IN DEFENCE OF - PUNISHER WAR ZONE (2008, ALEXANDER)
I've been a huge fan of the Punisher's various comic book runs for years now. From the gritty prison tale of The Punisher: Circle Of Blood to Garth Ennis' superb writing in Punisher Max. It was the latter that really gave the character a shot of adrenaline, stripping him of any superhero associates or gadgets, it brought Frank Castle back to basics; an emotionally empty man with a thirst for blood. Ennis put the Punisher in New York neighborhoods and alleyways, punishing pimps, murderers and rapists. Yes, it's not light reading, but there are some fantastic story arc's as well as a fascinating lead character. One who needs to murder in order to feel anything at all.
So imagine my disappointment when I finally caught The Punisher in theaters in 2004. John Travolta is the villain? Frank Castle is a special agent? It's in Miami?! Wrong, wrong and wrong. As an adaptation of the series, Johnathan Hensleigh's The Punisher is terrible. Thomas Jane is well cast and gives a great performance as Frank, but he lacks the vicious persistence. John Travolta is horrendously shit as Howard Saint and Laura Harring adds nothing but a serious amount of cleavage. And (this may sound like weak criticism, but it's true in the case of the character's source material) it simply isn't as violent as it should have been. The point of the character is that he's been stripped of everything he's ever loved, downgrading him to a soulless killing machine. He lives to create death and destruction to those he sees as leeches on society. So where was the chaos? Where was the destruction?
Fast forward to February 6th 2008. Following an arduous production, Lionsgate dumped Punisher War Zone into Irish cinemas. Stateside, the film had bombed. Failing to recoup even a third of it's production cost, the film was declared a total misfire, both financially and critically. SFX Magazine called it, "excruciatingly bad". The San Francisco Chronicle said it was, "assorted sadistic weirdness". Ben Lyons said the character, "doesn't deserve the big screen treatment". Well fuck that. Not only is Punisher War Zone the best adaptation of the comic book to date, it's also a great little action film with a solid cast.
Recasting the part of Frank Castle, Ray Stevenson joined in to play the titular anti-hero. Here's the first thing the film does right. Instead of a lean looking Thomas Jane, we get Stevenson, a huge and very angry looking man. The British actor brings a type of silent rage to the film that we'd not seen before. In short, he's the perfect incarnation of Frank Castle. To further this great casting is The Wire's Dominic West as the horrifically scarred Jigsaw. West takes the villain and runs with it, chewing every piece of scenery around him. He's the quintessential maniac; incredibly vain, hysterically funny and prone to bouts of disturbing violence. When the two actors eventually share some scenes, it's heaven for fans. Of course, not every performance is great. Colin Salmon and Julie Benz play it straight (a.k.a. bland) and T.J. Storm (who plays Maginty) may just have the worst Irish accent in the history of cinema. Throughout the reviews for the flick, all three actors were called out for their phone-it-in style, but not once were Stevenson and West complimented. Way to focus on the negative, people.
Something I noticed a lot, too. People who've seen War Zone seem to take away the opinion that it's overly violent and sadistic. Is it sadistic? Probably. In fact, in one scene you've got Castle holding a little girl in his arms, while he shoots her captor in the face with a shotgun at point blank range. But that scene completely encapsulates the character. Here's the tiny little girl, totally innocent, whose been held at gunpoint by a greasy thug looking to cash in on her widow mother's savings. So in one frame you've got the pinnacle of innocence and the epitome of evil. And in the middle you've got a vengeance-fueled hulk with a shotgun. This is the essence of the Punisher. Take it or leave it. If you're not smirking at the sight of an old ladies blown up head, then you probably shouldn't be watching this anyway.
One last point. The lighting and style of Punisher War Zone is something to be celebrated. The film is so colorful it's like the pages of a comic book come to life. Alexander and co. illuminate the back streets and crack-dens with feverish yellows and luminous blues making the entire movie pop. Instead of re-creating panels page-by-page, ala Sin City, Lexi Alexander chose to bring to life the artwork of Lewis Larosa and Tim Bradstreet. In short, the movie looks awesome.
For fans that complain the film is entirely action with no story, isn't that the point? Like Castle's life, all there is is action, death and mayhem. And it's glorious.
