle's family in the original comic. No, I don't remember who it was, either... The inclusion of "The Russian" was certainly a treat for any one who has read Ennis's "Welcome Back, Frank" and I hope that they can find a believable way to bring him back for the sequel (maybe get Nash some lessons in Russian and accents so we can get some of "The Russian's" fantastic dialogue).
Castle's Neighbors were taken DIRECTLY out of the Comic. Bumpo and Spacker Dave were near perfect castings and the only real difference with Joan in the film vs. the comic was that Rebecca Romijn-Stamos is more attractive, less mousey and attempted to be Castle's love interest. Like the comic, they proved that Castle was not completely devoid of humanity, nor unredeemable.
The Hero: Tortured, depressed and he enjoy's his Whiskey... Sounds about right for a man who just witnessed his entire family slaughtered and his wife and son run down by a pick-up truck loaded with "Goomba's". Thomas Jane's portrayal of Frank Castle is everything you expect it to be, if Castle was a real person driven to extremes. Jane captures to essentials of the character, and like Christopher Reeves, Ron Pearlman, Brandon Lee, Tobey Maguire and Hugh Jackman in their respective comic book films, molds the details to himself, making himself a living breathing Frank Castle. Jane is superb. He does what many thought was impossible, that being making himself into a live-action comic book character, without benefit of additional makeup or masks, and makes us believe that Frank Castle roamed the earth.
The Villian: Travolta is always a wonderful villian. Normal he "chews scenery" left and right and the audience is right with him. Not in "The Punisher". Travolta was still excellent and quite a urbane and sophistcated villian, but he was not the madman that most people expect from Travolta (IE: Face/Off and Broken Arrow). Will Patton was the "Mad Dog Villian" in "The Punisher" and while I would have preferred his end go differently, it was still satisfying to watch and his performance was certainly fun.
The action, overall, fed the story, as it should have. I personally would have liked to have seen a little more action from Castle, but I certainly wasn't disappointed in what I received. Many fans of the comics have commented that the violence in the film did not match that of the comic (the comic being more graphic). According to Thomas Jane, the plans for the second Punisher film will take the violence up a notch, almost as if (to my mind), that Frank Castle's morality was slipping away from him during the first film and the second will show the grotesque that Castle has become with the death of his family.
Overall, "The Punisher" 2004 film is as accurate and true to Punisher canon laid down by Marvel and Garth Ennis as Sam Rami's Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2 films have been to the "Webbed Wall-Crawler's" own canon setup by Stan "The Man" Lee and Steve Ditko. I cannot recommend this film enough, especially to fans of Comics, High-Action films and "The Punisher" himself. It truly is under appreciated and one of the best and most accurate comic films ever.
Movie Review: Limited Action. Limitless Violence. But Entertaining.
Summary: 5 Stars
This cinematic version of "The Punisher" is based on Marvel Comics' most recent incarnation of the vigilante anti-hero, as written by Garth Ennis in the "Welcome Back Frank" series. Although his ability to survive the most violent circumstances is extraordinary, the character has largely been removed from the world of superheroes. He's human and imperfect. The Punisher's backstory has been changed for the film to better integrate it with the narrative. A backstory that is not directly related to the present could never be successful in a film. Frank Castle (Thomas Jane) is an undercover FBI agent looking forward to the time with his family that his imminent retirement will allow. Those plans come to a horrific end when organized crime boss Howard Saint (John Travolta), whose son was killed in a gun running bust, takes revenge on Castle's family. Devastated, angry, and with nothing left to lose, Castle sets out to return the favor by destroying Saint and his criminal empire.
"The Punisher" is filmed in a dark, gritty style that seems to have been inspired by the work of cover artist Tim Bradstreet and the cinéma verité of the 1970s. The lead-in that describes how Frank Castle becomes The Punisher is lengthy, but that's to be expected in the first film of a potential franchise. The violence is pretty graphic in places and probably not for the weak of stomach. For an "action film", "The Punisher" isn't especially active. The action is intermittent, builds as the film progresses, and tends to avoid grand gestures. Perhaps that's appropriate, as the violence is of a personal nature. The cast is consistently interesting. Thomas Jane does a solid job as The Punisher, a shattered man who never claims any moral high ground. John Travolta is particularly entertaining as the ruthless, petulant crime boss Howard Saint. Travolta gives a palpably restrained performance, playing Saint just slightly over-the-top and imbalanced to great effect. Will Patton is also notable as Howard Saint's sociopathic right-hand man, Quentin Glass. And Rebecca Romijn-Stamos has a supporting role as one of Frank Castle's dysfunctional neighbors, who provide a little comic relief. An interesting piece of cast trivia: Howard Saint's sons, Bobby and John, are played by the same actor, James Carpinello, and originally were intended to be twin brothers. When Carpinello was in make-up and costume, he looked so dissimilar as the brothers that director Jonathan Hensleigh decided that they shouldn't be twins.
The most striking aspect of this film isn't at all evident: It was made for a paltry $30 million -unheard of for an action film. That it looks like it cost twice that much is a credit to the director, cinematographer, and art director. Also notable is that none of the film's stunts are CGI. They look real, and they are. "The Punisher" is entertaining and visually interesting. My only complaint about the film is its pace, which is brooding and too even for an action film. That makes the film seem longer than it is.
The DVD: This is a nicely loaded disc. Bonus features include 4 featurettes, 2 deleted scenes with director's commentary, a music video for "Step Up" by Drowning Pool, a trailer for "The Punisher" video game, and an audio commentary by director Jonathan Hensleigh. The first featurette, "Keepin' it Real" (25 minutes) is about the film's stunts. This documentary discusses the processes of designing and filming the stunts, through interviews with stunt coordinator Gary Hymes and director Jonathan Hensleigh, among others. It might have been better organized and more informative if the documentary had taken us through a few stunts in detail instead of giving an overview. The second featurette, "War Journal" (30 minutes) is a broad making-of documentary that takes us through pre-production, production, editing and scoring in post-production, and winds up at the film's premiere. This is a well-organized, comprehensive documentary that includes interviews with line producer John Stark and director Jonathan Hensleigh, in which he talks about the challenges of making an action film on a $30 million budget and shooting in only 50 days. The third featurette, "Army of One" (12 minutes) is about "The Punisher"'s comic book origins. The genesis and evolution of the character in Marvel Comics are discussed in interviews with Gerry Conway, who created "The Punisher" as a Spider-Man villain in 1972, Stephen Grant, who wrote the character from 1986-1994, current writer Garth Ennis, Marvel art director John Romita, and cover artist Tim Bradstreet, as well as Marvel CEO Avi Arad and Vice President Ari Avad. This documentary is very helpful to those of us who don't read comic books in explaining the character's origins. The last featurette, "Drawing Blood Bradstreet Style" (5 minutes) focuses on cover artist Tim Bradstreet, who also designed the film's theatrical posters and heavily influenced the movie's visual style. The film's audio commentary by director Jonathan Hensleigh is very good. He speaks clearly and doesn't meander when explaining the decisions he made concerning story, style, characters and cinematography. His comments are particularly interesting, because "The Punisher" is an admirable example of efficient, economical filmmaking. Subtitles are available for the film in Spanish and English.
Movie Review: You shouldn't play with knives
Summary: 5 Stars
For nearly as long as movies have been made, critics have reviewed films based on another source. When based on a novel, the critic will most likely have some knowledge of it and compare it to the film. When it comes to comic books, however, critics are often rather clueless if it isn't some guy in spandex they read growing up. The Punisher (who admittedly was conceived over 30 years ago) was always a dark chapter in the Marvel Comic universe, and I truly do believe that a majority of the critics who despise this movie don't even know what they're watching an adaptation of. I'm not trying to put them down, as some great comic book films (the original Superman and its sequel, Spider-Man 2 and possibly the first, maybe Batman) are entertaining to even those who are unfamiliar with the comic. The Punisher film is based mostly on Garth Ennis' WELCOME BACK, FRANK series of comics that basically reinvented the character, adding in a much more sadistic side to the Punisher and his actions. It also has a great deal of dark humor among its brutal violence, as does the movie (yet one of the biggest complaints about the movie is its uneven tone). In that respect I can only say maybe it's easier to switch between comedy and drama more easily on paper than on film, but I never felt that the tone was uneven, just that some comic moments were there to lighten the very dark mood.
Anyway, the basic plot is this: Frank Castle (played terrifically by Tom Jane) is a Tampa FBI agent whose undercover drug bust results in the death of powerful businessman Howard Saint's (a just-under-over-the-top John Travolta) son Bobby (James Carpinello). This was Castle's last case, and now he plans to move to London with his loving wife Maria (Samantha Mathis) and young son Will (Marcus Johns) and lead a normal life. Saint, however, secretly a vicious criminal, along with his luscious but beyond cold-hearted wife Livia's (Laura Harring) coaxing, orders Castle's entire family to be slaughtered to pay for Bobby's death. So the Castle family reunion in Costa Rica is interrupted by Quentin Glass (Will Patton), Howard's right-hand man, and his men (including Saint's other son John, also Carpinello), and all of Castle's family (including Maria, Will, and his parents) are killed mercilessly. Castle is also left for dead (usually a severe beating, two bullets to the knees, a point blank shot to the chest, and an explosion takes a lot out of you) but is found by local "witch doctor" Candelaria (Veryl Jones) and nursed back to health over a serious of unseen months. Castle then returns to the site of the slaughter, takes his father's guns, and sets out to destroy Saint's life as the Punisher, donning the skull shirt Will gave him. He sets up shop in an apartment complex occupied by three other outcasts: high school drop-out, video game fanatic, and fan of piercings "Spacker" Dave (Ben Foster); lumpy opera loving Cowardly Lion Mr. Bumpo (stand-up comic John Pinette); and depressed waitress Joan (Rebecca Romijn), who all befriend Frank and add the comic relief that everyone hated (check WELCOME BACK, FRANK, people, you'll get a very similar effect). Bullets fly, bodies fall, and the veins in Travolta's head throb more and more as his entire life and fortune collapse. It's not vengeance, it's punishment...
Now many fans of the comic complained about the changes made (The Punisher lives in New York, not Florida; his skull shirt is not given to him by his son; only his wife, daughter, and son were killed because they saw a mob hit during a picnic; the list goes on), but none of them really hurt the story (the main change, going from New York to Florida is due to budget issues and the addition of a drug subplot that would make more sense in Florida due to its closeness to Cuba). Also, even the film's critics agree that Jane does a fine job as Frank/The Punisher, delivering all of his admittedly cheesy one-liners with a straight face and gritty tone. So overall I believe that the one thing the film lacks an entry point for non-fans. To really get the full experience you have to know a lot about the character, but then again, some people who enjoyed it had never read the comic. I guess it depends on what kind of movies you like. This one's right up my alley.
Movie Review: Best Comic Book Hero Ever!
Summary: 5 Stars
When "The Punisher" came out I wasn't really interested in the movie - quite frankly, I was pretty much over Action Movies in 2003 and just really didn't have the desire to really watch Action at all. However, I rented this film one day when I went to my girlfriend's place - and all I can say is that this was a killer action movie...
Frank Castle (Tom Jane) retires from the FBI after many long, hard years of dedicated service. On his last assignment however, the son of a Crimelord is accidentally killed and his death is in fact his own fault. However, Howard Saint (John Travolta) is convinced that his son was murdered and seeks to find the man responsible. In the meantime, Castle attends a massive family reunion in a Tropical Paradise. Saint finds out that Frank was involved in the event which led to his son's murder and so proceeds to kill him - and his entire family - in order to get even. Saint sends a group of armed thugs to assassinate his loved ones and they succeed in killing everyone - except Frank. What follows is the bitter, dangerous and dark path that Frank must follow on his road to vengeance...Tom Jane is great as "The Punisher" and delivers a fantastic performance in this comic book adaptation and each character is believable and full of various idiosyncracies, including "The Punisher" himself...
The main aspect of this film that I find so enjoyable is that "The Punisher" isn't actually a super hero. He's just a normal human being who declares war on those he deems to be evil. He also uses real weapons that exist in reality - no plasma cannons or lasers or whatever. "The Punisher" is also a hero stricken by grief and is in fact at war with himself. In short, "The Punisher" is a realistic, believable, multi-faceted character who feels, hates, gets confused and is plagued by his inner demons - a real man. Imperfect. Fallible. We even see him get shot, he gets beaten and kicked...he doesn't just get hit, he gets wounded, bleeds...and yet he fights on. And as Travolta says in one part of the film, "maybe he wants to die." That is exactly what "The Punisher" wants. He doesn't fear pain or death, but he runs from his destroyed life. I don't know about you, but "The Punisher" is one of the most real, believable and truly admirable heroes that I have ever known.
The acting in this film is solid, the storyline interesting and the action engaging and violent. There's plenty of shooting and the fight between "The Punisher" and the Russian is just classic. There are even touches of dark humour in places that enhance the film greatly. This Action is a real tragedy and makes you wonder how you would react if your loved ones were mercilessly slaughtered. I think we'd all agree with "The Punisher" when he says "God's gonna sit this one out." I don't think I would have the strength to forgive my tormentors...that takes incredible healing and stillness of spirit. But I'm sure most of us would be consumed by our anger and hate, and "The Punisher" is sometimes almost completely engulfed in his sadness...his emotions and own mind become his own worst enemy.
This film revived my interest in Action Movies and really gave me a new respect for heroes and the like. This film is definitely one that deserves to be amongst any Action lover's collection...do yourself a favour and rent or buy this film. If you're an Action fan, then you'll love this movie! This production comes highly recommended by myself and I've no doubt that this title will definitely be right up your alley and will make you think long and hard about all the good things that you have in your life. 94 % for "The Punisher."
"This isn't revenge...it's punishment..."
Movie Review: The Punisher
Summary: 5 Stars
After seeing "The Punisher", I felt really good. The film, which is based off the graphic Marvel comic books, is a great revenge film and you really feel for the person seeking vengeance - or should I say "punishment". Going into the film, I didn't expect much for two reasons.
First off, it sounded like every other superhero film, where our "superhero" fights against evil after one of his family is killed ("Spider-Man"'s Uncle Ben, or "Batman"'s family). The idea was getting old during films. "The Punisher" had the same concept.
Secondly, it was "another" superhero film. I enjoyed the "Batman" and "Superman" films, and "Spider-Man" and "X-Men" brought superheroes back ont the map, but technically that wasn't a good thing. Since then, we've had duds such as "Hulk" (too much CGI), "Daredevil" (too much Ben Affleck), and "Catwoman" (just a mess). When I saw the posters for this one, I felt like we had another piece of trash coming.
I was wrong of course. The film is perfect in every way. It contradicts both my statements above. Yet, that will be explained later.
The plot concerns Frank Castle (Tom Jane) who has just finished his last assignment with the Force and in doing so, killed the billionaire, Howard Saint's (John Travolta), son accidentally in a little skirmish. Frank retires his job and goes with his wife and son to a family reunion. Howard Saint decides to take out Castle and his whole extended family. After his men kill Castle's wife and son, they shoot him in the chest and blow him into the water. He's nursed back to help, then he loads up, and begins to dish out the punishment.
Going back to my two concerns before seeing this movie, my worries weren't even found here. First off, I really cared about the family and I knew they were going to die (how else would there be a movie). It's always harder and harder to watch them go.
Secondly, I stressed my feelings about all these "superhero" movies now, but this one is different. The man isn't mutated, doesn't spin webs, or doesn't fly throughout the night. He's a regular man who doesn't have anything to lose. His confidence and anger are his only powers.
Finally, this movie isn't PG-13, which in a way is great, because if it was, we probably wouldn't get the full feeling of how this guy is dealing with everything. The family massacre isn't bloody, but at the same time, it's disturbing. It does get violent though, so be prepared. Also, I don't believe I saw one scene of CGI in this film, and congrats to the director. It made the film more realistic and was a great way to keep the story gritty.
The acting in the film is outstanding. Tom Jane is the Punisher. That's all I can say. John Travolta turns in an awesome performance. His scene with Will Patton in his house is great. The supporting actors and actresses all did a great job and made the film very good.
The direction by Jonathon Hensleigh is pretty good. He doesn't move the film at a breakneck pace, but let's us get into our characters so we can understand their decisions later on. When the action scenes hit though, he puts a lot of style into them. They're a great action sequences in this movie and is mainly to do with his direction.
Overall, this film is very good. It's probably my favorite "superhero" film. It's got great characters, story, and it doesn't pull the punches with the violence, and in a way that helps the story.
Rated R for very strong bloody violence/some gore, sexual content, brief nudity, and some language