Punisher: War Zone

Violent crime chiller about a relentless revenger . This is a gripping story of one man's revenge. An ex-military named Frank Castle (Ray Stevenson) whose family is wiped by a mobster, executes a revenge, originating a high body count with several enemies . Frank sets out to avenge his family, and he becomes a judge, jury and executioner known as "The Punisher". As Castle carries out a bloody vengeance to punish mobsters and his associates in a one man war, as Castle is not willing to give up until those responsible are dead and until he has his revenge . Frank is moved to brutal violence and metes out his own justice when his wife and sons are murdered . He kills a lot of baddies , as tells a TV newsreader and still going on . After hunting down and killing hundreds of violent criminals, Frank Castle, aka The Punisher (Ray Stevenson , though Thomas Jane was originally attached for the lead role, but he turned it down, stating that he thought the script was going in the wrong direction) faces his most deadly foe yet : Jigsaw (Dominic West originally passed on the villain role , Paddy Considine was in talks to play the role, when he came back and accepted to play the part) . Castle sets out to killing gangsters, such as an one army man. Frank's ex-partner named Soap (Dash Mihok) helps him and a Fed named Budiansky(Colin Salmon , whose character was taken from the graphic novel Widowmaker) tries to catch him. Drawing upon all he has learned in twenty years, Castle sets in motion a plan to punish the murderers. Russoti or Jigsaw also wants revenge on Frank so he breaks out his brother (Doug Hutchinson) who is so crazed that he is committed to an asylum, to deal with him.

This exciting picture packs action packed, thrills, shootouts, chills and lots of violence, explosion , gore and guts . The huge body count racked up by Ray Stevenson/The Punisher is 81 confirmed kills, excluding the two cases where he shoots someone "on the same side." 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 acting as a judge, jury and executioner and no better the mobsters he's pursuing . Adapted for a Marvel Comics Group character and written Nick Santora and drawn by Gerry Conway ; being one of the few movies based on a Marvel Comic that doesn't appear as consultant Stan Lee , as seeing as he had absolutely no involvement with the creation of the original Punisher character ; however , here is the usual Avi Arad . Exhibited direct to video in some countries, though in Europe showed in theatres years later being realized . The Punisher movie is distributed by Lionsgate Films, who also distributes the ¨Saw¨ movies , both movies series feature a homicidal villain nicknamed "Jigsaw" and both feature Julie Benz. ¨Sons of Anarchy¨ creator Kurt Sutter wrote an R-rated draft that according to him "taking the Punisher character out of the comic books" and putting him into a real world drama set in the streets of New York. At the very last minute, the studio decided to revert back to Nick Santora's comic-book style script with the intention of creating a sequel from that ; disgusted with the actions by the studio, Sutter was offered a story credit, but refused, and demanded that his name omitted from the final credits. The motion picture was professionally directed by a good director woman , Lexi Alexander (Hooligans).

Other adaptations about this famous comic book are the following : ¨The Punisher¨(1989) by Mark Glodblatt with Dolph Lundgren, Nancy Everhard , Jeroan Krabbe and Louis Gosset Jr , it was a flop and obtained lukewarm reception by the public , though nowadays is well considered . And superior version(2004) directed by Jonathan Hensleigh , 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 . Its sequel was this ¨Punisher : War zone ¨ , it's a must see for Ray Stevenson fans .

Roger Egbert was spot on when he wrote - ""The Punisher: War Zone" is one of the best-made bad movies I've seen". Viewed independently, it is an ultimate men's movie and more fun to watch than all Steven Seagal movies put together. This movie does not hold back on anything like the wimpy Thomas Jane's Punisher, who was more of a schemer than a punisher. That movie had its own reason to be liked in that it was a brave move to bring an ultra-violent (Punisher has even used nuclear bomb to kill an otherwise unkillable villain), gory and very dark comic, which only had a cult following, to the mainstream cinema. While that movie did not feel like a comic book adaptation at all, the story being pretty ordinary and plot being too heavy, war zone is much closer to the source material. Corny situations had corny, and extremely violent solutions. Villains were perfectly cast and did feel like Punisher villains and got what they deserve from a Punisher. The accents were distracting in the beginning, but once you get used to them (which is pretty fast, since everyone uses a fake sounding and bad accent), you stop noticing it and focus on action, which is plenty. Ray Stevenson was a perfect cast and comes across the perfectly believable, imposing and intimidating killing machine as the Punisher. The much-maligned first scene actually set the tone for rest of the movie for me, when Punisher goes on a killing spree on the dining table, killing everyone on the table, men-women alike, in different, but extremely bloody way. That is Punisher for me. Perfect movie for fans of Punisher and violent action movie fans in general.

Those seeking out the sequel to the 2004 Punisher film will probably already know what they are getting into, partly because a quite limited release at cinemas in the UK means it is not easy to stumble into (ironic considering how many Brits are in it). This helps the film because really this is not something that tries to have something for everyone so much as it is a film that knows the target audience and is determined to give them what they want. As a result, the story here is a simple affair of a criminal scarred by the Punisher, going out for revenge while the police are after both of them – it is not the most complex bit of writing you'll ever see but then, it doesn't need to be. Those looking for the Punisher's dark tone to be utilised to try and make this character into a possible "Batman" in regards having a dark psyche at the core of it will be disappointed because the film does no such thing. I was one of these people though and I was at least hoping that more would be made of the rage and loss inside Castle – but again, a few flashbacks aside, he generally just broods around the place full of vengeful justice.

What carries the film then is a series of brutal action sequences and effects shots, all full of callous violence, macho posturing and gun play that rewrites all rules of the real world. At this point it does depend what you are looking for because there are a core of viewers will love the film for this as it delivers exploded head after collapsing face after dismembering and other really graphic acts. For me personally the overdose on excess is all too much and it does leave the film with this very unpleasant air that makes it harder to enjoy. If the violence was a little less graphic or frequently graphic then it would have been easier to actually "enjoy" the big action sequences for what they were, rather than the gore putting me off – although again for some this will be the cherry on the cake. To the casual viewer this excess does give the film an exploitative, careless edge, where all the characters are little more than things waiting to explode and it limits how much we care – not just about the goons but also the main characters.

This further detracts from the dark character of Castle as he becomes just a machine and not a man or even a shadow of a man – and no, staring off moodily into the distance every now and again is not the same thing. At the same time it also limits the more flamboyant and silly side of the film – the side that the hammy Jigsaw needed to play up. You can see it in the excess but also in the Patton reference and other silly things; all of these imply that it should be a little bit camp with the darkness (hence making it a bit more fun and accessible) but it doesn't do this and those that play to this side of it are left just looking silly in a bad way rather than a good way.

Specifically West suffers from this as his comic book villain is lost in the sea of gore. As a Wire fan I do feel a bit for West but his Italian impersonation at the start is awful and, once behind the make-up he can do little but be "a bad man" without much unique about him to make him notable for anything other than what he has done before. Stevenson is not "good" either but he matches the ambition of the film and makes for a big dark presence – which is all the material needs and this he does well. I quite liked Salmon in it because he is one of the few that feels natural – which is a bit of a condemnation on everyone else when you think about Salmon's range generally. Hutchinson matches West by overplaying but again the sense of comic book madness is taken away by the gore.

Punisher War Zone is a basic genre film then. For target audience it will satisfy as it delivers simple characters with simple motivations, a straight-forward plot with lots of action and lots of gore – boxes ticked. However for many casual viewers it will be all too dark and unpleasant as the gore dominates and it makes everything seem a bit less "entertaining" and a lot more like work. The dark tone to the character and the hammy silliness of the villains are lost and the entire film appears to be about exploding heads – great if that is your thing but not so great if not. A noisy Saturday night special with your male friends – but that's all it is.

I really enjoyed The Punisher (2004) though I don't think Thomas Jane made a good Punisher he is a competent enough actor to have pulled it off.

When I heard about this one 4yrs later I had no interest, I was frustrated that it had essentially been rebooted and that Jane was no longer playing Frank Castle.

Here we are 9yrs later I've finally given it a chance and I'm saddened I didn't earlier. Punisher: War Zone is not the brainless action flick cash grab that I expected, in fact it rivals the 2004 version.

For a start Ray Stevenson is perfectly cast as The Punisher, he looks perfect and blows Jane & even Lungren out of the water. He thoroughly takes the role and makes it his amidst a host of great actors and characters.

Extremely violent and quite loyal to the original material this is something I could have gotten behind if it had become a franchise.

I'm not an action junkie, in fact I'd say it is by far one of my least favourite genres but when its done right like it is here it makes for some great entertainment.

Ignore the critics and put the 2004 version aside for a moment, War Zone is a damn decent film.

The Good:

Remarkably violent (As it should be)

Awesome soundtrack

Very competent cast

Ray Stevenson makes a great Punisher

The Bad:

Accents are hit and miss

Recasting/Reebooting so soon after the last movie was a stupid move

Hero is a Christian, villain is an atheist. Overwhelming irony

Jigsaw monologue scene was dumb

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

I would love to see this Punisher added to the Marvel Universe

R-Rated superhero movies were a thing before Deadpool

Julie Benz is ageless

I love this gory wild action extravaganza! Ray Stephenson, Dominic West, and Doug Hutchinson are all great! I like how theirs a bunch that don't like Punisher: War Zone and others that love it. The action sequences are a bit whacky and I admit their is some poor characters otherwise I absolutely love the bulk of the film plus any part with Doug Hutchinson is fantastic. I need to own everything Punisher related at some point I'm a fan of it all.