The Punisher 2004 Film Review

Marvel fans it's been a long time since we last talked so I thought that i'd rectify that and find something for us to talk about. When people think of The Punisher at least in terms of media they think of the Netflix show which don't get me wrong is a good show but it's not the only form of media out there that features the character and so i'm going to review one of those forms media right now with my review of the 2004 film "The Punisher" enjoy.

The plot of the film is Frank Castle a retired FBI agent turns to vigilantism after his whole family is killed by a mob boss. Yes I know that was I just described was the set up for the character but it's also the plot of the movie which is a problem because outside of that set up the film has no story to tell it's just stuff happening which is loosely tied together by this one set up and nothing more which is a shame because the set up of someone trying to get revenge for the deaths of their family members could open up to some good stories.

Starring in the film is Thomas Jane as Frank Castle / The Punisher , John Travolta as Howard Saint , Will Patton as Quentin Glass , Rebecca Romijn as Joan , Ben Foster as Spacker Dave , John Pinette as Nathaniel Bumpo , Samantha Mathis as Maria Castle , Marcus Johns as Will Castle , Russell Andrews as Agent James Weeks , James Carpinello as Bobby Saint / John Saint and Laura Harring as Livia Saint.

I honestly felt that the acting in the film it wasn't that bad in fact i'd go as far to say that it's alot better then what I thought that it would be. It goes without saying but Thomas Jane really is cast perfectly as Frank Castle but given that alot of the actors in the film while they are good there roles could be played by anyone and that's the problem since Frank is so well cast that it makes it hard to see all of the other characters being played byt these actors.

Now for those that don't know the 2004 film wasn't the first film to feature Frank there was a film released in 1989 starring Dolph Lundgren. I personally haven't seen that film and I have tried looking for it but sadly I cannot find a copy of it anywhere but I bring it up because I feel that it would be interesting to compare the two films since one was made in heyday for action films and the other was made when every film had to be dark for some reason.

Like I just said this film was made when film had to be dark regardless on if it made sense or not but here tho being dark not only made sense it was also needed for the film to work. The concept behind the punisher is a dark story and so having the film be dark as well in my opinion works to it's advantage because of what the character has gone through and so it does make sense that this film would be dark in tone.

Big sexy himself Kevin Nash is in this movie and unlike Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze we actually get to see his face. That said I didn't like the fact that the scene he's in was mostly played for laughs this is Frank fighting for life and yet they keep on cutting back to these odd comedic moments thus destroying any and all tension that could have been built up and it even ends with a lame joke.

I want you all to know that i've not read a single Punisher comic the only thing i've seen with the character is the anime film Avengers Confidential: Black Widow & Punisher and the Netflix show. So I really cannot say if the film is true representation of the character or the world that the character lives in but what I can say is that it is the film that introduced me to the character and for that no matter how bad this film is it will always hold a special place in my heart.

This film was the second Marvel film to be rated R following Blade and Blade 2 but where as those films really earned that R rating here tho it's a different case. Since they show nothing in this film that would really warrant that rating if anything this film could have been PG-13 and nobody would notice the difference and they don't even go all the way with that R rating there's maybe one swear word in the whole film and violence is pretty tame.

Lets us take a second to talk about the act that sets Frank on this path of vengeance the death of his family. This is the one scene which really needed to show of it's R rating because we did get was pretty tame and so i'm left to wonder how cool it would have been if we saw limbs from various family members lying around or if we saw some family members just shot to pieces they really could have gone all out on that sequence but they didn't for some reason.

Now then since this is an action film that does mean that we have to talk about the action that the film presents us with. In my opinion and this is not something you ever hear me say the action in the film was just boring to watch there was nothing exciting going on at all during those sequences and that's a shame since the action scenes actually advanced the story or at least what little there was 'and so you have to watch it in order to understand the next part of the plot.

Overall the best thing that I can say about this film is that it's boring and alot of that does come down to very bad pacing which has scenes go on for far tom long. That said however when the film wants to be entertaining it gets entertaining but for me the lack of an actual story and any kind of character and character development makes it difficult to watch and I grew up with the film and so even tho it holds a special place in my heart since like I said I grew up with it it gets a 5.5 out of 10 from me.