Marvel Movie Madness! Part 18: Punisher: War Zone

The villain was WAAAAYYYY better in Tom Jane's Punisher, but Stevenson was a way better Punisher. Bridge the two movies and you got a hit.

By the way, all the nonsense about Punisher not being a hero and/or not being translatable to the screen? I only say this. I am glad the people who think this way ARE NOT making movies.

Jun 19 - 03:02 PM

Ray Stevenson was easily the best Punisher. He was just in the wrong damn script. Dominic West, while a great actor, was all over the place in Punisher as Jigsaw. I could not believe the level of annoying camp in his performance. It's like he was determined to derail the film, and he did that with reputable success.

Jun 19 - 02:57 PM

Josh Quarles

I agree here. I think Stevenson was far and away the best Castle. I just thought the movie was really shitty.

Jun 20 - 07:16 AM

Agreed. lol. I blame Dominic, man. His Jigsaw COMPLETELY derailed the movie.

Jun 20 - 08:11 AM

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Jun 19 - 06:39 PM

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Jun 19 - 06:45 PM

Mauro Corstiaans

Of the three Punisher movies I hate this one the most. There was a lot of talk in pre-production of them taking elements from Garth Ennis' Punisher MAX series which is arguably The Punisher at its best, but they somehow ended up ignoring the parts that made Punisher MAX so good and just took random elements that barely had anything to do with the series' quality.

The MAX run works primarily because of its huge supporting cast of psychopathic criminals, corrupt special agents, vicious business men, etc. etc. It creates a terrifying world of pain and suffering in which The Punisher enacts his 'justice' as something of an apocalyptic force of nature. It's unsettling and dark, but also gripping. It's a shame no film maker has yet come to see this.

Jun 17 - 01:29 PM

King Crunk

I agree with you 100%, man.

Jun 17 - 02:54 PM

The Watcher

I liked this one the best of the bunch, though it's still a bad movie. Punisher is about brutality and violence, and at the very least this is what the movie gave us. Also - Wayne Knight gets shot in the head, that HAS to count for something.

"This is for trying to sell out Jurassic Park, bitch!" *blam!*

Jun 17 - 01:35 PM

I love PUNISHER: WAR ZONE unreservedly. The nerds on this comment thread are incapable of understanding great entertainment.

Parkour dude gets blowed up real good by a sidewinder! It's glourious.

Jun 18 - 06:15 AM

biji badness

uh, don't you think its a little rich to bash the "nerds on this comment thread"...IN the comment thread?? i mean, not to say you're being a tool or anything, but...well, i can't finish that sentence.

Jul 6 - 06:38 AM

King Crunk

I have expressed my hate for this movie on the other Punisher threads, so I am going to keep this one short and just say I think this is the worst one.

Jun 17 - 02:54 PM

The Watcher

Why? All of them suck, this one at least has the gore to numb you a little bit and make you not pay as much attention to its awfulness.

Jun 17 - 03:12 PM

Kirk McCarty

If that was the case, then the Saw movies would've been tolerable...which they weren't.

Jun 17 - 04:07 PM

The Watcher

I never said this movie was tolerable. I said it sucked, but still better than the other 2.

Jun 17 - 06:23 PM

Peter Williams

I'm not going to say this is the worst of the bunch, but it's close. I think all of the movies had elements that were good. Punisher was a complete killing machine in this movie, which is what he is in the comic. The biggest problem with this movie is that somehow this seems to be more low budget then the Dolph Lundgren version. This movie looks really cheap in every way. Also, Jigsaw is cheesier then Travolta's Howard Saint. No way on God's green earth did I think anyone could come off cheesier then Travolta in the Tom Jane version. Ray Stevenson physically is the best looking of the 3. The problem is that he doesn't seem as psychotic as Dolph's version. He just seems depressed. I've come to the conclusion that The Punisher could have only been made in the 70's. Studios refuse to have a main character who doesn't fit the definition of a hero. The Punisher is not a hero in the movie definition. He's a killer who seeks to punish all that he believes should be punished. There is no gray in the Punishers world. He doesn't give a shit if you had a bad childhood. If you committed a crime you're toast. He's one of the most brutal characters around.

Jun 18 - 12:46 PM

It's not that simple. You can't just "commit a crime" to get on Castle's radar. Folks keep painting him as this "villain" who will kill you if you steal a pair of pants out of Walmart. That is NOT The Punisher.

Jun 22 - 05:08 AM

Joshua Dinsmore

I haven't seen this movie but there really isn't any rush to do so.

Jun 17 - 03:12 PM

Shannon Potratz

Not as bad as the others Matt? Really? Jigsaw alone renders this movie completely unwatchable! With all the great (and complex) movie "super" villain archetypes to reference (Darth Vader, Roy Batty, Kahn, Magneto, Joker, Lex Luthor), it always amazes me that Hollywood would choose to go with the campy, one dimensional, psychopathic moron and then play it so far over-the-top that it actually becomes embarrassing to watch.

Had I been at the theater alone, I would have simply gotten up and walked out. Even G.I. Joe wasn't that bad.

Jun 17 - 03:28 PM

Exactly, the recruitment of the gang by Jigsaw and LBJ where they montage walk down the street like a retarded version of Saturday Night Fever was the most painfully inept scene with painfully mishandled characters in a horribly subpar movie. Stevenson deserved better than this. They should have gotten the writers and director from Rome to take a crack at this. While they were at it get Vorenus to play Jigsaw and this movie might have had a chance.

Jun 17 - 06:50 PM

If it's "unwatchable," how come I've watched it 10x already?

Jun 18 - 06:29 AM

Manuel Granados

You have bad taste and too much free time?

Jun 20 - 12:34 PM

Erroneous. Erroneous on both counts.

Jun 20 - 03:11 PM

lol. A-fuckin-greed.

Jun 21 - 01:22 PM

It's the only reason I can think of. If you love this movie that much I fear for your sanity cause it's just horrible on every level.

Jun 21 - 06:06 AM

Just because you can say "erroneous", doesn't change the fact that you clearly have horrendously bad taste if you can for a moment defend that damn scene. Jesus. It was worse than Parker-Man's Travolta moment. And that is a flavor of worse that I never thought I'd see.

Jun 22 - 02:18 AM

Gordon Terry

totally not my thing

. . . what's with all this excitement over super heroes???? (my cousin loves them; he's 50 years old and still dresses-up like Batman to attend Comic-Con) . . . a lot of people even those over 50 dress-up like Batman.

You GOTTA LOVE IT!!!!!

Jun 17 - 03:59 PM

Kirk McCarty

Cool story, bro. If it's not your thing, don't even bother commenting.

Jun 17 - 04:08 PM

Alan Smithee

The Saw comparison is spot on from the overuse of tacky filters to the excess of mindless violence. The slogan during the making of this film must have been "eXtreme!" I vehemently disagree that this isn't the worst of the bunch, in fact I found it to be the worst Marvel movie yet and that's saying a hell of lot. Honestly I couldn't even make it past the twenty minute mark before I had to turn it off. Deplorable.

Jun 17 - 04:13 PM

Alan Smithee

I forgot to mention a script and acting that makes any made for TV movie you can think of look like Citizen Kane. A wannabe Hannibal Lector, a guy who has some serious issues with mirrors, and a pack of oh so hardcore parkour punks ... ... Sorry I just vomited a bit in my mouth.

Jun 17 - 04:35 PM

The introductory killing sequence is phenomenal, though. The very first kill at the dinner table is a decapitation by knife!

PUNISHER: WAR ZONE brings me much joy, a joy different in quality but equal in intensity to the joy evoked from watching the works of Jacques Demy & Michel Legrand.

Jun 18 - 06:36 AM

Lenny Monroe

The only part I liked in this film was when the FBI guy called the cops "you Krispy Kreme mutha fuckas!!!!" I admit I laughed my ass off at that part.

Jun 17 - 04:18 PM

Justin D.

I'll say this much about "War Zone"; it definitely didn't bore me. Granted I still found it bad but at least the action was solid. The 2004 Punisher flick was so boring. It was violent, but in a thriller kind of way. This go 'round was just full on, death metal, lock-and-load, shoot-em-up, blood-and-guts action (and like Tim said, at this one was honest about what it was). Ray Stevenson was the closest to looking like the character, and I feel it captured the feel of the Punisher comics better than the last two attempts, but in the end Frank Castle is just too unsympathetic to be an effective hero. I'm thinking that maybe next time Punisher should appear in the sequel to the new Spider-Man film (provided the first one does well). I'd love to see Andrew Garfield running from a gun toting Ray Stevenson.

Jun 17 - 04:23 PM

Lenny Monroe

I agree completely, I hate The Punisher movies, but War Zone did keep me a lil more intrigued than the '04 film.

Jun 17 - 04:38 PM

Arthur Grego

I like the 2004 version better than this version by far. This movie had the gore, but none of the brutality of the previous Punisher. This one was fun to watch for the guy getting punched through the face or the meth-head parkour guy getting blown up with a grenade launcher, but it does feel like killing for the sake of killing, rather than killing for the sake of vigilante justice.

Jun 17 - 04:37 PM

Alexson Philipiah

never seen it, never will.

Jun 17 - 04:38 PM

john lauterio

I am a huge huge huge Punisher fan. He is a great comic book character, but not a great Hollywood leading man. Unlike Batman or Wolverine, the Punisher has absolutely no redeeming qualities, none. He is murderous, insane, brutal, and has no interest in having any meaningful social relationships. Even the Terminator made nice with somebody! And that is the problem, we as movie watchers have no empathy for Punisher. Sure, we feel for Frank Castle's lost family and all but, this isn't a Frank Castle movie, it's the Punisher. He is a villain, plain and simple.

Therefore, I truly believe there are only two ways to bring the Punisher to life successfully. One would be a dark serial series on HBO or Showtime adapting Garth Ennis's run on Punisher MAX. The stories are short, self-contained, (not too mention fantastic) and have many many rich supporting characters to keep the viewer interested and coming back week after week.

And second, if there absolutely has to be a big screen adaptation, would be a Se7en style dark cop movie with very strong leading characters and the Punisher as a mythic and dark force of nature that stays in the shadows. He appears very little in the movie, has almost no lines, and the audience is never really sure who, or what he really his. However, when he does make his appearance (most likely in the film's climax) it is freaken EPIC!! He should be so violent and brutal that the audience fears him, not adulates him. There is a reason other Marvel heroes do not play nice with Frank (I'm looking at you Daredevil!). Check out his appearance in Civil War to get a good idea of what I'm talking about. When he show's up, you can hear Spider-Man poop himself.

As a Punisher fan, I really hope to one day see a really great Punisher live action adaption. Unfortunately, I really don't see it happening.

Jun 17 - 04:57 PM

I think if these reviews of the Punisher movies show anything it's that the reviewers have no understanding of the character. The Punisher doesn't kill good cops and goes to extreme lengths to avoid collateral damage. That's why in the comics despite the fact that Captain America hates what he does and stands for Frank refuses to fight him. I liked the comparison in Civil War that someone made. If Cap is the reflection of everything good about the Greatest Generation then Frank is a reflection of the confusion and ugliness of Vietnam. If Frank was just the homicidal maniac the reviewers seem to want him to be he wouldn't have survived as a popular character as long as he has. The Punisher speaks to that fantasy part of us that wants to believe there is punishment and not reward for evil acts. That it's possible that someday people who do wrong are going to have those wrongs returned to them and not pass along in comfort rich off ill gotten gains with no repercussions. Is that realistic, of course not. That's why people read fiction.

Jun 17 - 05:22 PM

Chris Eaton

That's the whole problem though. If you have to have a prior understanding of the comic books to understand or enjoy the movie, then it fails as a movie. They aren't making this just for comic book fans.

All I know about this character from the movie is that his family was killed and he's a psychopathic criminal killer with the personality of a stone. He's not that interesting because there's no morals, no judgements, and really no plot that matters. He finds criminals, he kills them. What they're doing doesn't matter.

I agree with some other comments that this character would fare a lot better as a character in a Batman movie, but as a lead or hero he's just bad. This is not a hero, and not a particularly interesting anti-hero because he's got no humanity whatsoever (unlike Batman).

Jun 18 - 03:32 AM