Punisher War Zone (possible spoilers!)

[zuludelta]

Managed to snag free tickets from my LCS to a preview screening of Punisher War Zone later tonight. I'll let you guys know how it goes.

[zuludelta]

Well, finally saw it (log-in to see spoilers):

[spoiler]
First, let me preface my comments by saying that I'm not a dyed-in-the-wool Punisher fan. I was never really interested in the character until Garth Ennis started writing the mature readers MAX title, and that retroactively led me to Steven Grant's mid-1980s Punisher work, along with Chuck Dixon's and Mike Baron's. I still don't consider myself a true fan of the character per se, as I only ever enjoy Punisher stories when written by one of the aforementioned authors (and Baron and Dixon have written their fair share of horrid Punisher stories).

The film starts off with an appropriately gory shoot-out sequence (I take it as a good sign when a middle-aged gangster wife gets her neck broken by the protagonist about 5 minutes into the film). On a very basic level, this is where the Punisher character works best, blowing anonymous bad guys' heads off, stabbing people through the tops of their skulls, chopping off limbs... after all, he's a product of the paranoia-fueled 1970s crime scare (the same era that gave us the "Death Wish" movies starring Charles Bronson and the wildly popular Mack Bolan/Executioner series of revenge-fulfillment action novels), so it's easy enough to accept him as the extreme caricature that he is.

There's an attempt at a story here, although there are enough plot holes to drive a tank through, and even a misguided (in my opinion) attempt to humanize the character, but they're both easily enough ignored in the face of the wholesale violence and the outrageous (and oftentimes hilarious) gun play. And while a lot of the violence and gore is intentionally played for darkly comedic effect (similar to how gore and violence are used to elicit laughs and shrieks in the better slasher movies), the movie pretty much plays straight, with none of the wink-wink nudge-nudge forced campiness I was afraid of.

There are numerous references to characters from the comics, although no prior knowledge of the comics or the character are necessary to enjoy the film, and numerous as the references are, they're mostly fleeting and so altered from their original forms that it's easy to miss them.

British actor Ray Stevenson (famous for his role as Titus Pullo on HBO/BBC's critically-acclaimed Rome mini-series) does a great job playing the titular character. You'd think it would be an easy job playing a single-minded, stoic, and externally emotionless killing machine but you'd be surprised how many experienced actors can't pull it off (Dolph Lundgren and Thomas Jane, I'm looking at you guys). I've got mixed feelings about Dominic West's performance as Jigsaw. At times, he looks like he's channeling Jack Nicholson-as-the-Joker, and at others, he's got the whole Tommy-Lee-Jones-as-Two-Face vibe going on, neither being particularly to my liking. Still, it's an upgrade over John Travolta's godawful scenery-chewing turn as the main villain in the last Punisher movie.

The special effects were merely okay. A lot of the gore looked a bit too CGI to me, but then again, I don't think I've ever seen any real good simulated splatter effects in mid-budget films.

All in all, it's a fun throwback to the unrepentantly testosterone-y action films of the Carolco Pictures/Cannon Films-era of the late 1970s and early 1980s. But is it worth the $10-$12 one would have to pay to see it in the theatres? I'd say it's more of a wait-for-the-DVD movie... in fact, I'd say it's more of a wait-for-it-to-show-up-on-basic-cable type deal except that a version edited for TV audiences pretty much defeats the whole purpose of watching a Punisher film. But if you can see the film on the cheap (maybe catch a matinee or something) with a bunch of friends who like over-the-top action movies or slasher-type flicks that are light on story but heavy on the body count like I did, it just might be worth it.[/spoiler]

[Frodo58]

Sounds like a fun movie.... but how was the swearing? I can handle violence, but I'm not a fan of excessive swearing.

[zuludelta]

Sounds like a fun movie.... but how was the swearing? I can handle violence, but I'm not a fan of excessive swearing.

About typical for an American PG-13/R-rated action film (meaning the bad guys swear a lot, the good guys hardly do). An average Sopranos episode probably has more expletives in it.

[BentonGrey]

Thanks for the review ZD, I've been mildly curious.  With money and time being so tight, I think I'll wait to rent this one.

[GogglesPizanno]

I went and caught it after work today.
Its exactly what it looks like with no apologies -- a B-Grade action flick that managed to use its name to score a budget for some really excessive violence. Very little plot, a forced "emotional" story aspect, really bad New York accents and a hammy villain just this side of Caeser Romero. It doesn't try to be anything more than that. On that level though, I thought it worked incredibly well. Its a really good matinee flick if you're into that kind of thing.

[lugaru]

So far most of the rotten tomatoes reivews read "professionally I'm supposed to hate it but I kind of dont" including lines like "This movie has better acting than it deserves" and "non stop over the top violence, which is predictable".

[Verfall]

Saw it Saturday aftenoon. Me and my buddies have been going around saying "apple sauce" in a bad accent ever since. It's one of those godawful movies you'll just love watching.

[zuludelta]

... Aaaaapple Saaaauuuuce...