Punisher: War Zone

Starring: Ray Stevenson, Dominic West, Julie Benz, Doug Hutchinson, Colin Salmon, Wayne Knight, Dash Mihok
Directed by: Lexi Alexander
Rating: R
Genre: Action, Crime
2008

Times Seen:
Tim: 2

Summary: The Punisher (Ray Stevenson) continues his onslaught on crime, but is devastated when he learns that during a raid, he unknowingly kills an undercover FBI agent. He wants to hang up his guns, but when he learns the wife (Julie Benz) and daughter of the slain FBI agent are in trouble from the horribly disfigured Jigsaw (Dominic West), he must go to battle once more.

Review:

Tim: I am a huge, huge Marvel fan. I grew up with the comics and I love the movies. I am also, perhaps, a Marvel apologist. Even when they mess up, it is hard for me not to look at the positives. Sadly, I could not do that here. While I enjoyed the original (albeit flawed) The Punisher, I couldn't even muster up any positive feelings for this film at all. This might be the rock bottom of Marvel movies. This is an overly disgusting, violent, awful movie that tarnishes the image of the Punisher. I was horribly, horribly disappointed.

I was already wary when Thomas Jane (wisely) bailed on the movie, and was replaced by Ray Stevenson. Stevenson might look like Frank Castle, but he is missing any heart or humanity. I loved Jane in the role because I believed he was a wounded, vengeful human being. Stevenson just looks like a robot. I didn't like him in the role. It is not just appearances- a character needs to have some humanity, and Stevenson doesn't have much of that here. This is one of a ton of flaws.

The supporting cast isn't much better. Dominic West plays Jigsaw like a villain from Batman & Robin, not a realistic, 2000s comic book villain. He was horribly over-the-top and completely unrealistic. I hated his performance throughout the move. I wanted to like something about this movie, but West wouldn't be it. Julie Benz is fine, but doesn't get to add anything to the film. I was fine with Wayne Knight playing Micro, but not overly impressed. I suppose Doug Hutchinson should be given some credit for embracing his over-the-top role and not caring that he was hamming it up. He is perhaps the best actor in the film.

The other things I hated about this movie was the cliche-ridden plot and characters. We have mobsters who speak in cliches, cops who speak in cliches, and events that unfold exactly as you expect. This is a silly, redundant movie that fails on nearly all levels. The movie seemed to think that a coherent, believable plot could be substituted by gruesome violence. I was shocked by how gross and unnecessary the absurdly violent acts were in this movie. We see heads explode, limbs ripped off, guys explode, and we literally see the Punisher punch a hole in someone's face. The violence here was disgusting and played up to overcome the film's many shortcomings. I don't know much about director Lexi Alexander, but I hope she is ashamed by how terrible her movie turned out.

This is an action movie that focused on the action and the violence- not on the characters. For that reason, this movie is a failure. We can't care about the action because we don't care about the characters. This movie is absurd, terrible, and perhaps the worst Marvel movie ever made (I still refuse to see Electra, but I know that this is at least close. I hated this movie, and this is the type of movie I should love. This is a massive failure.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 3.5


If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: The Punisher, Spider-Man, Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Electra