Review of Punisher: War Zone (2008) by James H — 06 May 2010

The few times I read Punisher comics in my youth I thought, "That Newman from Seinfeld would make a great Microchip." And y'know what? He does. Casting Wayne Knight as Microchip is one of the few things the third attempt at a Punisher film gets right. Lexi Alexander's Punisher: War Zone would have been great had it been made somewhere between 1988-1993; the script is equal parts action-melodrama and comic book camp. Had it been made in the late-80s/early-90s heyday of low-budget action films, it could have achieved that sort of so-bad-it's-good type of entertainment (hey, kinda like the original 1989 Punisher film starring Dolph Lundgren!). However, this film is too busy being as absolutely gruesome as possible. I like a bad guy's face getting punched in as much as the next guy, but when it comes after 100 exploding gunshot wounds and the like, it's just, well, gross.

Director Alexander has a difficult time balancing the tone of the film, as well. She elicits a solid performance from Ray Stevenson, who is overall a better Punisher than Lundgren or Tom "I just want my kids back" Jane. Stevenson's quiet, brooding, and stoic Frank Castle is the polar opposite to Dominic West, who hams up Jigsaw as a low-rent Joker (actually, Alexander cribs Burton's Batman on more than one occasion). Though there are some redeeming qualities (Knight, Colin Salmon's performance, the cinematography), ultimately the film is an uneven mess. I never would have expected a "good" Punisher movie, just one that was entertaining. Who would've thought that this was such a difficult task?