Punisher War Zone: Stafff's take Article by Stafffighter, 04:37 PM 06th Dec One could look at Punisher: War Zone in one of two ways. They could see it either as an attempt to tell a story about the character and world of the Punisher or as an action flick. Taking on the name Punisher imbues the movie with the responsibility to do the former, unfortunately what is ultimately delivered is an oddly stylized attempt at the latter. Ray Stevenson takes on the titular role of Frank Castle/the Punisher with an honest, if misguided, commitment. He displays the psychological complexity and emotional fragility one would expect in a man who has chosen the path the Punisher has and he does it well. But at no point did I believe him as the Punisher. What I mean by this is that the choices made for character establishment and portrayal aren’t necessarily bad ones, however they do not ring true to the established character they’re meant to portray. Aside from the Punisher the film is overstuffed with stock overblown mobsters, cops with dark pasts and comic relief sidekicks. Characters lifted from the books, several of who had never been in the books together, bear little to no resemblance to their original intentions and when they do it’s done purely to further the cookie cutter aspects of the plot. There’s even a precious little girl for the Punisher to be sympathetic towards. To roll with the word precious let us move to the subject of the film’s use of symbolism. The truths of who the Punisher is and his place in the world aren’t so much told as they are jammed down the audiences collective throat. One scene that struck a particular cord is the graveyard scene. In this scene the Punisher visits the gravestone of his family and flashes back to the day they were killed. This could have served ably to tell the tale but for some reason is not where this ends. After that he notices a stain on the stone and attempts to rub it away. He cannot. Do you get it? The subtlety displayed there is also true to the dialog, half of which, despite the character, is spoken with the same dramatic timber which renders his intent moot at best and farcical at worst. There is no trust given to the viewer to comprehend any aspect of the scenarios or relationships. It would come off as pandering even if the lines were delivered well. Truth be told this movie is sold on one thing, its action scenes. These are done well for what they are. The violence is rough and visceral as well as just stylized enough to hint that this might be a comic book movie. If you’re going to the movies simply for an action film you could indeed do worse than to see this. But overall it does not raise the film to the level it should be. What we are ultimately left with is something that could have been an entertaining, if predictable, action film if the established characters had not been imposed on it. Unfortunately they were and as such a respect is owed to the source material that is simply not given. The rare strong performance and ably shot action earn Punisher: War Zone a merciful two stars. Back to The Endless Crew