Punisher: War Zone

I really enjoyed The Punisher (2004) though I don't think Thomas Jane made a good Punisher he is a competent enough actor to have pulled it off.

When I heard about this one 4yrs later I had no interest, I was frustrated that it had essentially been rebooted and that Jane was no longer playing Frank Castle.

Here we are 9yrs later I've finally given it a chance and I'm saddened I didn't earlier. Punisher: War Zone is not the brainless action flick cash grab that I expected, in fact it rivals the 2004 version.

For a start Ray Stevenson is perfectly cast as The Punisher, he looks perfect and blows Jane & even Lungren out of the water. He thoroughly takes the role and makes it his amidst a host of great actors and characters.

Extremely violent and quite loyal to the original material this is something I could have gotten behind if it had become a franchise.

I'm not an action junkie, in fact I'd say it is by far one of my least favourite genres but when its done right like it is here it makes for some great entertainment.

Ignore the critics and put the 2004 version aside for a moment, War Zone is a damn decent film.

The Good:

Remarkably violent (As it should be)

Awesome soundtrack

Very competent cast

Ray Stevenson makes a great Punisher

The Bad:

Accents are hit and miss

Recasting/Reebooting so soon after the last movie was a stupid move

Hero is a Christian, villain is an atheist. Overwhelming irony

Jigsaw monologue scene was dumb

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

I would love to see this Punisher added to the Marvel Universe

R-Rated superhero movies were a thing before Deadpool

Julie Benz is ageless

PUNISHER: WAR ZONE is a fun shoot-em-up – there's no more or less to it than that. A semi-sequel to the original 2004 film, this sees ROME's Ray Stevenson taking over the reins from Thomas Jane in a self-contained movie about his vendetta against a criminal gang. I'd heard a lot of talk about how poor this film was before I sat down and watched it, but I'm pleased to see it exceeded my expectations in every respect.

First off, the action scenes are excellent: fast-paced, well-shot (no shaky cam work here) and hard-hitting, with thugs getting their just desserts at every corner and all manner of extreme-weaponry mayhem. Secondly, the film isn't just about the action. There is a story, with characters (no matter how briefly sketched they are) and emotion too – Frank Castle is a creature brimming with repressed hurt and feeling and Stevenson is the perfect actor to bring him to life; few actors have eyes so sad.

Thirdly, the cast is pretty interesting. Dominic West, of course, gives it his all as the horrifically mutilated Jigsaw, bringing to life a truly comic creation. Doug Hutchison proves he's just as creepy as he was all those years ago in THE X-FILES when he played Tooms, the guy who could squeeze through letterboxes. Julie Benz (RAMBO) has a fairly thankless role as a mother who needs to be saved/rescued all the while, while familiar faces Colin Salmon and Wayne Knight flesh out more minor roles.

Of course, this isn't a perfect film. Some of the characters are intensely irritating (like the guy who appears to be the world's worst cop) and the running time is too short to really scope out the storyline, other than staging a few encounters. For what it's worth, the first film is still better, but that doesn't stop PUNISHER: WAR ZONE from being a satisfying action flick.

If you have ever read the famed comic books containing the hero Punisher, then you are in for a special movie treat. This dramatic story is called " Punisher: War Zone. " Writer Nick Santora allows his imagination to run rampant and in doing so, creates a solid story-line which will have audiences gasping by what they've seen. Ray Stevenson plays Frank Castle, a professional Ex-soldier who's wife and daughter were murdered by street thugs, drug dealers and gang members. In this story, Castle/Punisher goes after the Italian, Russian and Asian mobs in an effort to clean the streets. However, one of the most vicious gang leader suffers a horrific disfigurement and takes the name of his deformity, called 'Jigsaw.' (Dominic West) With his phychotic and deranged brother 'Loony Bin Jim' they set out to destroy Castle, his friends and anyone close to him. The entire movie is one exciting, slam, bang and explosive tour through the bowels of hell. It was surprising to see Wayne Knight as a courageous Micro in among all that black gang and destructive mayhem. If you are looking for an exciting, gut wrenching and certainly bullet ridden film with bodies flying everywhere, this is your movie. Black as pitch, written for the dog-eat-dog audience, this movie creates a spiral stairway into the very bowels of darkness. ****

Those seeking out the sequel to the 2004 Punisher film will probably already know what they are getting into, partly because a quite limited release at cinemas in the UK means it is not easy to stumble into (ironic considering how many Brits are in it). This helps the film because really this is not something that tries to have something for everyone so much as it is a film that knows the target audience and is determined to give them what they want. As a result, the story here is a simple affair of a criminal scarred by the Punisher, going out for revenge while the police are after both of them – it is not the most complex bit of writing you'll ever see but then, it doesn't need to be. Those looking for the Punisher's dark tone to be utilised to try and make this character into a possible "Batman" in regards having a dark psyche at the core of it will be disappointed because the film does no such thing. I was one of these people though and I was at least hoping that more would be made of the rage and loss inside Castle – but again, a few flashbacks aside, he generally just broods around the place full of vengeful justice.

What carries the film then is a series of brutal action sequences and effects shots, all full of callous violence, macho posturing and gun play that rewrites all rules of the real world. At this point it does depend what you are looking for because there are a core of viewers will love the film for this as it delivers exploded head after collapsing face after dismembering and other really graphic acts. For me personally the overdose on excess is all too much and it does leave the film with this very unpleasant air that makes it harder to enjoy. If the violence was a little less graphic or frequently graphic then it would have been easier to actually "enjoy" the big action sequences for what they were, rather than the gore putting me off – although again for some this will be the cherry on the cake. To the casual viewer this excess does give the film an exploitative, careless edge, where all the characters are little more than things waiting to explode and it limits how much we care – not just about the goons but also the main characters.

This further detracts from the dark character of Castle as he becomes just a machine and not a man or even a shadow of a man – and no, staring off moodily into the distance every now and again is not the same thing. At the same time it also limits the more flamboyant and silly side of the film – the side that the hammy Jigsaw needed to play up. You can see it in the excess but also in the Patton reference and other silly things; all of these imply that it should be a little bit camp with the darkness (hence making it a bit more fun and accessible) but it doesn't do this and those that play to this side of it are left just looking silly in a bad way rather than a good way.

Specifically West suffers from this as his comic book villain is lost in the sea of gore. As a Wire fan I do feel a bit for West but his Italian impersonation at the start is awful and, once behind the make-up he can do little but be "a bad man" without much unique about him to make him notable for anything other than what he has done before. Stevenson is not "good" either but he matches the ambition of the film and makes for a big dark presence – which is all the material needs and this he does well. I quite liked Salmon in it because he is one of the few that feels natural – which is a bit of a condemnation on everyone else when you think about Salmon's range generally. Hutchinson matches West by overplaying but again the sense of comic book madness is taken away by the gore.

Punisher War Zone is a basic genre film then. For target audience it will satisfy as it delivers simple characters with simple motivations, a straight-forward plot with lots of action and lots of gore – boxes ticked. However for many casual viewers it will be all too dark and unpleasant as the gore dominates and it makes everything seem a bit less "entertaining" and a lot more like work. The dark tone to the character and the hammy silliness of the villains are lost and the entire film appears to be about exploding heads – great if that is your thing but not so great if not. A noisy Saturday night special with your male friends – but that's all it is.

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.