Review of Punisher: War Zone (2008) by Jason G — 22 Dec 2012

While certainly better than the 2004 film, Punisher War Zone still suffers from alot of flaws.

Whats Good: The action is appropriately intense, and believe me, there's plenty of it in here. Ray Stevenson does a great job at playing the Punisher, as he never wastes his time on corny one liners but instead offers up an intense, silent, brooding and precise badass killing machine. Also the atmosphere with the people around the Punisher: Criminals are terrified of him, and the cops actually like him. Wayne Knight is also pretty good as Micro, Punisher's ally, and him and Stevenson really do play off eachother well, you get a sense like they have been at this for a while and trust eachother. Michael Wandmacher's score is also appropriately dark but also slightly heroic.

What's Bad: Jigsaw. While having Jigsaw as the villain sounds great on paper, what we get is pretty...stupid. Dominic West is very campy and, while having a strong introduction as Jigsaw, the very next scene he goes straight back to campy, with a AWFUL New York accent. Julie Benz and the child actor who won't have a career are also quite bad in this, and the whole aspect with the little girl holding Punisher's hand...really? This is a Punisher movie, quit trying to do this heartwarming bullshit. This is also the first movie where the lighting (the LIGHTING?!) was so damn noticeably bad. Every single scene has one distinct color to it. One scene will be all yellow, the next will be all blue, the church scene will be all purple. The story is very basic, and we don't really get to explore the Frank Castle character very much besides his much more faithful backstory.

The Verdict: I'll say this: Punisher Warzone is an enjoyable movie to watch. If you just sit down with a bunch of your buddies and watch this with them, you'll have a fun time. Is it cheesy? Yes. Can it be stupid? Oh hell yes. But if you're looking for a movie with loads of gore and action and some really memorable kills, I strongly advise renting this movie out. Rating: 3/5.