The Punisher: War Zone

Punisher: War Zone is the third screen appearance from Marvel Comics’ angel of death, and continues the saga of Frank Castle, a normal New York City citizen turned Mafia-slaying vigilante following the murder of his family. Six years after the tragedy, Frank is still waging war against organized crime in New York.

After he ambushes a party for an aging mob boss and turns it into a bloodbath, the battle moves to a recycling warehouse where Castle pushes gangster Billy Russoti (Dominic West) into a swirling vat of broken glass. During his escape, Castle accidentally shoots one of the FBI men who have arrived on the scene. Russoti undergoes plastic surgery, but after seeing his badly disfigured face for the first time, he shoots his surgeon and dubs himself “Jigsaw.” While a deeply regretful Castle attempts to make amends with the widow (Julie Benz) of the agent he has slain, Jigsaw rallies an army of criminals in an attempt to take down the seemingly indestructible Punisher.

I’m not really a comic book fan and I’ve never read The Punisher but I knew about him and thought it was a pretty cool idea for a movie.  So I was a bit disappointed when I watched the first one/remake/reboot or whatever the one with Thomas Jane was and thought it was just average.

Punisher: Warzone tries to improve upon the original by upping the general mayhem and violence.  Normally I’m all for that but when it’s used to replace plot or sometimes doesn’t make sense I find it quite frustrating.  P:W is another average outing for Frank Marshall.  Some of the set pieces are tremendously violent and exciting but for most of the time it’s a little too over the top and ultimately pointless.

Ray Stevenson does a convincing job of replacing Thomas Jane although if there’s going to be another addition to the franchise they could replace him again and he wouldn’t be missed.  Dominic West is Jigsaw, and for some reason seems to have decided to return to the old comic book movie roots of a really over the top cartoony character, his Jigsaw wouldn’t have been out of place in the Dick Tracey film.

If you’re looking for a dumb but fun action film then this will suffice but I think it will let down the hardcore comic book fans who are desperate to see the character in a kick-ass awesome film.

DVD Extras

-The Making of Punisher: War Zone
-Training for The Punisher
-Weapons of The Punisher
-Meet Jigsaw
-Creating the Look of The Punisher
-Director & Cinematographer Commentary

~review by Lee