this version of the Punisher is much different than the 2004 version.for one thing it is much darker,and probably more faithful to the comic book version.the pacing is very deliberate in this one,creating more atmosphere.there are some very good fight scenes in this movie.the biggest difference is the antagonist,which is much more deadly in this one and a worthy adversary for the Punisher.Dolph Lundgren plays the role in this incarnation and is much more imposing,with better physical presence.this is mainly due to his size.he definitely would inspire fear in the criminal element.Lundgren is not really a great actor,but he doesn't need to be for this role.overall,this a good movie,more subdued than the 2004 version.there is more physical action,but very little of things blowing up,which works in this film's favor. a strong7/10
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disdressed1231 January 2007
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dee.reid16 November 2002"The Punisher" (1990) starring Dolph Lundgren and Louis Gossett, Jr. is a movie adaptation of the Marvel Comics character about a presumed dead police officer who wages a one man war on crime. In this big screen adaptation, The Punisher (Lundgren) rises from the sewers to battle the Yakuza (Japanese mafia) who have come to America to try to force the current reigning Franco crime family, headed by Gianni Franco (Jeroen Krabbe) out of business. To do this, the Yakuza headed by Lady Tanaka (Kim Miyori) have kidnapped the children of all the crime bosses. The Punisher reluctantly enters into this complex triangle to try to rescue the children.
I must say that "The Punisher" is a rather solid adaptation of the Marvel Comics character of the same name. Dolph Lundgren proves that he can carry a movie. He can really kick some a** in this film. The action scenes may prove to be the best parts of this movie. Probably the best action sequence is the scene where The Punisher drops through a glass window and begins shooting up a casino.
"The Punisher" get 2 ½ stars out of 5. -
I watched this movie when I was a young kid and I remember thinking "...Eh..." However, while browsing Borders, I saw the DVD for $6.99 and decided to give it another shot. I expected a fun action flick with lots of explosions, death-defying stunts, cool death shots, and a badass lead character. I was not disappointed. After reading so many bad reviews here on imdb I decided I need to write a review defending this movie. I don't know what other people expected when they saw this movie, but I certainly didn't expect much more than a cool action flick, and that is exactly what "The Punisher" gave me plus maybe a little more.
First off, Dolph Lundgren's stiff acting and menacing demeanor make him perfect for the part of the hell-bent, socially backwards loner determined to punish the scum of the Earth (His significant acting shortcomings are his assets here). The writer and director did a good job of showing many different facets of his personality and actually created a deeper characterization of the Punisher than I would have expected. Louis Gossett Jr. plays his his part competently enough. In fact, the acting was not all that bad all around (suitable enough for an action flick).
The action here is also pretty solid. Some examples: The opening sequence where Dolph punishes the trash-talking mob boss and his henchmen with style. In one scene, Dolph is driving a bus with children in tow while a hundred Japanese are firing machine guns and crashing their cars into the side of the bus...way cool.
The plot is pretty standard revenge bit with some minor twists and turns, but the ending is pretty cool and less predictable than most action thrillers, but then again thats not saying much :-)
FINAL RATING: 6/10 I doubt it will make anyone's top ten list, but this low budget action genre flick delivers the goods with solid action and semi-interesting characters, which is more than I can say for many big budget Hollywood action flicks (e.g. Cobra, Mercury Rising, The Watcher, the Art of War). Its not a movie to be analyzed, its a movie to enjoy. Action junkies should dig it, others should probably stay away. -
In fact, I have a suspicion that I will still like this one better even after the release of the new Punisher (2004).
That's because of a couple of reasons. Firstly, the acting. Dolph Lundgren acts very well in this film, portraying a grim, depressed, out of the ordinary action hero whose sole reason for living is revenge. Louis Gossett, jr. also does his best as Lundgren's former best friend. Jeroen Krabbe, in my opinion, is miscast as the big crime boss although he does his best.
Secondly, the action sequences are simply good. Lots of guns blazing, some decent camera angles and of course the whole 'red light' sequence near the end of the film, which I liked. The whole atmosphere of this movie is grim, gritty, depressed. Something I think the remake this year will not accomplish.
6/10 -
jgeerling4 October 2005Grosly undervalued, the Punisher is 15 years later still one of the better Marvel Movies. Of course the movie has a weak plot, and sure it never really surprises it's audience, but it captures the spirit of the comic far better than many other Marvel-movies.
After the murder of his family, Frank Castle goes on a rampage against organized crime. He starts a war against criminals everywhere. The movie shows the Punisher for what he is, once a broken man, now a killer with a shade of humanity far hidden inside.
As a movie, the Punisher is average, there are far better movies in the action-genre. But as a comic-adaptation it is at the very least true to the comic. -
gpurin26 December 2003I really liked this film, it´s true to the comic, and in some parts is better. For example in the comic Frank Castel has a truck full of weapons (most of them hi tech weapons) but were he gets the cash to pays for them. It´s a better adaptation than most flicks from those years (captain America for example) and it´s full with a lot of action and blood, its like a predecesor for Kill Bill. I give the movie a 7 out of 10.
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Platypuschow8 November 2017The 80's and 90's were great times for action movie fans, few of the titles that came out were any good but there were plenty of them to keep the masses entertained.
Dolph Lungren here stars as the first outing for Frankle Castle aka The Punisher but if you're expecting anything to do with the character at all you'll be disappointed.
Trademark skull? Origin story? Connections to the marvel universe? Nothing. In fact the movie is so generic it could have just been a standard action flick where they at the last minute decided would be the Punisher.
This truly is just yet another paint by number action flick, standard formula, Lungren is wooden as always and the movie has as much to do with the Punisher as creation theory has to do with science.
Just no.
The Good:
Couple of decent characters
The Bad:
So incredibly generic
Lungren is terrible
Simply not a Punisher film
Things I Learnt From This Movie:
Being in a house that blows up will not even phase you, in fact you'll have a chance to pose for cameras
5 seconds of origin story is apparently sufficient
The actor sidekick should have had been the lead
In the Marvel universe they still acknowledge the existence of DC characters -
Cross1814 January 2000This is definetely a cool action flick. Dolph Lundgren plays Frank Castle, a New York cop who's family died in a mafia car bomb. That car bomb transformed Castle into The Punisher, a shadowy figure who's been waging a one-man war against crime. Louis Gosset Jr. plays Castle's friend and kindred spirit, a cop who's trying to capture The Punisher before any more damage is done to the public or himself. Some cool action scenes highlight this cool action flick.
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Marc E L5 August 1999This movie is one of Dolph´s best. The action is great and the acting is good. The best acting comes from Louis Gossett, JR. This is a perfect low budget movie. If you love action this movie is like made for you.
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morrison-dylan-fan24 March 2013With having last seen the film 10 years ago on a murky,cut UK Video,I was thrilled to recently hear from a friend that the German DVD company Laser Paradise had recently brought out an uncut,DVD edition of the movie,which led to me deciding that it was time to witness Frank Castle take his revenge again.
The plot:
Having spent the last 5 years living under an alias of "The Punisher" and also having killed over 100 gangsters who were connected to the brutal murder of his wife and child, former cop Frank Castle receives news that the lead gangster connected with the murder of his family (Gianni Franco) is returning to the city,so that he can take control of the family "business".
Prepairing to at last find the retribution that he has been searching for,Castle is shocked to discover that his plan may not be as easy to carry out as Frank originally hoped,due to the sudden arrival of a Yakuza gang into the city,who are determined to wipe Gianni's turf clean and transform it into theirs.Finding himself bang in the centre of the turf war between Franco and the Yakuza,Castle decides that the only way he can get revenge for the murder of his family,and to also clean up the streets,is to punish everyone on both sides.
View on the film:
Pulling the movie out of the tar pit that the BBFC had left it in with terrible Video editions, (which had the added "bonus" of 90 seconds of footage being cut for the UK ratings board)the Laser Paradise editions breaths new life into this raw piece of Comic-Book pulp,with the picture and sound being cleaned up to a pristine condition,which allows the viewer to see and hear everything The Punisher discovers as he walks the grime covered road to revenge,with the added 90 seconds,also finally allowing the film to deliver its bare-knuckle punches.
Kicking the movie into high-gear right from the start,with a stylish credits scene that is covered in waves of Dennis Dreith's hummable theme tune,director Mark Goldblatt brilliantly shows Frank Castle being unable to find a place to free himself from the darkness in his heart,thanks to Goldblatt showing that the slime which is rotting the city away is not being hidden underground,but instead overflowing the entire city,with Goldblatt keeping primary colours away until the very end,(where Frank may be about to gain retribution) so as to show that the bleak,filthy city is reflecting Castle's own darkness.
Keeping the plot pretty straight forward,the screenplay by Boaz Yakin contrasts the stern,nail-gun nihilism that Castle displays by making each of the Yakuza (who by pure chance,are all martial arts experts!) and Gianni's gang wonderfully deranged and completely unlikeable,with every single member of the gangs being more than happy to shoot/stab the other in the back at the merriest whiff of being "the boss" of a piece of turf,who if they are extra lucky,may also be looked upon as the person who destroyed The Punisher's rampage of revenge.
Despite not wearing the "Skull t-shirt" that has become the trademark of the character,Dolph Lundgren still gives an excellent performance,that along with having Lundgren show some impressive fighting skills,also allows Dolph to get surprisingly deep to the heart of Castle,with a great,non-fighting scene between The Punisher and his former,fellow cop Jake Berkowitz (played by a very good Louis Gossett Jr.) being a particular highlight of the film.Along with getting to the inner turmoil of Castle,Lundgren makes The Punisher's road to revenge one that is a gritty,action packed thriller,with The Punisher being shown to do everything from blowing up a gangsters entire mansion,to stabbing a Yakuza with a lampoon,as he shows to each of them,that none of them will escape unpunished. -
The violence is ludicrous, the plot inane and the dialog insipid. I couldn't even find a way to laugh at the ridiculous quality of this movie. Shame on Louis Gossett Jr. for lending his talent to this one. Dolf Lundgren is his normal untalented self.
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tarbosh2200030 November 2011Following the basic thread of the Marvel comics "anti-hero", the 1989 Punisher film recounts the now well-known tale of cop Frank Castle (Lundgren), a decent man whose family is murdered by Mafiosi. So being the radically awesome dude he is, not only does he get revenge on the scumbags that killed his family, he discovers that vengeance-based hatred of evildoers is like Lay's potato chips: you can't murder just one. So he goes to live in the sewer system and dedicates his life to exterminating bad guys, mainly Mafia types.
As the tale plays out, we see a gradually developing mob war between the Yakuza, led by the frightening Lady Tanaka (Miyori), and the Franco family of Italian gangsters, led by Gianni Franco (Krabbe). As their war for turf and money and such escalates, the Punisher is there too, picking them off like so many cockroaches. When the children of the Italian Mafiosi are kidnapped and imprisoned, it's up to the Punisher to save them, showing he has a human side and isn't a remorseless killing machine. In an interesting plot occurrence, Castle must actually team up with his despised enemy Franco in order to rescue Franco's son Tommy (Rooney). Meanwhile, grizzled cop Jake Berkowitz (Gossett) has been following Castle's "career" for years and has teamed up with a new partner, Leary (Everhard), intent on finding him. Can the Punisher get any more awesome? Lundgren was the perfect choice to play The Punisher. Especially when you add the black hair and stubble, his square jaw and outfit, he looks like a comic character (He was also perfectly cast as He-Man for Masters of the Universe, 1987). Speaking of which, the body count in this movie is ridiculously high. Between this, Invasion USA (1985) and No Dead Heroes (1986), the earth has been severely depopulated. But despite the dark tone, this is the type of movie where you cheer every time a baddie bites the big one. The antagonists are made to hiss and boo at, and all the many henchmen are bumped off in a variety of different ways and in different locations, so the copious murders never get boring. Sure, there are countless deaths, but they're FUN deaths. Castle is even "credited" with killing 125 people before the movie even starts.
There are some classic bits, such as the obligatory torture scene, and the drug deal at the docks we've seen many times, but the idea of Mafia vs. Yakuza vs. The Punisher is just too cool. And the movie, thankfully, lives up to that cool idea. We get "motorcycle cam" of Castle riding around on his chopper, and even the bad guys have a nifty hideout worthy of any James Bond film. Of course, we'd be remiss if we left out the wacky sidekick. This time around it's Shake (Otto), a drunken former actor that rhymes most of his lines. The equivalent character is the one "Newman" played in Punisher: War Zone (2008).
Louis Gossett Jr. always brings the goods and here is no exception. He and Dolph must be buddies, as they teamed up again for Cover-Up (1991)...perhaps Gossett wasn't available for The Peacekeeper (1997) so they somehow rounded up Montel Williams to fill his seat. But the heavyweight Gossett can't be easily replaced. For the main baddie they scored a classy actor in Jeroen Krabbe, who, if anything, seems even more evil in his stonewashed jean jacket.
On the technical end, this is a New World film, shot mainly in Australia. It was directed by Mark Goldblatt, the man responsible for Dead Heat (1988), the love it-or-hate-it Treat Williams vehicle (we love it). Now for the important part: the U.S. VHS is cut, shorn of many violent bits. If you're going to buy this film, and we recommend you do, you have to get the 2-Disc Austrian DVD on the XT Video label. It comes in a hardshell box, and contains the uncut film on one disc, and the "workprint" on the other, along with some extras. Even though we had previously seen the VHS, to re-watch it on this DVD was a revelation. For a movie that revolves around violence so strongly, it would be crazy to see any other version.
To quote Exodus, it's "good friendly violent fun" so add the (XT Video) DVD to your collection today! For more action insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com -
skallisjr23 May 2005Relatively few comic-book-based films are true to their origins. For instance, Spoilers follow.
In the first Batman film, The Joker is killed In the second, The Penguin dies. The Swamp Thing films strayed significantly from their ... roots. So, okay: this version is markedly different from the comic book.
Within that context, the film is entertaining. Dolph Lundgren plays a laconic Punisher, who finds himself in the middle of a war between two crime organizations. As with the second version of Blade, our hero finds himself in a reluctant alliance with some of his enemies to confront a more dangerous group of enemies.
Actually, where the newer film (remake?) gives a better origin story, it takes forever to get going; this one gets right into the action. Rather like the Hamlet soliloquy in The Last Action Hero. -
Quinoa198410 August 2010The original Punisher movie angered some comic book fans at the likeness; this Punisher, played by Dolph Lundgren, doesn't have that trademark skull shirt (this is still debatable as to if it's needed, though it is the only real way of *seeing* the character as an iconic anti-hero form the comics). But there really are more legitimate reasons to find the film, directed by Mark Goldblatt and written by Boaz Yakin, flawed and not satisfying some twenty years after its release. It still carries that "80's" action feel and not always in a good way. Some of the story its just silly, even if it is based off the comics, such as Frank Castle having as his place of residence after his wife and son are killed being the sewers. Unless you're a Ninja Turtle, does it make much sense to squat in the sewers? Perhaps if you're into being naked and meditating before going out and killing whatever comes one's way.
There's a lot of violence in this Punisher, but only a handful of instances where the action really connects on a "YES!" level. There's a shootout at at a harbor between lots of bad-guys (Castle looking on with a sniper's view) and it's competently staged and with some brutal blood, but its not really exciting. There's a scene where Frank Castle, on the look-out for the last BIG mob to kill (this being the Yakuza or whatever), finds the children of the mobsters that have been kidnapped by the Yakuza-whatevers, and gets them on a bus. There's a near-great chase here, kind of like the switcharoo of the climax of Dirty Harry. There's some decent acting (decent but only on-par with other action vehicles of the period) between Lou Gossett Jr and Lundgren when he is finally captured (for the moment) and is scolded for his form of vengeance.
And there's the climax, but that starts to unravel and go between the silly pre-Kill Bill style theatrics of action staged rampantly among dojo-looking sets, and some legitimate drama involving the son of the BIG baddie who did such horrors onto Castle's family. A lot of the plot is very basic so it's not even worth repeating here, but worse is anything resembling decent acting. Lundgren does alright with his character, but rarely do we see any life put into him. In a seemingly daring scene where Lundgren is tied up and threatened with some weapon that might cut off his arm or other, there's not much drama because of how lax the actor looks in the scene. When he's over-the-top, Lundgren can do wonders. As a simple hero going through the beats, it's just... OK.
The whole film is really overall just OK, but will this be alright for Punisher fans who come to this after the two recent 21st century offerings that have left some wanting more (the Thomas Jane and Ray Stevenson Punisher movies)? Perhaps. It is guilty-pleasure territory with a good deal of its awfully ramped up violence and kills, and some of the baddie-acting crosses over into delicious camp. But not quite enough really; when it comes to that era of Marvel movies before they really started to come into their own in the late 90's and early 00's (think Howard the Duck and the unreleased Fantastic Four, or 1992 Captain America while we're at it), it's one of the better ones, but that isn't saying much. 5.5/10 -
Kenneth Hitt26 May 2003No, this is not CITIZEN KANE. But it is an entertaining film that did make a somewhat unbelievable Marvel "hero" to celluloid.
Lundgren plays Frank Castle, a former NYPD detective (originally a military special ops expert in the comic) who loses his family to a mob hit. This pushes his already unstable personality over the edge, and he becomes a one-man judge, jury, and executioner. The VERY underrated Louis Gossett Jr. plays his former partner, determined to find him and keep him out of the gas chamber.
This movie is quite a decent action film. It actually delves quite deeply into the characters' motivations, their histories, their personalities. I agree with earlier comments that, out of the lot of action stars, Lundgren does bring at least some dramatic chops to the role. I really couldn't imagine Schwarzenegger playing this part, though Stallone or Willis might have been better choices.
The action sequences are done quite well for a low-budget film. The director, Mark Goldblatt, served as editor on films such as TERMINATOR 1 & 2, the underrated PREDATOR 2, TRUE LIES, STARSHIP TROOPERS, ARMAGEDDON, and PEARL HARBOR, so he definitely has knowledge of how to properly compose an action sequence. He also served as Paul Verhoeven's 2nd Unit Director on the original ROBOCOP.
The movie is rather tough to find, and though it strays away a bit from the source material, it does manage to flesh out a rather one-dimensional character.
A new version of THE PUNISHER is now being prepped, starring DREAMCATCHER's Thomas Jane as Frank Castle and directed by Jonathan Hensleigh. -
mvilla11 February 2001Aside from missing the trademark skull outfit,you can't deny that Dolph looks like the Punisher. This isn't supposed to be anything more than an action movie,and thats what makes it work. Sure,there are some pretty lame lines uttered,but when it comes to action,this movie delivers the goods. Production values are good and so is the score. If the X-Men movie had had this much action,maybe it wouldn't have been so boring and worthless.
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I like all there new Marvel comic book adaptations,they are fun,but as far as casting goes the best two were Christopher Reeves as Superman and Dolph Lungdren as the Punisher.
This is a gritty and very violent movie. Tha action is fast and furious and most of the characters are hard to like...a dark movie. Castles, as most of you know, has had his family killed by the Mafia,he goes on a killing rampage as the Punisher...125 dead in 5 years and just does not care...that is the background story.
In this movie the Mafia is so weakened by Castles that the Yakuza have stepped in and are taking over, Mafia children are kidnapped and people are dying by the dozen as castle does his thing...Lost of knifes in bodies and lots of lead poisonings in a short compact action film.
Neat story,a tortured and emotionally close to dead Dolph Lungdren and good supporting cast makes this one of Dolph better efforts and certainly worth digging up if you can find it. -
Fluke_Skywalker23 April 2015Dolph Lundgren, either by choice or deficiency, plays Frank Castle (AKA The Punisher) with all the intensity of someone who has a very, very bad hangover. It's one thing for an anti-hero to be laconic, quite another to be almost catatonic. As always, co-star Louis Gossett Jr. gives a performance that suggests that he believes he's in a much better film, here playing Castle's former Partner Jake Berkowitz (I'm guessing the character was named before Mr. Gossett was cast).
This first cinematic incarnation of Marvel's 'The Punisher' is moderately diverting when something is being kicked, cut, shot or blown up, but sadly they decided to let people talk as well. -
BeneCumb22 July 2013Rather often movies based on comic strips end up dumb as they do not satisfy the interests both comic fans and non-fans, especially during non-digital era when special effects were nothing special. The Punisher does not include supernatural phenomena - although many scenes related to appearance and disappearance of the vigilante Frank Castle are not very feasible - but focuses on punishing the bad not convicted by courts, the idea being so popular since the Death Wish series. The plot has some nice twists and fighting scenes are catchy to follow. Dolph Lundgren has proper character to play and is better than usual, inclusion of decent actors such as Louis Gossett, Jr., Jeroen Krabbé, Kim Miyori provides additional value to the movie.
Thus, not a bad movie, and a must to admirers of Lundgren and those not tired of the 1980ies filming and outfit style. -
This is a gripping story of one man's vendetta. An ex-cop named Frank Castle(Dolph Lundgren) whose family is wiped by a mobster(Jeroen Krabbe), executes a revenge, originating a bodycount with several enemies. Frank is moved to brutal violence and metes out his own justice when his wife and sons are murdered. He kills 125 baddies in five years, as tells a TV newsreader and still going on. Meanwhile, he attempts to stop the Japanese mafia ruled by Lady Tanaka(Kim Miyori). Castle sets out to killing gangsters, such as an one army man. Frank's ex-partner named Jake(Louis Gossett) and a cop(Nancy Everhard) try to catch him.
The picture packs action packed, thrills, shootouts, chills and lots of violence and explosion. The tale bears a remarkable resemblance with Charles Bronson films of the series 'Death wish', for the matter, the vengeance,as the starring becomes a hit man and making as judge, jury and executioner and no better the mobsters he's pursuing. Adapted for a Marvel Comics Group character and written and drawn by Gerry Conway and consultant by the famous Stan Lee. Exhibited direct to video in United States, though in Europe showed in theatres years later being realized. The movie is set in US but filmed in Australian Outback. The motion picture is professionally directed by Mark Goldblatt, he's a prestigious editor and occasionally director(Dead heat). This adaptation was a flop and obtained lukewarm reception by the public. The recent and superior version(2004) directed by Jonathan Hensleigh and starred by Thomas Jane, Rebeca Romijin Stamos and John Travolta achieved much success in the box office, in spite of the extreme violence and crude scenes. It's a must see for Dolph Lundgren fans. -
ultimate_dare_devil30 June 2002i thought that the punisher was a good movie adaptation of the comic book, it was dark and gritty and came across as more of a internal stuggle story rather than an all out action flick with bad dialog and worse acting, in my opinion this was a well made film but had some low points, mostly costume errors.
good film, not fantastic a 7 out of 10 -
iquine10 January 2019(Flash Review)
Who cares what the plot is about, the acting was gruesomely awful. The editing was choppy and the dialog even worse. Aside from this one good line was when a cop asks The Punisher "what do you call 125 murders {of guilty crime members} over five years?" "A work in progress.", in Dolph's accent. There have been a lot of bad 80's fluff action movies but this is scraping the bottom of the barrel, which says a lot!! If you want to see Dolph in his prime while shooting and blowing some stuff up, then by all means, give it a shot. And how many Punisher branded mini swords does he have to throw into people's chests!? haha -
When "The Punisher" first hit video racks in 1989, I was a rabid teenage comic book collector, and at the time "The Punisher" was one of my favorite Marvel titles. I had a huge collection of "Punisher" comics and never missed an issue, so needless to say, I was quite stoked to finally see Frank Castle hit the big screen (or I suppose I should say "small screen"). Unfortunately, on my first viewing of "The Punisher" I absolutely HATED it. I was so infuriated at how the producers played fast-and-loose with the character's back story and mythology that I actually wrote a letter to Marvel listing off my complaints about the inaccuracies in the film ("Why wasn't Frank wearing the Skull Emblem? Why was he living in the sewers like a damned Mutant Ninja Turtle? He's not an ex-cop, he's an ex-Marine! Where was the War Wagon? Where was Microchip?" etc., etc...)... what can I say, I was young, and Hell hath no fury like an Enraged Geek.
Twenty years have gone by, I'm now a retired Comic Book Geek (I sold off the bulk of my collection, including my "Punisher" books, in the late '90s), and one day I came across Dolph's "Punisher" in the $5 bin at Wal-Mart. I had only vague memories of the film by this point so I figured "Ehhh, what the hell." Now that enough time has passed that I can separate this film from the original source material (I'm still convinced that when New World Pictures obtained the "Punisher" license, they didn't bother to read any of the comics -- they just plugged the characters' names into a generic action movie script they already had laying around in a drawer somewhere), I actually enjoyed "The Punisher" a lot more than I did back in the day. It's still "The Punisher" in name only, and the lack of attention to detail still bugged me a little, but on its own merits, "The Punisher" was a pretty decent B-grade action movie. If carnage is your thing, this flick will definitely satisfy in spades. There are crazy gun battles seemingly every two minutes (using approximately 50,000 shell casings per frame of film), martial arts smackdowns with ninjas, a surprising amount of gore, and decent stuntwork for what was obviously a low budget film. I've never been a big fan of Dolph Lundgren but I have to admit he captured the haunted, tortured look in Frank Castle's eyes and he did present a hell of an imposing figure, stalking the underworld in black leather biker gear and carrying Big F'n Guns. The storyline is silly at best (in a nutshell, Frank's war against the Mafia is interrupted by the arrival of a new gang from the Japanese Yakuza who wish to muscle in on the territory, leading Frank into an uneasy truce with his former targets in order to eliminate their common enemy) but the actors play their roles well (particularly the Japanese actress who portrayed the insane Yakuza head Lady Tanaka and the ever-reliable Louis Gossett Jr., adding yet another Angry Cop role to his resume as Castle's former police partner) and the amount of pyrotechnics thrown on screen will ensure the viewer never gets bored.
I still have not seen either of the two recent "Punisher" films that supposedly are more faithful to the character's comic book origins, but I'll probably get to them one of these days. As of right now, this early draft has shot up a few notches in my estimation and I'd say it would make a decent rental/purchase for the action junkies out there. Ignore the ramblings of the Comic Book Geeks who hate this movie. I should know, I used to be one of them.