Third Time Punishes the Audience Some More
- Title: Punisher: War Zone
- IMDB: link
Punisher: War Zone is the third attempt to bring the Marvel character to life in a live-action film. It’s the best Punisher film yet, of course that’s kind of like being the coma patient with the strongest pulse. The bar may not be set that high but Frank Castle still finds a way to impale himself on it. Move over Hancock, you are no longer the worst comic book movie of the year.
Let’s start with the good, shall we? Ray Steveson is the third, and best cast, actor to take on the role of Frank Castle. In this latest version Frank is a former military officer whose family was gunned down when they witnessed a mob hit. Only Frank survived. Now, as the Punisher, Castle hunts down all members of organized crime in his never-ending quest for vengeance.
The latest name of his hitlist (Dominic West) gets himself thrown in a big vat-like glass recycler (Joker, anyone?) and is reborn as the tattered faced Jigsaw.
When the film plays it straight it works okay, although the scenes where the Punisher takes down rooms (or buildings) full of baddies who stand around waiting for him to first kill the guy next to him before taking action gets a bid old. I also liked the conflict within Frank over accidentally widowing the wife of an undercover agent (Julie Benz). There are pieces here which in better hands could have given us a halfway decent film.
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