Punisher: War Zone (2008) Movie Review, Trailer, Film Still and Poster

USA, Canada, Germany 2008
Director: Lexi Alexander
Cast: Ray Stevenson, Dominic West, Wayne Knight, Doug Hutchinson, Dash Mihok, Colin Salmon, Julie Benz
Rating: R
Release Date: 5 December 2008 (USA)
Running Time: 1 hour 42 minutes 34 seconds

The Movie Review

Punisher: War Zone film still 1


PUNISHER: WAR ZONE
Storyline:
Cast:
Ending:
Overall:

I swear! If Punisher messes up again this time, I will shoot him myself! Ehh... with bullets of angry words of course. Ahem..., No offense there Punisher dude, cause in 2004 you suck. But this time, you rock! Finally, Punisher in its true form, a punishment machine with no mercy, an eye for an eye protocol, a totally bold superhero movie! Still though, sad sad sad... cause unfortunately as strong as the punisher is this time, the story is weak.

Punisher: War Zone tells the vengeance story of Frank Castle by resorting to the original story on its comic books, which is different with The Punisher (2004) and The Punisher (1989). Frank Castle is a former U.S. Marine captain and a war veteran who is highly-skilled in martial arts, weaponry, and whacking the bad guys. Frank lost his loved ones one day in the New York City's Central Park when Frank's wife, son and daughter witnessed a mafia execution, thus being slaughtered to eliminate possible witnesses. Having found no justice, Frank goes on a fun revenge rampage to all the mafia family reigning around him. And that's where Punisher War Zone's story starts. Having been The Punisher for 6 years now, Frank is seen busy slaying the mafia family on their boss' party, but one of them the slickest of all, named Billy Russoti (Dominic West) could avoid death although he has to lose his face and have it replaced with stitches and patches, which inspires Billy to name himself The Jigsaw. Devastated by his look, Jigsaw's first act is to free his authentic psychotic/cannibalistic brother, Loony Bin Jim (Doug Hutchinson) from the Kentworth asylum and to contact every gang that has been punished by The Punisher.

Punisher (Ray Stevenson) is aware of this situation, but he is in deep shock for having done a grave mistake in his life, lucky for him, Punisher still has a loyal friend & armorer, Micro (Wayne Knight), who convinces him that it is only The Punisher that could bring those mafias down and the one that could also bring 'punishment' to Billy Russoti which possesses total immunity even from the FBI. And now two revenge-crazed parties are about to bump ugly in the name of Punishment.

I really had high expectation in seeing this movie, not that I expected for something very brilliant, I just want Punisher the way he is, and my my my what a super duper rockin' beginning, from the first action scene, I knew this is going to be a "True-to-the-spirit-of-Punisher" story about merciless Frank Castle, the way he inflicts harsh (very harsh) punishment on the mafia family, it's pretty obvious the director, Lexi Alexander, really understood what fans were hoping for. On the PC game of Punisher, his punishing methods are highly creative, and once again Lexi Alexander managed to capture this essence, plus she could also stage the locations resembling the ones in the game.

Speaking about the performance of the cast, Ray Stevenson is just brilliant, he seemed to really comprehend and absorbed the personality of the Punisher, unlike in the 2004 film which portrays the more compassionate Punisher (leave that to Spider-Man), the facial expression and body language of Ray fits the personality of Punisher nicely. Dash Mihok as Detective Martin Soap is a good choice to provide the comic relief for this gory superhero movie. Colin Salmon as Det. Soap's partner could balance Soap with his big voice and strong figure. Finally, Dominic West's brilliant appearance as Jigsaw made me content with the flow of the story, although it reminds me of Jack Nicholson's Joker in 1989 Batman film.

Punisher War Zone is gory! Yes indeedio, gory as slasher/horror movies. If you think more of it, what is very remarkable is when we watch horror movies, we got this intense feeling of fear the villains for their daunting superiority over their victims who have to suffer a lot of pain in the hands of the villains, and most of the time those villains finally just die happily/peacefully from gunshots, but in Punisher: War Zone, the table is turned around. An action for what it is, Ray Stevenson is brilliant as Punisher, and his angry menacing face is much more intense than the agro Clive Owen in Shoot 'Em Up (2007). Nevertheless the story that glue those aforementioned good elements is weak, it's very ordinary and of nothing special even with a few plot holes. But the scene on the rooftop where Punisher VS. Parkour-using villains occurs is shocking, including the aftermath on the alley. What I'm saying is the story still could provide a few surprises, and it's not entirely without merit. But it's just ordinary.

Nevertheless Punisher: War Zone is 'An Eye for an Eye' baby! And it's 'The Punisher' for The Fan! The Punisher PC game in 2005 has never left my computer up to this very time and my Punisher: War Zone will never go to an auction!