The Angry Projectionist – ‘Punisher: War Zone’
Tuesday, December 9th, 2008
The Angry Projectionist
Punisher: War Zone – Best Punisher Movie EVER (but what does this really say?)
I’d like to start this off by saying that my expectations weren’t exactly high for this, the third Punisher film adaptation attempt. There was way too much negative buzz about this film to get me too excited. But I have to say; I was pleasantly surprised at how well good ol’ Frank Castle was portrayed this time around
First off, Marvel never disappoints when it comes to an exciting and creatively driven opening credits sequence. Marvel Studios always knock themselves out on the first thirty seconds or so of a film (see also Spider-Man 1.) They manage to really pull The Punisher from the pages of Marvel and fling him up onto the big screen in style. By the time the first scene opened I was already fully immersed in the film, all out of “buncha’ crunch,” and ready to go.
This was easily one of the most violent films I have ever seen (it rivals the most recent Rambo film just to give you a reference as to what I mean.) Castle manages to brutally execute about 50 people before even saying his first line of dialogue. They did the right thing with not wasting their time on a back-story and an origin. Get right to the killing. Shoot first… ask questions later.
This brings me to my next point: There was a bit of buzz during marketing about possibly cutting it down to a pg-13 rating after the success of “Dark Knight.” First of all this is terrible logic. The Dark Knight did well because it pushed the envelope. It went from a cheeky kids film to a semi-brutal slugfest. So to try and tone down The Punisher would be a real shot in the foot.
Now, if they had cut it down for a pg-13 rating, they would be left with maybe 10 minutes worth of a few touching scenes with Castle confronting a young girl, and some beautiful helicopter shots of New York City. This film was brutal, merciless, and at times down right disturbing … I loved it.
The production design of this film was nothing less than beautiful. The color scheme and color saturation looked like it was torn right out of a Steve Dillon comic and thrown up on the screen. However, where the design excelled, the content quality suffered. The action sequences and photography were beautiful, and the violence was… well…artistic, but it just wasn’t all it COULD have been.
The acting at times was rather exhausting. Dominic West’s character reminded me of a cheesy Dick Tracy villain. And there was some accent butchery that made a lot of the dialogue unnecessarily cheesy. Too often, a very dramatic scene was cut up by a very cheeky and lame delivery. . This once again makes me worried about the upcoming “Watchmen” film. While it looks fantastic, how are they going to cram all that story and character development into it and not make it cheesy and lame?
There is also some good news to come out of this film as far as comics go. Usually a film will make the print version of a story suffer due to pandering to new readers. This is very much the opposite. Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon are picking up the War Zone story starting this month. I can’t tell you how excited I am about this. The best writer/artist team is back in the saddle and they are bringing back some exciting characters from the “Welcome Back Frank” storyline. Keep your eyeballs peeled.
Overall this film was a real step forward for The Punisher film franchise. I loved the violence (somewhere Stephen Segal is blushing) and I really liked the style of the film. And I didn’t want to, but I really rather liked Wayne Knight as Microchip. With all it’s shortcomings, it still managed to be the best so far. I hope in the long run The Punisher will continue to see screen time and continue to get better. I give Punisher War Zone two bloody, dislocated thumbs up.
Punisher: War Zone in theaters NOW!
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I wasn’t planning to see this at all, but now I’ll probably rent it.
Great first review.
I only want to see this if its friday night and I have like, five friends with me
@”The Dark Knight did well because it pushed the envelope.”
And hey, having an A-List cast, and being all over the news because one of your big actors died before the movie came out never hurts either.
Anyway, I’m probably in the minority in saying this, but as a non-Punisher fan, I found the last movie to be quite enjoyable. It wasn’t great, but it was definitely something I could take at face value and enjoy. It was better than Daredevil and Elektra, at the very least. In fact, I even enjoyed it more “Hulk” (2003).
The 2004 Punisher film was vastly inferior to both the theatrical and director’s cut of Daredevil; never say otherwise again.
Also, saying that you enjoyed something more than the Ang Lee Hulk implosion is akin to saying you enjoyed something more than a root canal.
Angry Projectionist, you have earned my respect.
Now all we have to do is duct tape Scott to a seat, jam tooth picks under his eye lids, and force him to watch this awesome, awesome movie.
The Dark Knight had a huge opening weekend becuase of Ledger’s death. It stayed at the top of the box office for four weeks becuase it was one of the best films of the past ten years.
I enjoyed the 2004 Punisher film much more than the theatrical version of Daredevil. There you go. :P
Never saw the Director’s cut. But yeah, that’s how it is for me.
@TNN: The opening weekend take of The Dark Knight is 29.9% of the total gross. However, I would say that you give the casual audience too much credit. They rarely rush out to see anything. I’d say weeks 2-4 are precisely when a majority of that “curious” crowd came to peruse the movie to see what it was about. However, I believe that the reason it did as well as it did, was because it held on to a lot larger portion of the audience than a normal movie would have. Ultimately, word of mouth is what gets butts in seats. The movie is what makes them return. In the case of TDK, it had word of mouth before and after the movie ever opened.
Fantastic movie. One of the best ever made. But I have no faith in the general population to recognize that on their own. This was, what, the 6th Batman movie in the last 20 years? We as fans know that it was a completely different league of any of the previous Batman films. However, most people would probably have just assumed that if they weren’t very interested before, they probably would still not be very interested.
Ultimately, it’s a shame that we have to have this discussion. I said that the first weekend. I said, “This movie will go on to be one of the biggest movies of all time. It’s a pity that we will not be able to discuss that without ever knowing for sure how much of it’s audience came just for the death of Heath Ledger.” I like to think it’s no more than 10% of the total audience. But there just isn’t a way to tell for sure.
Still, as much as I love stats, I don’t need them to validate my love for that movie. To me, TDK is the #1 Box Office Smash of all time.
Sabrej- I semi agree with you. Most of the general populace sees movies for the sake of seeing movies. It’s that “I’m bored tonight… wanna go see what’s playing?” mentality. They get to the theater, glaze over at the board and go “ooooh… Dark Knight looked good, everyone says good things about it. And the next show is in 10 minutes. Let’s just see that.” I’ve always said- theaters will never die as long as there are unimaginative daters, and people too old/tired to go to clubs, or live in areas where the theater is the only option opened after 7. But I’m honestly okay with people just going for Heath Ledger. It was a perfect swan song for him. It’s better than the last films of a lot of great actors. And if that’s the only reason so be it. John Candy’s last movie was “Wagon’s East” let’s not forget. And I’m pretty sure Chris Farley’s was “Beverly Hills Ninja.”
I caveat that with saying if Heath gets the Oscar, and they hand it to his little girl I will be crying on Oscar night. I don’t care if people grumble that he only got it because he died, I will cry none-the-less.
I have yet to see Punisher. The only real interest held in it, for me at least, is the fact that it was set in NYC and that a woman was directing it. And I liked the main actor in Rome. It’s definitely rental territory. I’m just not that big of a Punisher fan to begin with either. I didn’t really have too much of a problem with Thomas Jayne. The downfall of the last Punisher movie was more John Travolta, with his ‘evil long hair’ phase than anything else.
Also, I really enjoy the 80’s version. *Ducks tomatoes hurled at head* I just love that they didn’t even put the skull on the t-shirt. Cracks me up every time.
If this makes me a comic snob, so be it. Punisher is #2 on my favorite comic book characters (Yorrick Brown #1, Deadpool #3). He never smiles, hates crime in all forms, has no forgiveness, expertly plans things, brutally kills, and most importantly, has a code. The movie has brutality but that’s about it.
I went into this movie with very low expectations and left feeling even worse. I understand having a source material can be difficult to incorporate into a film. Any fan of an adapted book has felt that. Who hasn’t thought “Hey, the book was better with this part?” It’s hard to separate the two. But if you want to use the source material, use it correctly, as in don’t just throw things into a blender/glass bottle recycling plant and hope to God you have a movie. This movie reminded me so much of the tragedy that was Wanted: action packed sure, fun at times yes. Could’ve been so much more though. In the movie there are 6 stories that could’ve been told (ones that have been written in the Max and earth 616). Instead you get bits and pieces (and at times just a gunshot to the face) that end up nowhere. Iron Man took bits and pieces but made them all fit, a perfect connection between fandom and popular demand. Punisher was stapled and duct taped with pieces all over the place.
It seems the only way Marvel could make a good Punisher film is if they get Garth Ennis to write it and see if Steve Dillion can do animation. Thumbs up to Ray Stevenson though.
End Rant
@ Sunshineyness: Chris Farley’s last movie was Almost Heroes/Dirty Work (both underrated films, came out at about the same time).
@Sunshineyness: Oh, I definitely have no problem with people watching the movie for whatever reason they did it. I just point out that it definitely happened, and the general populace doesn’t deserve credit for discovering the genius of the movie on their own. It’s still one the best ever, and it still deserves everything it got an more. But ultimately, I would’ve liked to have the movie stand on it’s own merits. I’d like an alternate world where I could see how much of it’s success was based on the movie being utterly fantastic.
I didn’t like the first Punisher movie, no where near as good as Daredevil.
I’ll give Punisher 2 a rental.
Grendl- Yes, you are correct. I really should IMDB stuff beforehand, lol. And I agree- Dirty Work is obscenely underrated and hysterical.
Glad to see you coming around, Inigo. But if you love it on DVD, you might regret not having seen it on the big screen…like for the building to building jump for example.
Which is a scene that gets a lot of flak but that I personally loved. It was a MUSCLE scene. I’ll always forgive those.
It’s the BALLERINA scenes I don’t particularly like for my boy Castle. The “spinning chandelier” stuff has to go.
As for Ang Lee’s Hulk, I thought it was a masterpiece. No joke. I think it’s the most BEAUTIFUL super-hero movie ever, with HellBoy a close second. I didn’t say the “best”; I said “beautiful”.
I LOVED a “tortured Banner” even if it made for an arduous film. But for me, it was important that it BUILDS UP slowly…and slowly inside Banner.
Until it finally popped.
I LOVED it. The army, he fights! The whole DANG army! Jumping across the desert in TRUE Hulk leaps, I was in tears.
Guess Mr.Lee made that movie for me alone.
As for Castle in War Zone, question is: Did he deliver?
I’d say he did.
Peace
I agree that Ang Lee’s Hulk doesn’t deserve all the crap it gets. It had some of the best editing I’ve seen in a super hero adaptation.
Also, it isn’t “Punisher 2.” It isn’t a sequel of the last version (thank god.) It’s a different, re-imagining of the punisher. The Punisher and Punisher War Zone are two different series, and it shows. This is very much represented in the film. It’s the big tough guy, armed to the teeth Punisher. Not so much the troubled, quiet Punisher.
Daredevil was a better movie than Punisher in the sense that it was a more interesting telling of a superhero origin story. However, it had enough flaws that I genuinely enjoyed Punisher better as a whole movie. “Better” probably isn’t the correct term to use. “More Enjoyable” seems like a more accurate description for me.
I would still say that Daredevil was better and more enjoyable than Punisher for me, especially if we are talking about the Daredevil director’s cut. It adds more of Jon Favreau and Joe Pantoliano, always a good thing. It also cuts out some (but not all) of the clunkiness from the thetrical cut, making the movie more consistent in its tone.
wow you guys have really convinced me to check out Daredevil the directors cut. I never thought I’d say that.