Punisher: War Zone review

I don’t understand why they can’t make a good Punisher movie. The character has been around since 1974, so there are plenty of stories to choose from, I would imagine. In 1989, they first tried with the ‘80s action star Dolph Lundgren. This was before comic book movies were the juggernaut they are today, so little effort was put into the film, and the end result was a forgettable, camp romp. In 2004, comic book movies are now a profitable commodity so Marvel decided Punisher needed a comeback. Again, the end result was an average shoot-em-up film. There were parts I liked and wanted more of, and ones that needed to be left on the drawing board. Thomas Jane played the Punisher that time and was a decent casting choice, although I felt he was brooding too much in the film.

So, now Marvel has re-launched their heroes in a new wave of films, earlier this year was Iron Man and the Incredible Hulk and those two were spot on depictions of the heroes from comic to screen, so rounding out Marvel’s fantastic year is Punisher: War Zone. It plays much like a continuation of the Thomas Jane’s character, even though it plays out like a stand alone film. So could they get the character right this time?

Nope.

Whatever good karma Lexi Alexander got from Green Street Hooligans is gone here. I really can’t pinpoint what the biggest problem is because there’s a few glaring shameful ideas floating around in this film. The first glaring aspect is the overall direction of the film. Regardless if the filmmaker and producers have seen The Dark Knight that film changed things forever in this genre and Punisher: War Zone feels tired from frame one on. It’s campy, over-the-top, silly, and feels more like the world doesn’t know much about comic book hero films. I’d say this film’s inspiration is the Joel Schumacher Batman films of the mid to late 1990s. Jigsaw, a deformed villain of the Punisher, is acted and written like Tommy Lee Jones’ Two-Face in Batman Forever. He’s over-the-top, campy, and not terrifying.

Everything about this film is over-the-top. Gore is one of them. One of the chief problems with the 2004 film was it felt too tame for the Punisher character. Here, he must’ve taken lessons from Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13^th films, because every death is ridiculously gory. Heads exploding after punches, knifes in eyes, blood splatter that would make Tom Savini blush, and as much as I enjoy gore, this is retarded and undermines the character.

Ray Stevenson is a great Punisher. Scenes with him and the wife (Julie Benz) are the best scenes in the film. More of these would’ve made this film better. But when the film is aimed at horror fans and not the character’s comic loyalists, well, chalk up another dud for the Punisher. An absolute shame this film is such a turkey. 

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