The Punisher, a 2004 version of the Marvel Comic character, and a second attempt after Dolph Lundgren’s (1989) version, is yet another comic book hero in this current wave of comic to film adaptations.
There seems to be quite a disparity between those that rate this film and those that hate it. I felt the 1989 version was rather gun-ho, less plot more brainless action. It was an era of B-list super men, after the likes of Stallone and Schwarzenegger’s, and along came two of the most famous B-list heroes, Van Damme and Lundgren, and were finally pitted against each other in Universal Soldier.
So I digress, and what I am discussing here is the latest version of The Punisher, starring Thomas Janes of Deep Blue Sea fame, a moderately successful Jaws-esque update. Janes plays Frank Castle, a man who works undercover, and happens to be involved in a deal that ends up losing the life of the son of a crime boss. After much investigation and probing, Castle’s whereabouts are located and the order is given to wipe out him and his entire family. The job is done, and Frank Castle is left for dead.
As you can guess, this isn’t the case, and Frank Castle is saved by a local resident and after months of recovery ends up looking like Robinson Crusoe. His motive for living is to take vengeance upon those that killed his family. Thus begins the systematic planning and death of every member of the gang.
It’s perhaps unfair to compare this to the comic in some ways. They’ve taken away Castle’s insanity which is caused by the death of his family in a more brutal way, and his lineage with the Vietnam war, which beings his psychosis. Although smart, The Punisher cares less about morals, and more about vengeance, going to any extreme to get what he wants. In this filmic version, what you get is a rather new age sensitive guy approach to The Punisher. He has feelings, he’s hard on the outside but soft on the inside, he loves decorating walls at weekends with little children in the school nursery. In comparison to violence of the 1989 version, this is by all accounts The Punisher-lite.
Originality is far removed from this film as talent is in Crossroads starring Britney Spears
The director and script writer have tried to learn as mucha s they can from all comic to film translations. They’ve taken elements of Batman, Spiderman, and other comic adaptations (of which I can’t think right now) mixing the process with comic like camera angles and on screen action. The relatively low budget of the film (less than that of even the original X-Men which itself cost $53 million) does nothing to help tighten up the film to make it an experience.
John Travolta plays the starring role of the bad guy. Poorly so, as he gets little screen time, and lacks any form of charisma or chemistry with his fellow actors. It’s almost regretful for him that he starred in the film, and perhaps really needed to money to clean out all 20 of his jacuzzi’s. Flippant perhaps, but you have to understand that Travolta brings nothing to the role, nor anything to the film, and his inclusion is all but a mystery. Still he did Battlefield Earth, so perhaps he’s allowed to make more than one mistake?
Jane plays Castle/Punisher as best he can, but with such a mediocre and cliched script it’s hard to be convinced of his regret and turmoil. What in essence happens is Castle’s transition to The Punisher in a two hour slot. It’s improbable with the pace of the film, and nothing whatsoever convinces the viewer that they’re in for something special.
The fights and battles are tedious at best, and something you have to wade through to get to the end. Scripting is quite mixed, with elements of seriousness mixed in with horribly cheesy dialogue, it’s quite clear the director had little in the way of direction to appropriate the film into something that he wanted. In the end, he fails to provide anything redeeming to those fans, or to non-fans who want a good brainless film with lots of violence, seeing as he doesn’t even provide much of the latter.
There seems to be quite a disparity between those that rate this film and those that hate it
Arguments have arisen that this film is the base, and that the sequel will show his gun-ho approach. Sadly I think the damage has already been done. It’s an American thing to make anything that has just been released a box office smash. This wasn’t but it hasn’t stopped people from praising how “awesome and amazing” this film is. I found it far from those terms. I would describe it as a “chore” and “braindead”. Adding humanity and complexities to a character that really has none is mindless twaddle and not needed. At time the film even takes hints from classics such as Commando and Rambo, and you have to wonder what the hell the director is doing.
Originality is far removed from this film as talent is in Crossroads starring Britney Spears. This isn’t the worst comic book adaptation, but it’s almost an entirely new film in itself. Spiderman kept the radioactive spider theory, and changed everything else; The Hulk kept the radioactive explosion theory, and changed everything else; The Punisher has no special powers, therefore the murder of his family is not enough to make this The Punisher.
He is therefore, any other character in any other action hero film. Add to which The Punisher was an anti-hero, this Punisher seems to want to give birth to puppies. Apparently they plan to change the whole Vietnam thing to the Gulf War, which sadly again ruins the original story. There are far too many elements of the original The Punisher that have been removed to make this something you’ve seen before.
Verdict: Average borefest comic adaptation, without the comic essence.