The Punisher

I went to see this movie solely because Thomas Jane is in it, who is my latest celeb crush after seeing Stander. I don't read comics, and therefore knows nothing of the comicbook hero, The Punisher/Frank Castle. I didn't expect much, same as I wouldn't (and didn't) of movies like Batman, Catwoman, or The Hulk. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I was actually impressed! (Not easy to do) The dramatic and violent story was amazingly well balanced with the comedy and one-liners. The violence was not half as bad as I expected (although the one with the guillotine and the one with the knife through the chin at the end a bit unsettling...) And I appreciated being spared explicit lovescenes or a corny romance between Frank and Joan. Even the swearing was piped down considerably. Of course, this is not Oscar material, but the acting was satisfying, and the story not bad at all. One to enjoy...

After Frank Castle's family are slaughtered by vengeful crime lord Howard Saint, and Castle himself is left for dead, he plots revenge, or possibly suicide, while drinking heavily in a seedy rooming house in the company of several lame ducks. This film is partially adapted from the Garth Ennis/Steve Dillon Punisher comic Welcome Back Frank, and is done very well. Essentially a dark revenge story, Castle is a tragic character, well played by Thomas Jane. Yet Ennis' sly black humour is alse here, particularly in the form of Ben Foster's Spacker Dave, an apparently worthless character who acquires an awareness of his own worth during the film. John Travolta is vile as Saint, and thoroughly merits being punished. This is on of the better pre-MCU movies.

This wonderful revenge film was acted and directed with complete conviction but still found the time to kick ass. This is one of the best movies I have seen this year and I go to at least one movie a week. The acting was good. I would recommend this movie to everyone. I thought it was going to be some type of 80's action movie, but it turned out to be great movie aimed towards an older crowd. The beginning is a bit slow, but the action really keeps you focused. Thomas Jane did an excellent job as the Punisher and Travolta's performance was much better than I was expecting. This is a movie that thinks so deeply about its conflicts and decisions that there are times when the audience itself feels like it has a personal stake in the outcome. This is by far the best film in the reinvigorated sub-genre of comic-book-to-screen conversions.

Plot In A Paragraph: Retired under cover agent Frank Castle (Thomas Jane) goes on a murderous rampage after his family are all killed on the orders of a money launderer (John Travolta) in revenge for his son dying during his last case. I liked this movie quite a lot, it has some very funny dark humour and a great score. I quite like Thomas Jane as an actor, and think it's a shame what happened to him over the Stallone movie "Bullet To The Head" as I think he would have made the movie better. He does a superb job of all of Frank Castle's various emotions. He deserved to be getting he bigger and better roles than he is. Will Patton does OK as Travolta's right hand man and best friend. For his brief time on screen, Roy Scheider brings style and panache to the overblown violent proceedings early on. But I thought Travolta was at his hammiest. Definitely not one of his finest moments. I'm surprised this never got a sequel.

This is a cool movie based on a comic book, but with a lot of interesting details added making it a cult favorite. Panned by ideologically possessed critics due to its endorsement of vigilante justice, this movie has such cool original details like country music guitar assassin, Russian cartoon-like strongman, a bit dim north of the eyebrows, and some wooden acting by JohnTra volta. Criminally underrated, so I am giving extra points for that.