Punisher: War Zone Review

Posted by Bryan Kristopowitz on 12.07.2008

One of the greatest B-movies ever made?

"Punisher: War Zone" Review

Ray Stevenson- Frank Castle/The Punisher
Dominic West- Billy Russoti/Jigsaw
Doug Hutchison- Loony Bin Jim
Colin Salmon- Paul Budiansky
Wayne Knight- Micro
Dash Mihok- Martin Soap
Julie Benz- Angela Donatelli
Stephanie Janusauskas- Grace
Marck Camacho- Pittsy
Romano Orzari- Nicky Cavella
Directed by Lexi Alexander
Screenplay by Nick Santora, Art Marcum, and Matt Holloway
Distributed by Lionsgate
Rated R for pervasive strong brutal violence, language and some drug use.
Runtime- 107 minutes
Website: http://www.punishermovie.com/

"Punisher: War Zone," directed by Lexi Alexander and starring Ray Stevenson as Frank Castle, the infamous vigilante known the world over as The Punisher, is one of the greatest B-movies ever made.

Ever.

I know, I know, it seems impossible. This is the third different "Punisher" movie in twenty years, and odds were not good going in that the new flick, which clearly isn't a sequel to the 2004 Thomas Jane movie (which, in and of itself was, at its best, just okay), was going to do anything but suck, blow, and bite, most likely all at the same time. But that didn't happen. No, "Punisher: War Zone" manages to do dang near everything right. It is a B-movie masterpiece that absolutely needs to be seen on the big screen.

Well, that's all fabulous and well and good and all, but why is it one of the greatest movies ever made? Why exactly does it deserve such a lofty designation? For two very good reasons, which I'll elaborate on in a minute, but before I get into all that, I will admit up front that most people are probably going to be generally turned off by what happens from beginning to end, as the flick is incredibly violent. But then again, "Punisher: War Zone" is a movie about a one man war on organized crime, a story about a destroyed human being willing to alienate the laws of civilized society to take on the criminal underworld in a way that would make civilized society cringe, fret, and then vomit from all of the cringing and fretting. In other words, the flick is like a really blood soaked slasher movie where it's absolutely essential for you to root for the killer because, well, most everyone else dies fairly quickly so you couldn't grow attached to them even if you wanted to. It's the only way you can actually enjoy what you see happening on screen.

The flick opens up with Stevenson's Castle infiltrating an elaborate local mob dinner, killing just about every goddamn thing in the main dining room (he shoots people, he stabs people, he brutally snaps a fat woman's neck two times, just to make sure she's dead, he rams a table leg into a guy's eye socket), and then walking out to "complete" the "hit" at a nearby dock/recycling center type place, where the new mob boss (because Castle just killed pretty much everyone else in the mob at the dinner) Billy Russoti (Dominic West), is beginning to shore up the overall operation (or you could just call it "doing mob stuff"). So Castle enters the dock and immediately starts shooting. Sadly, he accidentally shoots an undercover FBI agent (Castle had no idea the guy was an undercover FBI agent). But he can't worry about the immediate implications of that action at that very second as there are other, more deserving people to kill, inlcuding Russoti. More shooting ensues, Russoti ends up falling into a swirling glass recycling machine thing, Castle turns the machine on, Russoti gets cut to ribbons, and FBI SWAT team shows up, and Castle escapes.

A few hours later, while recovering from the hit in his underground subway hideout, Castle realizes what he's done and starts to feel extreme guilt and remorse. Killing mob scumbags is just fine and dandy, but killing an FBI agent, a guy out in the field, one of the "good guys" just doing his damn job, you just don't do that. So Castle starts to wonder if he can keep up his one man crusade and if he can provide some kind of restitution to the dead agent's family (his wife Angela, as played by Julie Benz, and her young daughter Grace, as played by Stephanie Janusauskas). Meanwhile, the cut up Russoti, who should have freaking died, isn't dead. He's hiding out, undergoing plastic surgery to fix up his gnarled face and planning his next mob boss move. Sadly for Russoti, because of his extreme facial injuries, the plastic surgeon couldn't "fix" his face back to what it was before the glass machine. To put it mildly, even after surgery, Russoti is still horribly disfigured (but at least he has a face, eyes, a nose, etc). Incredibly pissed off about his predicament, Russoti decides right then and there that Billy Russoti is essentially dead. His new name will be Jigsaw. And Jigsaw's first order of business, after yanking his brother Loony Bin Jim (Doug Hutchinson) from the insane asylum, will be to track down the Punisher and destroy him.

And while all of this is happening, FBI agent Paul Budiansky (Colin Salmon) has decided, with the support of his superiors due to the death of the undercover FBI agent, to spend more time helping the NYPD search for the Punisher. Budiansky wants the Punisher to go down and go down hard, but he's not sure he can trust the NYPD to be as dogged in pursuit as he will be, since the lone member of the Punisher task force is Martin Soap (Dash Mihok), who is one of the most inept cops in law enforcement history. So what's going to happen? Will Castle decide to hang up the bullet proof skull breast plate and the myriad of really cool weaponry at his disposal? Will Jigsaw exact revenge on the man who cut him up so badly he makes Matt "Maniac Cop" Cordell look like Brad Pitt? Will Budiansky and Soap actually get anywhere in their pursuit of the most brutal and prolific vigilante in New York City history?

Ray Stevenson is pitch perfect as Frank Castle, the Punisher. He actually surpasses Dolph Lundgren, who is now the second best Punisher ever (and that's just because "Punisher: War Zone", as a whole, is a better movie than the 1989 "Punisher." Dolph is still a great Punisher and, side-by-side, in a kind of tale of the tape type deal, he's equally as cool as Stevenson. And I still love the 1989 "The Punisher." Great flick). He has a great look, he doesn't look ridiculous in the Punisher get up, and he looks like he can, in fact, kill you with one deft move and a throwing knife or a gun or a table leg. He's also excellent in the flick's quiet moments where Castle has to figure out if he wants to keep going (the flashback scenes featuring Castle's family before they were killed after accidentally witnessing a mob hit are quite touching in a great B-movie way). And the bit where he gives little Grace a flashlight is brilliantly played (it's a corny bonding scene but it works). I know I wasn't all that hopeful when it was announced that Stevenson was the new Castle (I didn't want Jane to come back, but at least we knew what we were getting with him for a sequel). Now I feel like an idiot because Stevenson is just freaking awesome.

Dominic West is hilarious as Billy Russoti/Jigsaw. West is clearly having the time of his life playing the over the top cartoon mob villain and as soon as you get used to the accent (which I thought was meant to be a joke at first but it's actually an integral part of the character. You wouldn't believe in the character if he had a "Southern" accent) you're likely to enjoy him more and more as he chews the scenery like a woodchipper chews up wood. Doug Hutchinson is outstanding as Loony Bin Jim. As his name suggests, Jim (or "James," as Jigsaw calls him) is out of his freaking mind. When he isn't slamming his body into mirrors and jumping around like a monkey he's engaging in cannibalism (yeah, cannibalism. This flick goes there). Mark Camacho and Romano Orzari, as Jigsaw henchmen Pittsy and Nicky Cavella, are superb as the bad guy comic relief. Pittsy is an old school mob guy who just wants to do his job with no hassles, and Nicky is a young mob guy who can't stop snorting cocaine. They have great chemistry together.

Colin Salmon is decent as Budiansky (we don't get to see all that much of him since he's really a subplot character at best, but what he does is good stuff, he gets to have a nice little street fight with Castle, and I imagine that if there is a sequel we'll see more of him) and Dash Mihok is funnier than hell as Soap. Soap's got the best job in the world. All he does is get paid to make profiles, file stuff in his basement office, and eat pizza. Who the hell wouldn't want to be that idiot?

And then there's Wayne Knight as Micro, the Punisher's armorer and only real friend. Knight's performance is fine, but he doesn't get enough to do. I wanted to see a more proactive Micro, a guy more involved in the Punisher's missions. I hope, like Budiansky, that the character comes back in a sequel in some form because, again, I want to see more of Micro.

Now, onto the why "Punisher: War Zone" is one of the greatest movies ever made thing I mentioned earlier. After about an hour (or maybe it's like fifty minutes in or so. It's close to the end of the middle of the movie), Castle punches a guy in the face and his fist actually goes through the guy's head. Then, about fifteen seconds later, Castle shoots a guy in the head with a shotgun at point blank range, blowing the guy's head off. And we get to see each act in all of its up close and gory glory. There's no cut away, there's none of that quick cut bullstuff shielding us from the nastiness at hand. We get to see it all. And that's why the flick deserves its new lofty position (quick note: for me, any movie that features a scene where a guy gets shot in the head with a shotgun at point blank range and we get to see it, regardless of how bad the rest of the movie is, is automatically on the list for greatest movies of all time. The flick, when all is said and done, may only achieve the status of "greatest movie ever made honorable mention," but it still gets on the list. That's why Dolph Lundgren's Missionary Man is also one of the greatest movies ever made. Again, this is just my own personal rule. It doesn't have to be yours).

You need to go out, now, right now, and see "Punisher: War Zone." You need to join me in thanking director Lexi Alexander for giving us the best "Punisher" movie to date, and a B-movie masterpiece that will surely be talked about for years to come. Thanks Lexi Alexander.

See it, see it, see it.

So what do we have here? Gratuitous "Marvel Knights" opening logo, gratuitous TV watching, gratuitous guns, gratuitous big ass mob dinner meeting with plenty of black clad bad guy henchmen guarding the grounds, a guy snorting cocaine, gratuitous Dominic West, talking about shitting in a bag, gratuitous Ray Stevenson as the Punisher standing on a big dinner table with a huge flare in his hand scaring the crap out of everyone in the room, gruesome neck breaking, wrist breaking, multiple shots to the head and chest and whatnot, table leg to the eye, gratuitous Punisher hanging from a chandelier and spinning around while shooting two machine guns, gratuitous fixing a broken nose by ramming a pencil up the nose, hip and edgy young guys who flip around, mini crossbow arrow to the neck, gratuitous bad guy falling into a giant swirling glass recycling thing and being cut to pieces, gratuitous full auto Berettas (93R's, like Mack Bolan?), gratuitous the Punisher walking down the street wearing his guns and weapons in full view of the public, gratuitous underground hideout, attempted coffee making, a very sad funeral, gratuitous flashbacks, gratuitous Colin Salmon, gratuitous Wayne Knight, a great Joker from "Batman 1989" parody, scissors to the forehead, gratuitous insane asylum with a disgusting fat guy orderly that likes applesauce, more neck breaking, stomach eating, gratuitous flashlight as a present, mirror smashing, gratuitous Russian mob guys, broken glass stem to the throat, machete through the forehead, guy being hit in mid air with a rocket and exploding, kneecapping, gratuitous metal fence impalement with neck breaking, gratuitous slow motion bad guy walk down an alley, a nice little alley fight, car window destruction, attempted puddle drowning, house destroying, baseball bat to the head, sword to the stomach, dish breaking, gum on the wall, shooting the heads off dolls, a massive punch to the face, point blank shotgun blast to the head with exploding head, a treasure chest full of precious mementos, gratuitous snow globe, gratuitous egg and cheese MRE's, a great speech about military recruiting in troubled neighborhoods, a destroyed head, axe to the chest, gratuitous "ethnic" gangs, gratuitous seeing a priest, grenade in a paint can, nice little homage to Dolph Lundgren's extra ammo hip pouch, exploding room grenade, killing a fat guy on the toilet, arm biting, a nifty bathroom brawl, neck biting, glass shard throwing, two vicious bullets to the head, a massive beatdown, spear through the abdomen, gratuitous fire bath, and a mugger.

Best lines: "Do I fix your make up for you?," "A biological package? I fucking knew it!," "We're not fucking eating with that old shitbag," "Who the fuck are these fongoos?," "What do you want, Micro?," "I fucked up, Micro," "Billy is dead. From now on you call me Jigsaw," "How are we today Loony Bin Jim?," "I'm going to get my applesauce back," "I can't find my red pen," "Let's go inside before I freeze my fucking balls off," "Stay out of my way!," "Look, we gotta get out of here before more pigs show up," "I shit red, white, and blue," "See you in hell. I see you anywhere near hell I'll kick your ass," "Somebody has to punish the corrupt," "Sometimes I'd like to get my hands on God," "Oh, for fuck's sake!," "Frank, she's a kid. Shoot me," "Let mew put you out of my misery," and "Oh, great, now I've got brains splattered all over me."

The 411: "Punisher: War Zone" is an amazing piece of ass kicking B-movie B-movieness. A stunning achievement, the kind of hyper violent action movie that will cause you to, at least once, stand up and yell "Motherfucker!" in absolute glee. Well, I didn't, but I did say it while sitting down. I wanted to stand up. Thank you, Lexi Alexander, for giving us a masterpiece. And you had a good run, Dolph, but there's a new Punisher in town. Ray Stevenson. Yeah.

Final Score:  9.5   [  Amazing ]