Review of Punisher: War Zone (2008) by Chads. — 07 Dec 2008

Grandmas die. In popular culture, usually from natural causes, but sometimes they get run over by reindeer. During its time, that Christmas novelty song, a Dr. Demento favorite, was considered to be in questionable taste.

Babies and old ladies, for the most part, are spared the spectacle of a grisly murder. But earlier this year, all bets were off, when a Nazi soldier shish-kabobed a crying baby in Spike Lee's "Miracle at St.

Anna's", an aspect of German savagery that Steven Spielberg, and most filmmakers, wouldn't touch. Sure, the right people die in "Punisher: War Zone", gangsters and their ilk, as Frank Castle(Ray Stevenson) embodies every gamer who points and shoots at anything that moves.

He flatters the gamer by rarely missing, while remaining impervious to the falling bodies. They're points, not people. "Punisher: War Zone" is yet another in a long line of movies that resemble video games.

And just like a video game, a shooter game such as "Grand Theft Auto", for instance, there's going to be collateral damage. In an actual film, the audience, at least, goes through the motions of mourning the innocent victim.

Not here, though. Not this new breed of video game-inspired quasi-films. While both video game and movie share the same objective of fighting for justice to prevail, the head of an old woman, bloodied and almost completely eviscerated, supplies the gamer with the cheap thrills he experiences when innocent people catch a bullet.

In a film such as "Punisher: War Zone", a dead grandma is the gamer's idea of black comedy. It's supposed to be funny.