The Punisher
Reviewed by Rich Drees

     After an FBI sting leaves the son of mob boss Howard Saint (John Travolta) dead, his wife (Laura Harring) demands the death of the entire family of the agent responsible, Frank Castle (Thomas Jane). Saint’s assassins wipe out Castle’s entire extended family at a reunion, but Castle himself manages to escape. Believed dead, Castle hides out in a tenement apartment, planning his revenge and becoming involved with the residents of his building. With the help of a mole inside Saint’s organization, Castle begins to sow seeds of suspicion between Saint and his chief lieutenants. As Saint begins to turn on his men, Castle moves into finish off the mob in a hail of gunfire, with a final flaming ending that would have had more impact if we hadn't seen something similar last year in another Marvel Comics adaptation, Daredevil.

     Over the years, different comics writers have taken different approaches to the Punisher character. Some have portrayed Frank Castle as a dark avenger, a murderous vigilante, and a manipulator who maneuvered criminals into disposing of each other. He has even played for darkly comedic effect. The good news is that fans of any approach will find something to like in this movie. The bad news is that since it utilizes all these different approaches at various points in its two-hour length, the movie comes off feeling disjointed and unfocused. It's not just the script that's at fault. The movie seems to have a contradictory stance about the violence shown. Early scenes showing the massacre of Castle's family is relatively bloodless and many are shot dead with vary a bullet wound to show for it. However, in the last act of the film as Castle begins to extract his revenge on Saint and his men, the blood does begin to flow.

     Physically, Jane is a good fit for the role of the Frank Castle. He exudes an air of intensity and borderline madness that the character calls for. He even makes the most when called upon by the script to deliver such turgidly written dialog such as "God's going to sit this one out." As one of Castle’s neighbors, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos does what she can with the equally purple prose she is given ("Don't let your memories kill you.") though her character is so undefined as to be a cipher.

     Comics fans may not be thrilled with some of the liberties that the film takes with the Punisher's origin. In the comics, Frank Castle's wife and children were killed after accidentally witnessing a mob assassination, completely innocent victims. However, with Frank Castle being made a government agent, there's a lessening of his family's status as completely innocent bystanders. The film’s Castle should know that there was always the possibility of his family being exposed to danger. Such a possibility is even tacitly acknowledged early in the film when Castle and his son discuss the family’s constant moving around. As such, the loss of the family’s innocent bystander status diminishes the amount of potential sympathy we may feel for Castle.