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The Punisher (2004)
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Movie Review by Thom
September 2nd, 2007
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Lack of Punishment
What to say about Marvel's latest Punisher film?
As you no doubt have already heard, there was another Punisher film that was committed straight-to-video in the late 80's starring Dolph Lundgren in the title role. That film was viewed as a colossal failure by the industry and fans of the comic book at large.
This version ain't a whole lot better.
Don't get me wrong, Thomas Jane is certainly a better fit to wear the death's head as Marvel's Frank Castle than Lundgren was (of which Lundgren's version actually eschewed the use of; one of many errors), giving a wholly believable turn as a man in this given situation. The rest of the cast is more than satisfactory in a film that never seems to distinguish itself from other "cop's family is killed" flicks and pales in comparison both in story and execution to that other revenge flick currently circulating (Kill Bill).
One of the issues that I have with this Punisher is that while he's not one-dimensional he is one-directional; his single purpose is the elimination of Howard Saint (John Travolta) and all those associated with him, where as the comic book Punisher is more broad of purpose, pacing methodically through the underworld as judge, jury, and executioner.
The single purpose notwithstanding, Castle certainly takes his sweet time going about it as well. After basically coming back from the dead, Castle sets upon his quarry by appearing before the police and press to let them know that he's alive and tossing his gravestone in the fairway of Saint's golf course. He also has naught the sense to remain hidden from said quarry even after he is repeatedly accosted at his home address. Castle goes about his revenge in the most indirect method available in an attempt to turn his enemy against each other, rather puzzling actions for one of Marvel's more direct characters.
The screenplay deserves credit for trying to be deep, sometimes succeeding, but demeans what depth there is with connect-the-dots dialog after we, the audience, already connected them just fine. We are also subjected to the greatest crime of story-telling when we are told that a hit-man from Memphis is "the best there is", but never are we shown this man's effectiveness - at best he is rather coarse. The scenes with this hit-man are also completely unrelated to the rest of the story leading me to believe they were added after the fact to cover up the gaping action vacuum through the middle of the film.
After the lengthy character set-up and convoluted revenge ploy, we are treated to an anti-climax that doesn't deliver an emotional payoff; Castle seemingly could have killed Saint, his wife, son, and henchmen at will, so there's really no sense of achievement, of an obstacle overcome. The reaction that I had was more one of "it's about time" than anything else.
What worse is that most of the build up and character development regarding the villains is in an effort to justify Castle's actions to the audience. Often times the Punisher wasn't or isn't justified - that's his charm as is his take-no-prisoners outlook - he sees and kills violent criminals where he finds them, in some ways becoming the very thing he despises.
Or at least he should. This Punisher was too much like a bad parent: While he should be executing his punishment in a direct, uncompromising fashion, he instead drowns himself in whiskey and promises of "don't make me come over there!"
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