Punisher: War Zone Review [2]
Posted by Shawn S. Lealos on 12.11.2008
Is the third attempt at bringing The Punisher to the big screen good enough to gun down its predecessors?
Director - Lexi Alexander
Writer - Nick Santora, Art Marcum, Matt Holloway
Cinematographer - Steve Gainer
Cast
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
Rated R for pervasive strong brutal violence, language and some drug use
Take one part Batman, one part Dick Tracy and one part Rambo, throw them into a blender and hit the button and you end up with Punisher: War Zone, one of the most violent yet fun movies of 2008. This, the third iteration of the Punisher to hit cinemas, finally gets it right. The character is not a goof, he is not someone who finds himself at odds with his purpose in life and he is not someone who must struggle to defeat his foes. Frank Castle, The Punisher, is someone who kills every bad guy who crosses his path, without remorse.
Punisher: War Zone pays off the fans of the comic book in spades.
2008 has now been bookended with two of the most violent movies I have seen in ages. Rambo opened in January and brought back the ultimate killing machine to do what he does best - kill evildoers and save innocents. Now in December, The Punisher has been revived to do what he does best - shoot bad guys, blow bad guys up, stab bad guys to death and at one point, punch a bad guy’s face in. I mean literally punch a guy so hard, his face caves in. However, unlike Rambo, Punisher: War Zone does everything with its tongue firmly planted in cheek. Rambo was all about the excesses of violence. Punisher: War Zone is about comic book violence that is created to bring a cheer to your lips at one point and drop your jaw to the floor in the next. It is brilliance.
The movie opens with a comic paneled title sequence that brings memories of Ang Lee’s Hulk to mind. During this opening sequence we learn the head of a crime syndicate has been released from custody when the key witness was gunned down before he could testify. We then cut to the coming home party where family and associates of the crime lord gather for a dinner. Among those in attendance is his nephew Billy Russoti (Dominic West), a vain arrogant man who would rather admire himself in a mirror than look at the man he is speaking to. When these people talk, you get the feel that this movie is comic in tone, almost a parody of The Godfather. The accents are so over-the-top, you can’t take anything in this scene seriously.
The family sit down for dinner, the lights go out, and the Punisher appears. He kills every person in the house in gory, gratuitous excess. The only people to escape are Billy and his three right hand men. You see the death of everyone at the dinner table close up and it is the true definition of gratuitous.
The Punisher follows these three men to a warehouse that looks like it came straight out of Dick Tracy. When he gets inside, he opens fire again, killing one of the three henchmen and tossing Billy into a machine used to shred glass before turning it on. Billy survives but his face is disfigured beyond repair, resulting in his new moniker Jigsaw. Unfortunately for The Punisher, the henchman he killed was an undercover FBI agent and this brings another agent (Colin Salmon) seeking justice against Frank Castle for the murder of his friend. The rest of the movie sets up the story where The Punisher must hunt down Billy and his men before they are able to seek vengeance against the widow and daughter of the FBI “rat,” while avoiding the FBI agent hot on his tail.
I was worried about Ray Stevenson taking on the role of Frank Castle. This was nothing against the man, who had been wonderful on the HBO series Rome. My problem was I am one of the people who loved Thomas Jane’s portrayal of Frank Castle in the previous movie. That movie had a weak script, but Jane was spot on perfect as Castle. Well, my fears were all for naught. While I still feel Jane was great as Frank Castle, I think Stevenson did a fine job as The Punisher. All dialogue was kept to a minimum and he was great as a grizzled badass who is growing weary after years of killing every bad guy in the town.
The true stars of the movie are the bad guys, who raised the level of crazy every time they stepped into the limelight. Dominic West was great as Jigsaw, channeling Jack Nicholson’s Joker and looking like he is having the time of his life in this role. However, I feel he is upstaged by the man playing his brother Loony Bin Jim. Doug Hutchinson, who is best known for his portrayal of the asshole prison guard Percy in The Green Mile, is entertaining as hell playing a serial killer/cannibal/fucking psycho nut bag. I mean this guy is about fifty cards short of a full deck and is just bat shit crazy. Think of the craziest villain you have seen in a movie and you might be close to Loony Bin Jim. The guy is great!
It was said prior to the film’s release, the studio was scared that director Lexi Alexander was making something they would not be able to sell. This is the same studio that refused to release Midnight Meat Train in any kind of decent way. My guess is Lionsgate is scared of violent movies. In interviews Alexander said she stood her ground and would not cut any of the violence out of the movie. That is gutsy for a young director, but I am glad she did it. Yes, the movie is ultra violent, but it is done in such a way that you watch it with a big grin on your face.
There is a scene in the movie where The Punisher is hunting down a group of henchmen who are constantly hopped up on meth and like to do flippy flips around roof tops for fun. You would assume after seeing them doing their crazy summersaults, there would be a big kung fu type fight with The Punisher. Alexander did not go in that direction and when The Punisher kills the first of these guys, I openly cheered. That is something I don’t do much, but God it was a great scene. There are so many of those scenes where the violence is over-the-top, but it is done in such a way that you can’t help but clap. Alexander did a great job balancing the gore with the humor and created a fantastic movie as a result.
The 411: The Punisher: War Zone is a hard movie to sell. It is the story of a man who kills every bad guy he finds. However, Alexander found a way to create a movie that allows the character to operate in the way fans of the comic book expect him to act, while at the same time entertaining people who may have never heard of the character before stepping into the theater. This is not a masterpiece, but is a tremendously fun movie and one that I can’t imagine you would leave without a giant smile on your face.
