Review of Punisher: War Zone (2008) by Ry C — 30 Apr 2014

Directed by Lexi Alexander (Green Street (2005), this was intended to be a straight-forward sequel to The Punisher (2004), however when Thomas Jane quit the sequel, blaming the producers for changing the film too much, the producers decided to make it part reboot, part sequel.

Unfortunately, it's not a case of third time lucky for the franchise, and they won't be trying another one. For about 5 years, Frank Castle (Ray Stevenson), has been The Punisher, taking down organised crime after mob bosses killed his family.

After infiltrating a gathering of mob bosses, Castle goes after violent gangster Billy Russoti (Dominic West), and after a battle, Russoti is left hideously disfigured, and he reinvents himself as Jigsaw.

Meanwhile, Castle is facing trouble as the New York Police Force has started a Punisher Task Force, led by FBI Agent Paul Budiansky (Colin Salmon) to stop Castle's wave of vigilantism once and for all.

Meanwhile, Jigsaw has broke his brother "Loony Bin Jim" (Doug Hutchison) out of jail, to both wreck havoc on New York. Essentially what the Punisher films are in a nutshell are more stylised and graphic Death Wish films, if such a thing was possible.

Despite having a good list of character actors in the lead roles, even they can't save the film. Marvel haven't attempted many dark films since this, apart from the Ghost Rider films.