Review of The Punisher (2004) by Logan A — 05 Oct 2011

Slow moving, sappy, and unwilling to accept that its protagonist is sadistic, 2004's THE PUNISHER tries too hard to ennoble Frank Castle's vendetta on crime. At one point he even claims outright that his crusade isn't revenge, it's "punishment"--all while Robin Hood-ing someone with a crossbow. (Right. Now tell me the Pope isn't Catholic.) Making him sympathetic is one thing, but when one makes excuses for what he does, it means one (and by extension one's audience) is too squeamish to root for a character with flawed motivations. Sometimes a spade is a spade, and Frank Castle is vengefully insane. This film, however, is a spaghetti western masquerading as a comic book. Thomas Jane can't overcome the limitations of its low-budget nor carry a weak script that places the Punisher in Miami. (A trench-coated gunman tends to stand out next to palm trees.) Very little of it works, and because the emphasis is on heavy handed character drama, the generally daft action scenes come off as positively tranquil. In other words, it's boring, and those expecting gunplay will be sorely disappointed. Taken in small doses, the film is effective; it's when you watch it in one sitting that you realize how overwrought it all is.

FBI agent Frank Castle works his last drug bust for the DEA but accidentally kills the son of mobster Howard Saint. Saint tracks down Castle in retirement and has his whole family executed, with Castle shot in the chest. Improbably, Castle survives, healed by an island native (talk about the right place at the right time...), and announces that he wants Howard Saint to pay. In public. At the police station. On TV. Surrounded by news reporters. (Well, so much for the element of surprise.).

Saint (a thoroughly miscast John Travolta) hires three hitmen to kill Castle first; of course, they're all incompetent. (One guy even serenades him with a guitar ballad. I kept wanting the Punisher to pull out a pistol and go Indiana Jones on him.) Along the way, he meets some unlikely friends in his tenement. Improbable comic character development ensues. (Fighting the Russian to opera music was sly and humorous; having Castle's flatmates dance and sing it next door wasn't.) None of it is remotely exciting, though. This Punisher doesn't punish his enemies so much as trap them in Machiavellian plots so convoluted you'd swear the guy had horns and a tail. It's methodical, premeditated, and totally revenge--not the noble justice the filmmakers apparently aspired to communicate.

Point is, Frank Castle can't be humanized; it only reinforces how much he has no humanity left. He's also one of the few characters in popfiction who literally has no sense of humor. So trying to ennoble him, make him accessible, lighten his social burden... it all falls flat. Treat him for what he is: an avenging angel of death. And get rid of the palm trees.