Review of Punisher: War Zone (2008) by Xgary X — 19 Apr 2010

Frank Castle accidentally kills an undercover FBI agent when he storms a mob stronghold, leaving him torn between protecting the man's family and hanging up his guns for good. Warzone is less a sequel than a reinvention of the previous film, and as a whole it is a big improvement.

Ray Stevenson is a much more intense Punisher, and his guilt over the agent's death combined with his moral dilemma makes him a much more interesting character. The double act of Dominic West (dodgy accent notwithstanding) and Doug Hutchinson also make for much more interesting, larger than life villains and the action is far slicker and more exciting; in fact the whole film looks the part of a moody comic strip far more than the wishy washy original.

The tone although still consciously aping the Batman films is much closer to the mark but it is still a bit too gleeful in its representation of some pretty nasty violence and some of the humour feels a little inappropriate because of it (the last line alone was enough to knock a half star off the score).

Not in the same league as The Dark Knight, but a hell of a lot better than Ghost Rider.