Punisher: War Zone (2008)

After hunting down and killing hundreds of violent criminals, Frank Castle, aka The Punisher, faces his most deadly foe yet: Jigsaw.

Director:

Lexi Alexander

Writers:

Nick Santora, Art Marcum,

Stars:

Ray Stevenson, Dominic West, Doug Hutchison

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ray Stevenson	...	Frank Castle
Dominic West	...	Billy / Jigsaw
Doug Hutchison	...	Loony Bin Jim
Colin Salmon	...	Paul Budiansky
Wayne Knight	...	Micro
Dash Mihok	...	Martin Soap
Julie Benz	...	Angela
Stephanie Janusauskas	...	Grace
Mark Camacho	...	Pittsy
Romano Orzari	...	Nicky
Keram Malicki-Sánchez	...	Ink
Larry Day	...	Agent Miller
Ron Lea	...	Captain Ross
Tony Calabretta	...	Saffiotti
T.J. Storm	...	Maginty

Storyline

Frank Castle, the ex-military man whose family was killed by criminals, who became a vigilante known as the Punisher, goes after a whole mob family and gets everyone except enforcer Billy Russoti. He tracks Russoti down and chases him into a vat that is used for crushing bottles. Frank turns on the crusher hoping it would take care of him but it doesn't. He survives but sustains very severe injuries that even with plastic surgery his face looks like a jigsaw puzzle. So he decides to adopt the name Jigsaw. Frank who killed one of Russoti's people who unknown to him is an undercover Fed, decides to pack it in. But when he learns Russoti didn't die and is looking for the money he entrusted to the Fed and will go looking for it at his home which means his family is in danger. So Frank tries to save them. But Russoti wants revenge on Frank so he breaks out his brother who is so crazed that he is committed to an asylum, to deal with him. And also another Fed who's a friend of the man Frank ...

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Plot Keywords:

vigilante | gore | gangster | cannibalism | cocaine snorting | 

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Taglines:

Vengeance has a name.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for pervasive strong brutal violence, language and some drug use

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site [jp]

Country:

USA Canada Germany

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 December 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Punisher 2

Filming Locations:

Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$35,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$4,271,451 (USA) (5 December 2008)

Gross:

$7,948,159 (USA) (19 December 2008)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lionsgate, Marvel Knights, Marvel Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Doug Hutchison initially passed on the project because he didn't respond to the script nor the role of Looney Bin Jim. Director Lexi Alexander called him to pitch the movie and her vision and, by the end of their phone conversation, Hutchison had already changed his mind and accepted the role.

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Goofs

The subway trains seen underground are Montreal Metro trains, not New York subway trains.

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Quotes

Priest: God be with you, Frank.
Frank Castle: Sometimes I would like to get my hands on God.

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Connections

Version of The Punisher (1989)

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Soundtracks

"Genesis"
Written by Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay
Performed by Justice
Courtesy of Ed Banger Records
Under exclusive license to Because Music

User Reviews

Ultimate action movie

Roger Egbert was spot on when he wrote - ""The Punisher: War Zone" is one of the best-made bad movies I've seen". Viewed independently, it is an ultimate men's movie and more fun to watch than all Steven Seagal movies put together. This movie does not hold back on anything like the wimpy Thomas Jane's Punisher, who was more of a schemer than a punisher. That movie had its own reason to be liked in that it was a brave move to bring an ultra-violent (Punisher has even used nuclear bomb to kill an otherwise unkillable villain), gory and very dark comic, which only had a cult following, to the mainstream cinema. While that movie did not feel like a comic book adaptation at all, the story being pretty ordinary and plot being too heavy, war zone is much closer to the source material. Corny situations had corny, and extremely violent solutions. Villains were perfectly cast and did feel like Punisher villains and got what they deserve from a Punisher. The accents were distracting in the beginning, but once you get used to them (which is pretty fast, since everyone uses a fake sounding and bad accent), you stop noticing it and focus on action, which is plenty. Ray Stevenson was a perfect cast and comes across the perfectly believable, imposing and intimidating killing machine as the Punisher. The much-maligned first scene actually set the tone for rest of the movie for me, when Punisher goes on a killing spree on the dining table, killing everyone on the table, men-women alike, in different, but extremely bloody way. That is Punisher for me. Perfect movie for fans of Punisher and violent action movie fans in general.