Punisher: War Zone (2008)
Average Rating: 4.2/10
Reviews Counted: 101
Fresh: 27 | 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Zone recalls the excessively violent, dialogue-challenged actioners of the 1980s, and coincidentally feels two decades out of date.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: 25
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 23
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Zone recalls the excessively violent, dialogue-challenged actioners of the 1980s, and coincidentally feels two decades out of date.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: 130,794
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
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Cast
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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
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Punisher: War Zone Trailer & Photos
All Critics (102) | Top Critics (25) | Fresh (27) | Rotten (74) | DVD (3)
'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.
Top CriticThis was a terrible movie.
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.
At one point, the Punisher is asked who punishes him. The better question for those who made this inane bloodfest is: Why punish us?
The ultraviolent third stab at Marvel's homicidal vigilante is the best and closest to the source material.
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.
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.
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.
...stands as the best offering out of Hollywood that Punisher fans could've hoped for.
One can assume another reboot will be in the offing after this monstrosity tanks at the box office.
Part '80s action movie, part gross-out horror, this guilty pleasure is Saw meets Rambo . . .
God I love my revenge films...
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.
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.
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.
It's a good old-fashioned guns-andaction romp - and I love it.
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.
The punishment doesn't end there, with anyone who hands over good money to watch this dreck also likely to feel the pain.
Another violently unsuccessful attempt to bring this comic book character to screen.
Pleasantly surprising - providing you're not put off by all the gore and dismemberment.
Castle/the Punisher is not the most charismatic comic book hero at the best of times but Stevenson's jowly pallor and oil slick of hair makes him look more like an Eastern European abattoir worker than a vigilante to be reckoned with.
The franchise simply can't compete with better written and directed comic book offerings out there. This includes Howard The Duck...
Marvel, stop punishing yourselves and put this unworkable franchise out of our misery.
As entertaining as Punisher: War Zone is, there's no real depth, the plot is obvious and it's a wee bit charmless.
This is as true to a Marvel comic tale as I've ever seen - gory, serious, intense, dark and utterly psychotic.
Audience Reviews for Punisher: War Zone
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Frank Castle/The Punisher: Let me out.
- Detective Martin Soap: You know, Frank, giving you a tip is one thing, password to the crime database is another, but letting you go?
- Frank Castle/The Punisher: Soap!
- Detective Martin Soap: Fine.
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- Frank Castle/The Punisher: I see you anywhere near hell... I'll kick your ass out.
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Movie: ID: 770676216 Title: Punisher: War Zone Release Date: 2008-12-05 00:00:00.0 MPAA: 4 Status: 1
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