| The Punisher (1989) Cast:Dolph Lundgren,Louis Gosset Jr.,Jeroen Krabbe,Kim Miyori,Barry Otto Dolph Lundgren stars as a persumed-dead policeman who kills every low-life he feels deserves to be punished only to give the mob a break when the yakuza muscles in on the mob by kidnapping the mobster's kids, feeling guilty "The Punisher" decides to rescue them and wipe out the yakuza while Louis Gosset Jr. tries to prove that his partner did indeed survive the car bomb to become "The Punisher". Dolph Lundgren thankfully has only five words in this flick as speaking chores are handled by Louis Gosset Jr. and Jeroen Krabbe (Who steals the show as the mobster) However Dolph gets to display his kickboxing talent during shootouts and martial arts matches with a bunch of Itallian and Japanese mobsters, these actionscenes are excellently staged and very intense which make this movie alone worth a recommendation. But actually the most surprising thing with the movie is that Lundgren gives his best performance to date, we truly believe his character is psychotic and needs to kill. At 6'5 Lundgren makes for a frightening presence. Whether Dolph is being tortured by yakuza-flunkies, getting his ass kicked by a female ninja or wiping out 300 samurai with machine gunfire, Lundgren's imposing presence keeps The Punisher moving at a relentless pace making The Punisher yet another fun action-packed enjoyable comicbook movie, those looking for a bodycount movie in the vein of Commando won't be disappointed with this genre outing. D.Mark Goldblatt***1/2 |