The Punisher (2004)

An undercover FBI agent becomes a vigilante assassin and sets out to unleash vengeance upon the corrupt businessman who slew his family.

Director:

Jonathan Hensleigh

Writers:

Jonathan Hensleigh, Michael France

Stars:

Laura Harring, Thomas Jane, Samantha Mathis

1 win & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
A. Russell Andrews	...	Jimmy Weeks (as Russell Andrews)
Omar Avila	...	Joe Toro
James Carpinello	...	Bobby Saint / John Saint
Mark Collie	...	Harry Heck
Russell Durham Comegys	...	Tattooed Mike (as Russ Comegys)
Antoni Corone	...	T.J.
Rick Elmhurst	...	Bay News 9 Newscaster
Ben Foster	...	Spacker Dave
Michael Reardon	...	Toro Croupier (as Michael Francis)
Laura Harring	...	Livia Saint
William Haze	...	EMT (as William Hasenzahl)
Thomas Jane	...	Frank Castle (as Tom Jane)
Eddie Jemison	...	Mickey Duka
Marco St. John	...	Police Chief Morris
Marcus Johns	...	Will Castle

Storyline

Special agent Frank Castle had it all: A loving family, a great life, and an adventurous job. But when his life is taken away from him by a ruthless criminal and his associates, Frank has become reborn. Now serving as judge, jury, and executioner, he's a new kind of vigilante out to wage a one man war against those who have done him wrong.

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Plot Keywords:

undercover | family reunion | vigilante | fbi | revenge | 

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Taglines:

The punishment has begun.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for pervasive brutal violence, language and brief nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Artisan Entertainment Columbia Tristar [fr]

Country:

USA Germany

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 April 2004 (USA)

Also Known As:

El castigador

Filming Locations:

Florida, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$33,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£186,017 (UK) (24 September 2004)

Gross:

$421,053 (South Africa) (8 October 2004)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lions Gate Films, Marvel Enterprises, Valhalla Motion Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

124 min 140 min (extended cut)

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Thomas Jane initially turned down the role twice, as well as a part in X-Men, as he didn't see himself as a superhero actor. He only became interested in the character after being asked to play him for the second time and he had seen Timothy Bradstreet's artwork of the character.

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Goofs

In the gunfight between Castle and the man who is about to get blown up by the propane tanks, a salad bowl is clearly seen being toppled over and in the next shot it is normal again, and then shot.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Bobby Saint: So I'm gonna get a three-to-one return on my money?
Micky Duka: Otto is the real deal. I met him at a hash bar in Amsterdam. He speaks Russian, German, Arabic...

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Crazy Credits

The Marvel logo features comic-book images of the Punisher in its pages; after it fully forms, it is shot three times and "bleeds" white paint which forms the Punisher's skull, and the film's title.

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Connections

Version of Punisher: War Zone (2008)

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Soundtracks

"Swing Time"
Written by Daniel May
Published by Revision West (BMI)
Performed by Daniel May
Courtesy of Marc Ferrari / MasterSource

User Reviews

A Pleasant Surprise

I was surprised how good this movie was, not stupid as I figured. It's another one of those based-on-a-comic book hero films that seem to be popular nowadays (Hellboy, Batman, Sin City, Spiderman, Superman, etc.)

However, this was the not the cartoon-like film I expected. It was more of a pretty brutal revenge-crime movie. It's a rough movie, pure and simple.

Believable? Of course not. Some of the action is ludicrous but the most ridiculous of all - the fight against the huge Russian, is actually the most fun of the action scenes. The rest is just plain mean as the hero's entire family gets wiped out by gunman and "The Punisher" (Thomas Jane) goes after them after almost being killed himself.

A smart aspect of this film was inserting a bit of humor in it, such as the two nerds down the hallway who befriend "The Punisher."

The sometimes-juvenile but interesting action scenes, the diverse characters in here and the humor all combine to make this better than anticipated.

No, it's anything but a thinking man's movie, but it IS entertaining and harmless if you look at everything tongue-in-cheek.