Sunday 20 July 2008

The Punisher


I remember when The Punisher was released in 2004 and I remember not thinking much of the film, I actually thought the trailers looked pretty bad. Four years later I found myself purchasing the film for £4 on play.com due to my current phenomenon of comic book / superhero films. Reading up about The Punisher comics I discovered that The Punisher is not like your typical superhero like Spider-Man, Batman or Superman; he is far darker.

The premise of the film is that Frank Castle (played by Thomas Jane) is involved in the killing of Howard Saint’s (the bad guy of the film, played by John Travolta) son. However during the same killing of his son Frank Castle is “killed” as well so that Howard Saint would not go after him on hearing who was involved in the killing of his son. But of course he did find out and hunted down Frank Castle who had gone on holiday with his whole family.

If you’ve not seen the film then don’t read on if you plan on watching it in the future because I’m about to ruin the whole film. Howard Saint’s men hunt down Frank and his family and kill everybody on the island. They think they’ve killed Frank too (tens of bullets to the chest is usually a clear indication you’ve killed someone) but of course Frank Castle (The Punisher) is not like normal human begins and has an extremely high pain tolerance level. Unlike other superheroes The Punisher has no special abilities but he succeeds solely through ingenuity and the rigorous training of his military upbringing, a finely honed killer instinct and an extensive arsenal of weapons culled from fallen foes and military allies.

Frank who comes back more pissed off then ever is after revenge on the people who killed his family and tried to finish him off. He kills off individually all of Howard Saint’s family and the people who are close to him. But not as brutually as you’d think considering Frank Castle goes by the name The Punisher. He cleverly makes Howard Saint kill his wife AND his best friend, this is what makes The Punisher’s killings all the more entertaining to watch. In the end he kills Howard Saint pretty brutally shooting him first, setting him on fire and dragging him around a parking lot attatched to an on fire car. Pretty bloody harsh you’d suggest.

What also makes the film so good is the people who live next door to Frank who are constantly watching his moves, listening to what he is up to and generally stalking him. They then come in contact with Frank and become friends with him and in the end even help him out to kill the people who massacred his whole family.

Overall the film consists of a good casting with Thomas Jane playing Frank Castle extremely well with John Travolta playing the evil Howard Saint as well as he has played many bad guys in the past. The supporting cast makes the film especially more enjoyable especially Frank’s two stalker floor mates (Bumpo and Dave). A few years ago I would’ve not considered watching this film but I am not thankful I did because The Punisher is a great old school comic book adapation.

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