The Punisher (2004)

Directed by: Jonathan Hensleigh | 124 minutes | action, drama, thriller, crime | Actors: Thomas Jane, John Travolta, A. Russell Andrews, Roy Scheider, Omar Avila, James Carpinello, Antoni Corone, Ben Foster, Michael Reardon, Laura Harring, Eddie Jemison, Marco St. John, Marcus Johns

‘The Punisher’ is based on the Marvel comics of the same name. In addition to the Punisher, this publishing house has also brought Spider-Man, Blade, X-Men and Daredevil to the silver screen. The cartoon characters have entered the cinemas with varying degrees of success. Only Spider-Man, Blade and X-Men delivered fairly faithful film adaptations of the cartoons.

After the success of Blade and Spider-Man, Hollywood and Marvel saw that gold could be made with the comics. Soon there was a movie of almost every cartoon character in the pipeline. The same goes for the anti-hero Frank Castle aka The Punisher. Which is very remarkable, since Castle is not a popular superhero with superhuman powers and a noble disposition. Frank Castle is a former Vietnam veteran, in the film a former undercover cop, who goes completely nuts after the brutal murder of his family. Since then, his life has been dominated by revenge. Castle declares war on the underworld, he ‘punishes’ the crime, his moral dividing line between good and evil is very narrow. Castle’s actions usually differ little from those of his enemies. There is not much to see in the character of The Punisher, the readers of the comic buy the comics for the cool action and violent performances of Castle, which he devises with military precision.

The character of Frank Castle is very one-dimensional. The stories of the Punisher series can best be compared to old revenge films from Charles Bronson’s ‘Death Wish’ series. Rock-solid action with a thin storyline, that’s how the comic series can best be described. Almost all of these elements also return in the film adaptation of the comic.

The print approximates the comics fairly faithfully. The casting of action star Thomas Jane as Frank Castle is very well chosen. Jane is not a brilliant actor, but the role of a vengeful, tormented man suits him just fine. His gloomy, empty, cold facial expression, in particular, approaches the look of the comic book version of Frank Castle. Jane’s growling voice is perfect for the character. Granted, the role isn’t Shakespearean material, but Jane’s portrayal of the famous cartoon character is one of the best aspects of the film. John Travolta was cast for the bad guy in the film. Unfortunately, Travolta isn’t very strong in this movie. His acting is rather flat and unmotivated. Travolta is clearly on autopilot. His version of Howard Saint is a shadow of previous villain roles in films such as ‘Face/Off’, ‘Swordfish’ and ‘Broken Arrow’. In previous films, Travolta has jumped off the screen as a villain, in The Punisher he plays a weak mishmash of previous characters.

The third big name of the film is Rebecca Romijn-Stamos. She plays one of Castle’s roommates. Her role is rather superficial. She has the thankless job of giving an ounce of humanity to an empty character like Frank Castle. It must be said that Romijn-Stamos is not even doing badly, given the material she has to do it with. There is clearly chemistry between her and Thomas Jane. The scenes where they act together are quite strong. Where the film largely fails is with the casting of John Pinette as Bumpo and Ben Foster as Spacker Dave. These actors play Castle’s roommates. Their characters are clearly meant to incorporate some humor into the print. Unfortunately, their characters are so childish and idiotic that it negatively affects the atmosphere of the film. Director Jonathan Hensleigh manages to give his print a grim and uncomfortable atmosphere at some points, exactly what suits a character like The Punisher. Bumpo and Dave destroy the carefully constructed atmosphere in one go. They don’t fit in the film, their humor is too childish for that. In a tough, sadistic action movie, the roommates are completely out of place. Now a character like Castle in the comics would never live in a house with several people. let alone having any kind of contact with them. The rest of the cast is decent, exactly what you would expect from a B-movie like this. Solid craftsmanship, nothing more, nothing less.

The action in the movie is rock solid. There are really passages in the print that go very far for a Hollywood production. For example, there is a scene in the film in which a victim of Castle is tied to the tow bar of a car. The man is then doused with petrol and then driven into a blaze. The burning victim groans in pain. This is very graphically depicted. In addition, there is also a brutal torture scene in the film. It is not light fare. Violence is part of The Punisher’s comics. But in the film variant, the violence shown sometimes comes across as misplaced. This is due to the strange structure of the print.

The director couldn’t choose between grotesque cartoon or more realistic movie violence. This split pose results in a strange mixed bag. The atmosphere of the film is alternately very grim and dark. Then suddenly strange humor is thrown into the print and the characters are so thick that you can’t help but think that you are watching a comic strip incarnate. And then take a more realistic turn. The brutal explosions of violence will fall on your roof rather unexpectedly. It’s as if Hensleigh first made a film for teenagers, with supposedly funny characters, and then suddenly aimed at an adult audience by putting sadistic scenes of violence in his film.

Ultimately, ‘The Punisher’ has become an unbalanced print. The bad amalgamation between humor and violence turns out very badly in this film. This makes it difficult to accept that the print promotes violence if it is ‘just’. The undertone of the film is a disguised advertisement for taking the law into your own hands. Violence as a solution to problems. Fans of the comics will be surprised positively and negatively. The atmosphere of the comics is quite hit, except for the humor and side characters. For fans of action movies, the film is also quite enjoyable. However, the print is nothing more than a pure pulp film that ended up in cinemas despite some big names. Lovers of the better cinema should pass this print by.