The Punisher (2006, DVD)

The Punisher is a different flavor in the candy store of Marvel Comics recent cinematic adaptations. Unlike the rest of the movies (The Hulk, Spider-Man 2, X-Men, etc.), this is not a PG-13-rated flick aimed at a universal audience. Instead first-time director Jonathan Hensleigh has helmed a dark, brooding, brutal movie that will likely be either utterly enjoyed or fully shunned.

Our hero is Frank Castle (Thomas Jane, 61*, Deep Blue Sea), an undercover federal agent who is getting out of the business. Unfortunately criminal bigwig Howard Saint (John Travolta) has other ideas after losing a son in a Castle-led sting operation. Saint exacts revenge on Castle, leaving him bruised, battered, and presumably dead. Of course Castle survives, and the rest of the picture revolves around his quest for vengance...nope, make that punishment. Along the way, he encounters a quirky trio of neighbors and the obligatory menacing villains.

After the battlelines are drawn (okay, even before that) the movie is straight forward and aptly named, as Castle proceeds to fulfill his titular role. Punisher could easily have promptly fallen off the quality map, but a strong effort by all involved results in a high production value that makes the film enjoyable despite being a one-trick pony.

What drives the rest of the movie is not so much what happens as how and to whom it happens. Despite being primarily one-dimensional, Castle's neighbors possess enough originality to generate sympathetic appeal, even though Rebecca Romijn-Stamos is oddly out of place in her small and unglamorous role. Jane conjures a brooding, hulking look, filling the part with the proper gravity, yet making the character likable due to his relatively justifiable motives.

Unlike most of the recent comic book flicks, Punisher features almost no CGI effects. Instead most everything is done by stunt crews, from explosions to car chases. This brings a refreshing and gritty realism to the movie, mirroring the physical nature of the title character. Cool blues and blacks dominate the cinematography, which effectively uses the widescreen to capture the semi-tropical location, the rarely filmed city of Tampa, which provides a pleasant reprieve from the usual big cities in such movies.

Like most comic book movies, this one has few pretenses of reality, as the murderous rampage of the protagonist goes ridiculously unchecked, providing a good deal of unintentional comedy along the way. Plus the moral issues of such revenge are highly sketchy. But in this black-and-white world, such deficiencies can be ignored for two hours, and that is plenty of time to be pulled into a violent yet entertaining picture, the best popcorn movie of 2004.


DVD Extras

There are two half hour on-the-set style docs, a general Making Of and Keeping it Real, which focuses on the stuntwork. Better than typical promotional stuff, both of these are nothing brilliant, but solid, simply providing insight into the filmmaking process.

Since I knew nothing about Punisher prior to the movie, I was particularly fascinated by The Punisher Origins, a twelve minute look at how the comic book was adapted to film, containing interviews with writers and artists of the comic. This plus the other featurette, Drawing Blood, which concentrates on the style of the comic's covers, are good background information for those ignorant of the movie's source.

This is director Jonathan Hensleigh's first film, and that seems to show in the full-length audio commentary. He avidly shares as much information as possible, and that eagerness makes him worth a listen for those who liked the movie. Odds and ends filling out the DVD are a hard rock music video by Drowning Pool and an assortment of trailers.


Overall, The Punisher is not remotely a great movie, but it is a classic popcorn movie, fully enjoyable with any pretense, and since you can buy it for under $15, worth a purchase for many.

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