Review of The Punisher (2004) by Chani . — 05 Dec 2010
If anything, it's an entertaining take on the Marvel vigilante, but it's hampered down by cliche action movie dialogue that we've heard in thousands of other movies and borderline obvious story exposition.
This second take on the character (following 1990's film of the same name with Dolph Lundgren), follows vet FBI agent Frank Castle (a supremely ripped but painfully-trying-to-be-a-badass-by-lowering-his-voice Thomas Jane) who saw both his immediate and extended family gunned down in cold blood by a vengeful gangster (Travolta).
Mistaken to be dead, Castle takes on the soulless name that is the Punisher and designs a revenge plan in which they dishes out justice his way. Story naturally has potential, but director Jon Hensleigh's film suffers under both a low budget and the lack of genuine vision to bring the character to screen, but more a desire to capitalize on Hollywood's ongoing moneymaking obsession with superhero movies.
Unfortunately the film is recycled largely as a tribute to the 70's revenge genre, rather than being about the character and the weight of this tribute (which almost feels like more a tongue in cheek satire) crushes the story.
The acting is pretty decent (save for clumsy, unoriginal dialogue), particularly in the supporting cast of Patton, Scheider, Romijn, Jemison and a Johnny Cash-like villain known as Harry Heck. Travolta plays another villain and as expected, does a good job with what he can but Jane is miscast.
His performance feels like more of a Saturday Night Live impression than a flesh and blood portrayal.
This review of The Punisher (2004) was written by Chani . on 05 Dec 2010.
The Punisher has generally received mixed reviews.
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