| The Punisher:War Zone (2008) Cast:Ray Stevenson,Dominic West,Doug Hutchinson, Julie Benz, Wayne Knight The Punisher (Stevenson) battles Jigsaw, in his quest to destroy organized crime and to make amends for accidently killing an undercover cop in his quest for brutal vengeance. A vast improvement over the awful 2004 version, The Punisher War Zone works the same as the excellent Lundgren version, by giving us a bodycount but by also giving us great villains, a big body count and a fast pace. The Punisher War Zone is indeed not only on par with the underrated 1989 version, but it's also among the greats of the comicbook to film transitions. The 2004 version was a complete turkey because it spent so much time dwelling on Frank Castle and his predictament, when this and the 89 version, simply showed him punishing crime. Indeed, the difference between why these two versions are so entertaining, and the godawful 2004 version is not, can be found on how the villains are despicable, the Punisher is more ruthless and mechanical in the succesful versions and indeed the fact that the bodycount is huge and the blood spills endlessly makes this movie a must see. There is no other way to do a Punisher movie. The premise is that of Death Wish, therefore the story and the whole revenge angle is best done when The Punisher doesn't spend time in limbo mourning, Anything revolving around that is boring cliche, especially when the blank heroics of Thomas Jane and John Travolta make for boring heroes and villains. In fact, this thankfully rectifies the badness of 2004's version, and in fact because it has the Skull trademark logo, as well as a big bodycount, mean villains and tons of carnage, I will say I liked this Punisher as the best Punisher movie to date. My only regret is that this wasn't made when I was a teen, as I would've truly loved it a lot more than I do now. Still, The Punisher War Zone is well worth watching and makes a great double bill with the highly recommended 1989 version or The Dark Knight. I mean you just can't go wrong with a vigilante flick when it's done well, and the biggest disappointment is that this tanked at the box office. Obviously people don't understand great action when they see it.. D.Lexi Alexander***1/2 |