Punisher War Zone (2008)

The Punisher is back. Dolph Lundgren first bought the comic to life in 1989 in a film that I seem to be the only one that liked. Thomas Jane starred in the 2004 retelling of his origin, in a film that seems to be forgotten. This time Ray Stevenson (Outpost) dons the black, and he looks big enough and tough enough for the job.

Punisher is set 6 years in to Frank Castle’s reign of terror as he slaughters criminals in retribution for the killing of his family. The police unofficially tolerate his actions, but Colin Salmon plays an FBI agent that sees thing differently. Julie Benz (Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Dexter, Rambo) dyes her hair and brings out Castle’s human side. Wayne Knight (Seinfeld) dyes his hair and provides the weapons Frank needs.

This is the best of the Punisher movies. The Punisher’s origin has already been covered, so this movie is free to concentrate on other aspects of Castle’s never ending battle. They even throw in a comic book worthy supervillain with Jigsaw (Dominic West) and his psycho brother Looney Bin Jim (Doug Hutchison). There is plenty of killing (and I laughed out aloud at a few points where the Punisher shoots people) to punctuate the investigation of the Punisher’s motives and his personal torment. The ending looked like it was going to a video game scenario, but even it wasn’t as ridiculous or lengthy as it could have been.

I’ve never liked the Punisher comics, but I do like the movies. I like Batman comics, but don’t like the movies. This Punisher film is very similar to a Batman story (an unhappy guy in black hides underground and fights crime) but it is much easier to enjoy than the bloated Batman sagas.