3 gibbles out of 5

Director: Jonathan Hensleigh

Let’s get out of the way what’s silly about The Punisher: the mob kills HIS WHOLE FAMILY, and instead of shooting lil’ Pun, or Frank Castle, or Thomas Jane with dyed hair, they arrange a flambe where at the end of a dock where they can’t verify a kill. Fine. Frank survives by being cared for by a character who’s only introduced for this particular purpose, and then (after Frank tasks himself with killing those who killed) when the mob sends an enforcer nicknamed The Russian after him, we get a strange, unspeaking man who’s comical red-and-white striped shirt doesn’t match the dipped-in-blackness of the rest of the film. Pant. Okay. Now here’s the thing – I liked this version of The Punisher. The overkill family killing is a quick and easy way to justify why Frank is who he is to a film audience, as we don’t have the comfort of back-issues to say “we already dealt with that” or the budget and time for a classy Christopher Nolan take on things. The Russian part was just… weird. The movie is absolutely inspired by Ennis’s “Welcome Back, Frank” Punisher series, and so I’m glad they included the character, but where the comic is funny, this movie wants to be grim, so the way this was included didn’t seem to match, and is one of several clumsy elements that prevents this from solidifying into more than a B flick. Anyhow. Lundgren and later Ray Stevenson might’ve had the build for Frank Castle, but Jane packs on serious muscle and seems to get that the character IS vengeance, but sits on more than that. Writer / director Hensleigh also seemed to get this, but whether it was from studio tinkering or his own desire to Hollywood this up a bit, what could’ve been a truly bleak and patient representation of Punisher ends up tonally uneven. Still, a solid corner of the comic-movie world.