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Punisher: War Zone (2008)

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All Critics
Top Critics

Average Rating: 4.2/10
Reviews Counted: 100
Fresh: 26 | Rotten: 74

Punisher: War Zone recalls the excessively violent, dialogue-challenged actioners of the 1980s, and coincidentally feels two decades out of date.

Average Rating: 3.6/10
Critic Reviews: 22
Fresh: 1 | Rotten: 21

Punisher: War Zone recalls the excessively violent, dialogue-challenged actioners of the 1980s, and coincidentally feels two decades out of date.

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Average Rating: 3/5
User Ratings: 128,411

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Movie Info

Marvel Comics' vigilante character The Punisher gets another big-screen outing in this third film incarnation of the character, this time from Green Street Hooligans director Lexi Alexander. Fueled by revenge and aided by his trusted weapons expert, Microchip (Wayne Knight), vigilante Frank Castle (Rome's Ray Stevenson) turns the New York City streets red with blood as he takes down each and every member of the crime syndicate responsible for the death of his wife and two kids. As the

R, 1 hr. 47 min.

Drama, Action & Adventure, Mystery & Suspense

Directed By: Lexi Alexander

Written By: Matthew Holloway, Art Marcum, Nick Santora, Kurt Sutter, Lexi Alexander

In Theaters: Dec 5, 2008 Wide

On DVD: Mar 17, 2009

Box Office:$7.9M

Lionsgate

Punisher: War Zone Trailer & Photos

More Photos (38)

Cast

Ray Stevenson
Frank Castle/The Punish...
Dominic West
Billy Russoti/Jigsaw
Julie Benz
Angela
Doug Hutchison
Loony Bin Jim
Colin Salmon
Agent Paul Budiansky
Wayne Knight
Microchip
Dash Mihok
Detective Martin Soap
T.J. Storm
Maginty

Critic Reviews for Punisher: War Zone

All Critics (101) | Top Critics (22) | Fresh (27) | Rotten (74) | DVD (3)

This was a terrible movie.

December 8, 2008 Full Review Source: At the Movies

| Comment

Ben Mankiewicz

At the Movies

Top Critic

Hopefully it's three strikes and you're out for The Punisher, as this latest attempt at creating another comic book franchise will prove once and for all that maybe this character just doesn't deserve the big screen treatment.

December 8, 2008 Full Review Source: At the Movies

| Comments (6)

Ben Lyons

At the Movies

Top Critic

At one point, the Punisher is asked who punishes him. The better question for those who made this inane bloodfest is: Why punish us?

December 5, 2008 Full Review Source: USA Today

| Comments (8)

Claudia Puig

USA Today

Top Critic

Assuming you can appreciate the high level of gore and assorted sadistic weirdness, the action is satisfying and the dark story is close to the tone of its Marvel Comics source material.

December 5, 2008 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle

| Comment

Peter Hartlaub

San Francisco Chronicle

Top Critic

Punisher: War Zone is bad enough that it may remind viewers how lucky we have been this year to get two superior superhero movies in Iron Man and The Dark Knight.

December 5, 2008 Full Review Source: ReelViews

| Comments (15)

James Berardinelli

ReelViews

Top Critic

The acting is better than the script deserves and Lexi Alexander's cut-to-the-hearse direction lends the film considerable kick. But there is a steel spike at the end of Punisher's boot that will gouge your eyes out.

December 5, 2008 Full Review Source: Philadelphia Inquirer

| Comment

David Hiltbrand

Philadelphia Inquirer

Top Critic

A blithely depraved shoot-'em-up in which its glum protagonist cuts a retributive swath across a vast criminal underworld, Punisher: War Zone echoes back to the unthinking low-budget action movies of the 1980s.

May 15, 2012 Full Review Source: Shared Darkness

| Comment

Brent Simon

Shared Darkness

The final damning verdict left by the American box office, whom far from raced out to see it, meaning takings of 8m leave Punisher: War Zone the lowest grossing Marvel adaptation to date.

April 15, 2010 Full Review Source: Fan The Fire

| Comment

Sam Bathe

Fan The Fire

...stands as the best offering out of Hollywood that Punisher fans could've hoped for.

February 13, 2010 Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews

| Comment

David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

One can assume another reboot will be in the offing after this monstrosity tanks at the box office.

August 30, 2009 Full Review Source: Washington Times

| Comment

Sonny Bunch

Washington Times Source: Washington Times

Part '80s action movie, part gross-out horror, this guilty pleasure is Saw meets Rambo . . .

April 23, 2009 Full Review Source: Sci-Fi Movie Page

| Comment

James O'Ehley

Sci-Fi Movie Page Source: Sci-Fi Movie Page

[Blu-Ray DVD review] Punisher: War Zone is a genre-bending thrill ride that offers wall-to-wall gruesome for your viewing pleasure. See it asap!

April 15, 2009 Full Review Source: Dread Central

| Comment

Steve "Uncle Creepy" Barton

Dread Central

God I love my revenge films...

March 18, 2009 Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed

| Comments (2)

Felix Vasquez Jr.

Cinema Crazed

Unlike more high-powered Marvel heroes like Spider-Man and X-Men, The Punisher has never enjoyed much box office success and this excruciatingly terrible film certainly won't change that.

February 12, 2009 Full Review Source: SFX Magazine

| Comments (3)

Stephen Jewell

SFX Magazine

Earning an 18 certificate with its violence, the film is kids' stuff in all other respects: over-the-top shootouts, monstrous and barking-mad villains, a bumbling sidekick and so on. Highly enjoyable tosh.

February 12, 2009 Full Review Source: Sunday Times (UK)

| Comment

Edward Porter

Sunday Times (UK)

The IQ is as low as the body count is high and the uncharismatic Ray Stevenson might as well have been wearing a mask for all the emotion he shows.

February 12, 2009 Full Review Source: Observer [UK]

| Comment (1)

Philip French

Observer [UK]

It's a good old-fashioned guns-andaction romp - and I love it.

February 10, 2009 Full Review Source: Sunday Mail [UK]

| Comment

Mickey McMonagle

Sunday Mail [UK]

You couldn't call it shoddy, exactly, and the actors take it painfully seriously; it's just dispiriting to see all this endeavour in the service of something so humourless and disgusting.

February 6, 2009 Full Review Source: Guardian [UK]

| Comment

Andrew Pulver

Guardian [UK]

The punishment doesn't end there, with anyone who hands over good money to watch this dreck also likely to feel the pain.

February 6, 2009 Full Review Source: Daily Mirror [UK]

| Comment

David Edwards

Daily Mirror [UK]

Another violently unsuccessful attempt to bring this comic book character to screen.

February 5, 2009 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine

| Comment

Tom Ambrose

Empire Magazine

'Oh God, now I've got brains spattered all over me,' exclaims The Punisher's slippery inside man, Detective Soap. You may feel the same at the end of this messy, sadistic reboot of the Marvel comic-book series.

February 5, 2009 Full Review Source: Time Out

| Comment

Nigel Floyd

Time Out

Pleasantly surprising - providing you're not put off by all the gore and dismemberment.

February 5, 2009 Full Review Source: Film4

| Comment

Richard Luck

Film4

More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Punisher: War Zone

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This starts out with a brilliant gun battle...really cool stuff, reminisant of a sequence in 'The Crow', it really got me geared up for a good film but alas after this great shoot out the film really slows down and even gets abit boring through the middle. Nothing that much happens for the whole film accept at the

December 19, 2008

Phil Hubbard

Super Reviewer

Very silly, and fairly entertaining. The church scene makes my camera bits all tingly.

November 6, 2007

Ken Stachnik

Super Reviewer

Punisher: War Zone Quotes

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1. Frank Castle/The Punisher: I see you anywhere near hell... I'll kick your ass out.
– Submitted by Dann M (6 months ago)

Character	Quote
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