Punisher: Warzone is the reboot of the Frank Castle saga under the Marvel Knights banner after a sequel to 2004’s Punisher which featured Thomas Jane as the trigger-happy anti-hero was canned in early 2007. The film was the final Marvel flick for the 2008 calendar year and the first under the Marvel Knights logo.
The film sees British actor Ray Stevenson, who played Titus Pulo in the critically acclaimed HBO series Rome, as the new Punisher who seeks to rid the city of crime by mercilessly massacring his victims in the most unnecessarily brutal ways. His arch-enemy is Billy Russoti who after a brutal act of violence from Castle becomes Jigsaw with reference to his altered facial appearance. The blood bath continues after Castle seeks forgiveness for unwittingly killing an undercover FBI agent working under Russoti while the mob boss seeks a little piece of revenge himself.
Stevenson was very much the star of the Rome series and for me was the most memorable character in the series. His portrayal of Castle was no doubt gritty but ultimately failed to extract any emotion from the audience. His portrayal seemed to be one-dimensional while the simplistic if not primitive nature of the filming diluted what little emotion he could conjure.
Dominic West’s character Jigsaw who is probably one of the best known villains of the Punisher series was more of a joke than a substantial threat to the city. He rides along in his car wearing unbelievably flamboyant attire getting his own hands dirty with petty minded crimes just like any self-respecting ‘mob lord’ would. When you add a completely awful performance and an unnecessary character like Loony Bin Jim (Doug Hutchison) into the fray you’ve a dynamic duo of bumbling fools who instead of evoking fear in the audience are more likely to raise a few eyebrows.
Special mention must go to writers who thought ripping off Eugene Tooms from the X-files (played by Hutchison) in one of the Looney Jim scenes was tasteful. The directress however may not be commended even for the sake of sarcasm.
Over the years I felt that The Punisher is probably one of the easiest comics to put on film based on the story’s innate grit and Castle’s personal story itself. However, no one seemed to get it right with this hero. Dolph Lundgren was never meant to be an actor let alone being the perfect Punisher and Thomas Jane’s version lacked a compelling storyline or a telling performance from Jane or Travolta. Warzone however could prove to be the worst of them all.
Apart from the absolutely mindless violence and unrealistic gore the film didn’t have an ounce of substance to call its own. The film was over-the-top while the action sequences were plain disgusting and tasteless with mere punches warranting ridiculously vast amounts of blood and an even more sensational sound effect.
The film demeaned the complexity of Castle to a point where neither the story nor the characters mattered but the pints of blood they had in them. |
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