Presents

The Punisher

Let's take a minute to take a look at one of the most underrated comic book adaptations of the past few years.  Now, I'm no fan of John Travolta either, but, I have to admit that The Punisher was a pretty good movie...alright, go ahead and begin drafting your hate emails!

  Now, if you've read the comic, or magazine, then you already know the story, but, just in case you know nothing about the 'geek world' let me give you a quick rundown.  Frank Castle is a former Marine who, after returning home happens across a mob hit, when the mafia tracks him down, to get rid of the witness, the kill his entire family, accidentally leaving Frank alive.  When Frank regains his health, he goes on a one man rampage against crime, becoming The Punisher.  Now, in the movie, the story is changed around a bit, Frank is Special Forces, not a Marine, he runs afowl of a local mob boss in Miami instead of New York, and instead of his wife and kids, it's his entire family that's wiped out on an island that they're having a family reunion on.  Other than that, it's just Frank getting pissed off and killing bad guys, which (let's be honest) is what you really want in a movie called The Punisher!

Now, there's plenty wrong with this movie, starting with that, despite the R rating, this felt like a watered down version of The Punisher.  I was looking forward to a bit more explicit violence.  Now, before you start yelling that I'm a gorehound and that's all I like, remember that the original version of The Punisher was published in magazine form because it was way too violent to get the comics code seal, so I anticipated a 'real' version of The Punisher that would show the brutal violence of the character...violence that was completely justified, but violence nonetheless!  The second thing that fans really reacted badly to, was the addition of John Travolta as the mob boss who's out to kill The Punisher, despite the fact that most of us would love to see John Travolta blown up in some fashion, he wasn't the right choice as a villian for The Punisher, while he may be a good dancer and, as Hairspray showed us, he enjoys wearing women's clothing, he's not bad enough for a character like The Punisher, you really need to bring in someone who's capable of selling the bad guy attitude a bit more, a Michael Ironside or a Rutger Hauer, someone who's not afraid to be completely evil...maybe it's a Scientology thing, but Travolta just doesn't sell anything beyond 'greasy bad guy' to me!

Overall, the story is strong and Thomas Jane version is the best portrayal of the Punisher character so far, there was far too much of his 'private life' as The Punisher that all felt like an excuse to get Rebecca Romijm into the movie somehow, this could have been a much stronger movie by sticking to the original story, adding some Sopranos style realistic violence and recognizing that a romantic interest isn't needed in this kind of movie!  Despite it's shortcomings, The Punisher still rates a three and a half out of four cigars, because, for those of us who remember the Dolph Lundgren version of The Punisher, this is a much needed step forward, but let's all hope that the planned sequel, Punisher: War Zone, is another step in the right direction.  This character has yet to have the perfect portrayal on screen, each successive movie has been a better version, but there's still room for improvement!  So, until next time, when I'll be training and getting in better shape, just in case I stumble across a gangland hit...you gotta be ready for anything...until then, remember that the best movies are bad movies!