Review: "The Punisher" (2004)
It's certainly NO "Kill Bill," but as stripped-down guns-n-muscles vengeance sagas go "The Punisher" ain't half bad.
It's not the worst of the Marvel movies, that honor still belongs to "Daredevil," but it's lacking in the conviction and determination for quality that made "Spider-Man" and "X-Men" work. It's main aspiration is to get the name and image of Punisher into the movie-verse and give Marvel Films some footing in the hard-R arena.
Thomas Jane has the title role, an ex-military hardcase who dons a skull-insignia T-shirt and goes on a rampage of bloody revenge against the criminals who massacred his family and left him for dead.
The film deviates from it's source material in a number of key ways: Castle is now an ex-FBI undercover specialist with a military past rather than the Veitnam veteran of the comics. Instead of Castle's wife and son being the sole deaths that spur him on, his entire extended family is murdered; and rather than just being caught in the crossfire of senseless mob violence the Castles are the specific targets of hitmen working for Florida money launderer Howard Saint (John Travolta) who's criminal son was killed during Castle's final bust.
Decent enough setup for a tale of one man's revenge, but the trouble here is the needs of the movie are up against the needs of the movie FRANCHISE Marvel is hoping it creates. "The Punisher" of the comics, his "crazy-switch" already half-flipped by his tour of 'Nam duty, keeps on killing the baddies with no end in sight because of the faceless, indirect SENSELESSNESS with which his loved ones died: Because he can't really put a "face" on the villians, his war is with "crime" as an abstract idea, not just with one criminal.
So, while Castle's one-man-war on the Saint Family makes for a perfectly serviceable tale of tit-for-tat comeuppance, in the end it just makes him a wronged man settling a score with a specific foe; not the vigilante on a sequel-generating endless quest that the investors NEED him to be. Thus, the film gets frequently bogged-down in giving Castle "extra-heroics" like his warming-up to the neighbors in his tenament or rescuing a battered woman (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos) from an abuser; plus (SPOILER WARNING!) an ending coda with "The Punisher" concluding there's work yet to be done. The idea that THIS Frank Castle would go off on a nationwide tour of crimefighting even though he's finished HIS mission just doesn't wash with everything else we've been told about the character.
That aside, the film as is is pretty solid. It's not spectacular and doesn't really offer anything brand-spanking-new to the eye-for-and-eye genre, but theres not much "wrong" with it. Fans of lower-tech, angrier action films will find a lot to like here, the action scenes are heavy on the violence and especially fond of torture and extended beatings.
I especially enjoy the methodical sadism in Punisher's revenge scheme, which involves both brutal acts of violence and an intricately planned psychological warfare. All said and done, perhaps his plan is hinged on too many coincidences, but it's refreshing to see a film of this "tone" showing off it's hero's mental skills along with his combat skills. See also two standout matchups between Castle and two high-end hitmen, guitar-playing Harry Heck and a giant nigh-invincible brute called "The Russian" (wrestler Kevin Nash.)
Special mention goes, I think, to Laura Elena Harring and Will Patton as Saint's wife and top henchman, respectively. They aren't BIG roles, but they're important and the fine actors hired turn in fine work with limited material.
This is no great film, but it's devoid of any SERIOUS problems and it's paced quite well. Action fans will want to give it a look, for the old-school charm if nothing else.
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