Title: Punisher: War Zone (2008)Starring: Ray Stevenson, Dominic West, Doug Hutchison
Directed By: Lexi Alexander
Maybe The Punisher just wasn't meant to be a big screen hero. This is the third attempt, and I'm pretty sure it'll be the last. Isn't that the rule, three strikes and you're out?
What's most unsettling about this film is that it DID get some things right. It nailed the "comic book movie, but not TOO much comic book movie" feel. The cast was overall pretty solid, especially Ray Stevenson as Frank Castle. I think where it went wrong though, was all on the pages of the script. The TITLE character, you know the Marvel Comics character that this movie is ABOUT, doesn't have a single line until about a half hour in! And when he DOES finally talk, it's a throwaway line about being remorseful over a mistake. The Punisher IS revenge. That's it. As represented here, he is the ultimate killing machine. We shouldn't be hearing regrets as his VERY FIRST LINE OF DIALOGUE! Here's how you make this movie: he should be dispatching the baddies with extreme prejudice FIRST; THEN he should make a mistake; THEN he should be remorseful; THEN he should redeem himself by again dispatching the baddies with extreme prejudice. But more importantly he should be telling the audience what he's doing and why, from the very FIRST frame. This movie would've been improved 20x or more by something as simple as a Stevenson voice over (my note to the creators).
As is though; it's hard for the audience to care at all what Castle is doing, because we see more of the villains then we do the hero. That's the film's fatal flaw from minute one and it just unravels from there for the next hour and forty minutes. See it if you saw the others, because somewhere between the three of them is a good Punisher movie. Too bad I don't have time to put 'em all in Final Cut Pro and figure it out for them.
Score: 6.5/10
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