Film Review: The Punisher (2004)

Release Date: April 12th, 2004 (Los Angeles premiere)
Directed by: Jonathan Hensleigh
Written by: Jonathan Hensleigh, Michael France
Based on: The Punisher by Gerry Conway, Ross Andru, John Romita Sr.
Music by: Carlo Siliotto
Cast: Thomas Jane, John Travolta, Will Patton, Roy Scheider, Laura Harring, Ben Foster, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, John Pinette, Samantha Mathis, Eddie Jemison, Kevin Nash

Valhalla Motion Pictures, Marvel Enterprises, Lions Gate Films, 124 Minutes, 140 Minutes (Extended Cut)

Review:

“Vaya con Dios, Castle. Go with God.” – Candelaria, “God’s gonna sit this one out.” – Frank Castle

Holy shit! This film aged remarkably well!

It’s been well over a decade since I had last seen it but watching it now, reminded me as to why it is the best live-action version of The Punisher that we have ever gotten.

More than anything, the film’s greatness is due to just how good Thomas Jane was as Frank Castle. The dude was damn dedicated to the role and made this a better film than it really had any right to be. Especially, in an era where most comic book movies were still kind of shitty.

I might not have realized it in 2004 but this exceeds the well-received X-Men films of the time and it is also much better than the Daredevil movie that came out a year before it.

Back in the day, I thought that setting it in Tampa was a weird decision but now having a better understanding of budgets in regards to shooting locations, I get it. Re-experiencing it now, though, I really dig the location, as it gives it a completely different vibe from the other live-action Punisher things that came later, as well as other comic book films that generally take place in New York City or some other massive metropolis. Also, being that I have lived on the Gulf Coast of Florida my entire life, it somehow feels like my Marvel Comics movie.

This film, regardless of it being based on a comic book or not, is just a balls to the wall, badass action flick in the same vein as the Dirty Harry and Death Wish films. While it’s a wee bit toned down from those gritty ’70s crime flicks, it still doesn’t pull its punches and I was actually kind of shocked by some of the stuff they did in the film that I guess I had forgotten.

It gets really dark and it actually has some pretty gory and gruesome moments. But at the same time, it has more heart and charm that those ’70s classics I just mentioned in how there are good people that come into Castle’s life and try to give him back some of his humanity after the mass execution of his entire family.

It wasn’t just Jane that was great in this, it was the entire cast, top-to-bottom, including some of the people that had fairly small roles like a few of the gangsters and especially Mark Collie, who played Harry Heck, in one of the best sequences that has ever existed in a comic book movie.

Man, I forgot how great the Harry Heck character was and I kind of wish he would’ve been a much bigger part of the story. Maybe he could come back in a sequel but then again, I doubt one will ever get made, as The Punisher has already been rebooted multiple times. Also, Heck’s death seemed pretty much confirmed by how he got taken out.

Getting to the story, I really like how Castle played John Travolta’s Howard Saint and tricked him into murdering his best friend and his beloved wife by cleverly convincing him, over time and by planting seeds, that they were having an affair. This was brilliant and it couldn’t have happened to a worse trio of people, as all of them were directly responsible for the execution of Castle’s family.

This version of The Punisher was as close to perfect as a studio could get. I know that the film wasn’t a massive hit, initially, but it did build up a solid fanbase over the years. The fact that a sequel never actually materialized was rather baffling.

Although, a fan film, also starring Jane as Frank Castle, was released in 2012. After revisiting this, I now have to fire that one up too and review it.

2004’s The Punisher is spectacular from beginning to end. It’s aged so much better than the other comic book movies from the early ’00s and it deserves to be displayed on a pedestal for all to admire.

Dear Disney and Tom Jane,

Please give us this Frank Castle again.

That is all.

Sincerely,

-Talking Pulp

Rating: 8.5/10
Pairs well with: it’s unofficial short film sequel, The Punisher: Dirty Laundry, as well as the other Punisher films and television series.

That superb Harry Heck sequence:

Film Review: Willard (2003)

Release Date: March 14th, 2003
Directed by: Glen Morgan
Written by: Glen Morgan
Based on: Ratman’s Notebooks by Stephen Gilbert, Willard by Gilbert Ralston
Music by: Shirley Walker
Cast: Crispin Glover, R. Lee Ermey, Laura Elena Harring, Jackie Burroughs, Kimberly Patton

Hard Eight Pictures, New Line Cinema, 100 Minutes

Review:

“What an awful name. Willard. If you had a stronger name, Frank Martin wouldn’t push you around. Or maybe you’ve found a girlfriend if you’d had a more handsome name. Mark or Kyle. Clark. From now, Willard, your name’s Clark. Good night, Clark.” – Willard’s Mother

I remember that when this movie came out, I didn’t get it in my area. Also, back in 2003, we didn’t have a third of the theaters we now have and they also weren’t as big or nice. There certainly wasn’t any sort of emphasis on showing films outside of what was guaranteed to make a shit ton of cash.

So I never got to see this until the DVD release but when I did, I really liked it at the time. I think a lot of that has to do with it starring Crispin Glover, a guy I’ve always been a big fan of, as well as R. Lee Ermey, another guy I really dig.

I probably viewed this through very different eyes when I was in my early twenties because seeing it now, I found it really hard to sit through. That’s mainly due to a bad script and wonky scenes that I feel have more to do with bad dialogue and bad direction than the actors themselves.

Aesthetically, the picture is near perfect and Crispin Glover and R. Lee Ermey are both very convincing in their roles.

However, the pacing is really weird and the film could’ve lobbed off about twenty percent and played better.

The characters are written very thin and one-dimensional, though. For instance, the “love interest” or whatever she’s supposed to be is constantly pushing her way into Willard’s life, making him uncomfortable. It’s like she’s written with no self or situational awareness and just muscles her way into situations for plot convenience and to add tension or make things worse. She forces a cat on him that he clearly doesn’t want, only to toss it into his house where it is eaten alive by Willard’s army of rats. She also barges into his house to take a piss when Willard pretty clearly doesn’t want her inside. She’s also the only person to show up for his mother’s funeral, which is weird considering that he barely knows her. She’s just an oddly written character that comes off as more psycho and out of touch that the title character who is supposed to be the psycho and out of touch one.

Also, the actress, Laura Elena Harring, is stunning and I don’t know why the hell she’d be chasing Willard so hard or why Willard doesn’t just focus on her, as opposed to the terrible shit in his life but I digress. In the real world, Harring is a legitimate countess and she was Miss USA and Miss Texas in 1985, as well as ranking in the top ten of the 1985 Miss Universe pageant.

Anyway, this picture hasn’t aged well but I don’t think that it was very good to begin with despite my thoughts on it nearly twenty years ago. I mostly like Glover and Ermey’s performances but they do get adversely affected by poor dialogue, bad direction and scenes that run on too long for no apparent reason other trying to make it even clearer that the two characters despise one another.

Rating: 5.5/10
Pairs well with: the original Willard and its sequel Ben, as well as other films starring Crispin Glover.