X
- 2004
- Unrated
- Lionsgate Films
- 2 h 4 m
- 2004
- Unrated
- Lionsgate Films
- 2 h 4 m
Summary Marvel's unstoppable vigilante hits the big screen. After losing his family in to mob violence, undercover FBI agent and former Marine Frank Castle (Jane) decides to dedicate himself fully to the eradication of crime from America.
Directed By: Jonathan Hensleigh
Written By: Michael France
- 2004
- Unrated
- Lionsgate Films
- 2 h 4 m
- 2004
- Unrated
- Lionsgate Films
- 2 h 4 m
The Punisher
33
8.0
Where to Watch
Summary Marvel's unstoppable vigilante hits the big screen. After losing his family in to mob violence, undercover FBI agent and former Marine Frank Castle (Jane) decides to dedicate himself fully to the eradication of crime from America.
Directed By: Jonathan Hensleigh
Written By: Michael France
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 36 Critic Reviews
33
14% Positive
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
42% Mixed
15 Reviews
15 Reviews
44% Negative
16 Reviews
16 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 36 Critic Reviews
33
14% Positive
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
42% Mixed
15 Reviews
15 Reviews
44% Negative
16 Reviews
16 Reviews
There's something to be said for letting a comic book adaptation operate at the level of a comic book--i.e., with cheap laughs and ice-cold sadism.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 704 User Ratings
8.0
77% Positive
540 Ratings
540 Ratings
12% Mixed
86 Ratings
86 Ratings
11% Negative
78 Ratings
78 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 704 User Ratings
8.0
77% Positive
540 Ratings
540 Ratings
12% Mixed
86 Ratings
86 Ratings
11% Negative
78 Ratings
78 Ratings
This is a great bloody cold hearted action flick from start to finish. It's **** awesome!
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For such a formulaic vigilante film, The Punisher has a far better cast than it deserves.
Fires blanks. Thoroughly routine, pic plays like a paint-by-numbers pilot for bygone basic-cable teleseries.
The Punisher isn't Frank Castle; it's Jonathan Hensleigh. And the punishee is anyone sitting in the audience.
Don't hold your breath waiting for The Punisher to be original, not for one second of its torturous two hours.
The original film, with no edits, clocked in at 2 hours and 56 minutes.
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Punisher
So this review will be a no-holds-barred spoilerfest because discerning film buffs may have something better to do with their time.
1) The first half hour is devoted to Frank Castle the Cop and Frank Castle the Family Man. I was expecting to see The Punisher. Maybe I was expecting Blade. I liked Blade because it started “in media res” with no time wasted and evolved from there. Everything in the first half hour of Punisher could have been handled in flashbacks lasting a sum total of 5 minutes. Yeah, it would’ve cut the “emotional content” available to the audience, but, seriously, who watches a film like this for the emotional content? Fifteen year old girls who think Punisher dude is dishy?
2) Frank Castle the Family Man ends with a platoon of bad guys traveling to Puerto Rico to slaughter Frank’s entire extended family. They approach under full daylight and don’t even bother wearing masks. There are apparently no people in Puerto Rico except Frank’s kin and the assassins and the assassins shoot up everybody. Kids and grandmas tumble like toy dolls. Things explode into roaring fireballs. Frank is shot at point blank range by one of these “professional killers” and is then blown into the Caribbean by an explosion and of course he survives. I guess the salt water sterilizes the wounds. Some guy in a rowboat picks him up later. Maybe some guy from the comic’s origin story. I didn’t bother looking it up.
In the middle of the slaughter Frank looks out a window and sees his mom being gunned down. His reaction is, “Mom?” Like he either can’t believe his eyes or I don’t know what. And it’s not like this is Frank’s first rodeo. The movie starts with a fair bit of shooting. You’d think the “veteran cop” would instantly risk life and limb to save Mom, or at least spout off with a few raging WTFs!!!!!
3) Frank goes on to wreak havoc and exact vengeance. This part is fairly interesting if you like to see bad guys get what they deserve and you’re not too particular about due process under US law. Apparently the actual police are all on vacation as they never put in an appearance.
4) John Pinette, the late standup comedian, does a nice job in a minor supporting role. There are several people in minor supporting roles. For the most part, these roles only distract from the whole point of the film (vengeance) and pad out the runtime.
5) The world’s greatest “hitman” is called in to kill Frank. He starts off by carrying a guitar into a diner and singing Frank a song. I guess this is supposed to imply that the guy is such a great hitman that he can break all the rules and still take down his target. Naturally, the hitman ends up dead. Frank takes his car.
6) “The Russian” is called in to kill Frank. I guess he's #2 in the world. You know the type. He’s like seven feet tall and you can smash him in the head with a crowbar and he doesn’t even bleed. But only in comics and movies. It turns out he’s vulnerable to burning hot grease in the face. He dies too.
7) There’s a girl in the film. She’s a bad judge of men. Frank saves her from getting murdered. That takes about one minute of screen time. Frank eats the girl’s cooking but keeps his emotional content to himself.
8) Overall, Punisher isn’t such a bad film. It’s just not any better than the typical action-adventure flick being churned out by the hundreds every year. There’s nothing really clever about the story. It ends pretty much where you’d expect.
If you're a real fan of the comic, you'll probably like it. If not, maybe you won't. There are plenty of options that would be far worse.
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The last real icon created by Marvel Comics, The Punisher began life as a bad-guy variation on Charles Bronson's Death Wish vigilante in the '70s, turned into a grotesque version of a law-and-order hero in the Reagan '80s (even spawning a direct-to-video Dolph Lundgren vehicle), and withered away in the Clinton years. More recently, he experienced a black-comedy revival in the hands of writer Garth Ennis, but the latest film version doesn't have much to do with that. A return to the character's righteous, murdering '80s ways, 2004's The Punisher seems all too of-the-moment now that "an eye for an eye" has become national policy.
Shortly after The Punisher opens, thugs hired by overacting Tampa gang lord John Travolta turn a family reunion into the bloodiest social gathering since Guns N' Roses' "November Rain" video. Robbing recently retired undercover FBI officer Frank Castle (Thomas Jane) of his wife, child, father (an apparently eager-to-work Roy Scheider), and a handful of aunts, uncles, and cousins, Travolta's otherwise-thorough henchmen only stop short of making sure that the man himself has died. When he resurfaces, Jane returns to Tampa to exact revenge.
And that's the movie, a revenge scenario so simple it could have been created on a playground. In the right hands, it might have worked: John Woo could have turned it into a bullet-drenched melodrama, some kind of crazy variation on In The Bedroom. With Kill Bill, Quentin Tarantino turns a similar scenario into a meditation on honor, justice, and a century of different styles of cinematic violence. Sadly, The Punisher is about little more than bullets hitting bone, and how good it might feel to be on the right end ****.
Armageddon screenwriter turned first-time director Jonathan Hensleigh displays a lot of enthusiasm for stormy lighting, as well as a fashion photographer's skill at putting his actors in memorable poses, but the whole show is watching Jane mow down the bad guys, taking the occasional breather to hang out with new friends Rebecca Romijn-Stamos and her misfit hangers-on, and to drown his sorrows in a bottle of Wild Turkey. (The brand is featured so prominently that it must be product placement, but is "the drink of choice for bloodthirsty gunmen" a desirable tagline?) There's not even a hint of suspense over the outcome; Jane is portrayed as such an unstoppable machine that only professional wrestler Kevin Nash is made to look like a formidable adversary.
The Punisher has one inspired sequence. Wearing a teardrop tattoo, a Memphis hit man serenades Jane before attempting to kill him. The scene lasts about a minute. The movie goes on much longer.
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Frank Castle / The Punisher ( Thomas Jane ), a respected FBI agent . He caught the son of Howard Saint ( John Travolta ) on the sale of illegal weapons. Bobby Saint ( James Karpinello ) dies and his father orders his best thugs to kill the entire family Punisher . They find his family on a holiday family reunion in Puerto Rico . Killed his family , his wife and son are killed too . Avenging allegedly killed himself .
Punisher somehow survives and swears revenge on Howard Saint killing his entire family and all his friends . Thereafter, the film starts slowly and boring to talk about becoming a hero avenger. Screenwriter Jonathan Hensleigh sometimes presents jokes , but they are all associated with the bloody felting.
The movie features a lot of scenes that startled wore . Graphically and visually the film can not find fault . But in the film as there is little action scenes for the film about the Punisher . He lives with Dave ( Ben Foster ) , Joan ( Rebecca Romijn ) and Bampo ( John Pinette )
Thomas Jane perfectly fit into the role of the vengeful punisher . But his character I do not empathize because he gets revenge as Howard Saint . Saint From Howard turned out not very charismatic villain . His villain absorbed all cliche villains. Joan could not be a love interest Punisher because he has a wife . In the film, there is nothing unusual . This is a standard and nothing remarkable film.
Howard and punisher fighting as a result of Howard Saint dies and revenge made. Frank Castle goes and calls himself the avenger of crime and hunter Punisher .
Bottom line: The Punisher is a boring film adaptation of becoming a superhero .
Rating : C +
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Production Company
Lionsgate Films,
Marvel Enterprises,
Valhalla Motion Pictures,
VIP 2 Medienfonds,
VIP 3 Medienfonds,
Artisan Entertainment,
Columbia Pictures,
Marvel Entertainment,
St. Petersburg Clearwater Film Commission
Release Date Apr 16, 2004
Duration 2 h 4 m
Rating Unrated
Tagline This Is Not Revenge. It's Punishment!
Awards
World Stunt Awards
• 1 Win & 4 Nominations
Prism Awards
• 1 Nomination
International Film Music Critics Award (IFMCA)
• 1 Nomination
