Release Date: April 16, 2004
MPAA Rating: R for pervasive brutal violence, language and brief nudity
Written and Directed by: Jonathan Hensleigh
Starring: Thomas Jane, John Travolta, A. Russell Andrews, Samantha Mathis, James Carpinello, Jeff Chase, Mark Collie, Russell Durham, Ben Foster, Laura Harring, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Roy Scheider

Plot:
Frank Castle (Thomas Jane) is a man who has seen too much death in his life, first as a Delta Force Op and later as an FBI special agent. He has managed to beat considerable odds, and is finally moving out of the field and into a normal life with his wife and son. On his final assignment, Castle plays his undercover role perfectly, but the operation spins out of control. This places the FBI on the wrong side of Tampa businessman Howard Saint (John Travolta) and his glamorous wife Livia (Laura Harring). Notwithstanding their glossy social profile, the Saints are no genteel Florida couple; behind their copious wealth are violent beginnings, underworld ties – and a chilling capacity for brutality. Castle’s worst nightmare is about to come true, as Howard Saint and his lieutenants unleash hell at the Castle family reunion. But Castle, to his everlasting torment, survives. Drawing upon all he has learned in 20 years, Castle sets in motion a brilliant plan to punish the murderers. He takes up residence among in a dilapidated tenement building on Tampa’s industrial waterfront, where his fellow tenants include Joan (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos), a waitress at a nearby diner who is trying to put her life back on track. Castle’s neighbors become his last link to the idea of human community and warmth. It is this makeshift family – forgotten men and women with no one to protect them - who enable Castle to find the one thing he least expects: redemption.

Review:
The trailers and early previews for The Punisher were disappointing and it seemed they were taking this Marvel comics hero the wrong route. There is always that hope that the trailers lie to you and the film surprises you with a more than interesting story and spine binding action. Yes, that hope was alive for me and I wanted to see if the filmmakers and Thomas Jane can prove everyone wrong.

Unfortunately the answer is hope wasn't enough to turn this film around. First of all, this film is not a disaster, no where near it, but it can fall under a major disappointment or a bad movie. A hero like The Punisher has many expectations on it from the audience as there are many fans out there. The comics would be a better source than the film.

Actor Thomas Jane plays Frank Castle and although he has the perfect look for this hero, he gave a stiff performance with hardly any charisma. His acting was far from top notch, but again his look was impressive on its own. Thomas Jane didn't have enough to convince the audience that he's the top choice for the character though. Thomas was weak, but visually stunning.

John Travolta was lacking as a villain in the film and wasn't completely menacing. I found that his character was almost like a henchmen and nothing more. There was nothing to be found in his performance that one can say he was a dangerous and lethal man. He doesn't walk or stand as a villain either. There were flaws with The Punisher, plenty of them, but it had its signs of interesting concepts as well.

Another character in the film is the beautiful Laura Harring who plays Livia Saint, the wife of Howard Saint. She has all the signs of an attractive woman and plays a rather big part in the film. Its a shame she has to star in a bad film because after all she starred in one of the best films of 2001, Mulholland Dr. Then again a lot in The Punisher seemed out of place.

It came as a shock to me once this film concluded because it had started off to a promising start. It started off on track that it could have warranted a recommendation from me. All of it was turned around because of its silly comedy and stale direction. Its not a great start for Director Jonathan Hensleigh as his debut in directing. Perhaps a bit more work could have resulted in a positive note for this film.

Besides turning the film into a comedy, Jonathan Hensleigh wrote the script as well and credit has to be given when credit is due and the script overall was a rather good one. Hensleigh's vision was awful though and doesn't have some of the superhero visions like Guillermo del Toro who directed Hellboy. Although I didn't recommend Hellboy unless you are a pure Hellboy fan, its a better film than The Punisher.

The difference between the two films was that Hellboy tried and the potential wasn’t entirely wasted. With The Punisher it seems the filmmakers had no care towards the film and turned it into a complete comedy fest. The comedy was actually effective in this film and made me laugh numerous times. However, with a film about a hero such as this one, there should be no laughter and sometimes the audience won't be laughing with it, but instead laughing at it.

With all of that said, The Punisher had its moments where one can say that was impressive. The only problem is there wasn't more of that and the film takes too much time with its non sense. The audience obviously wants to see Frank Castle shoot down people and do various things with weapons and the only time that occurs is in the last scene. I'm not saying that the film needed to be buried down with action because story is more important, but it was dull because there was no progressing the story.

The Punisher falls plain flat on the ground, The potential that could be seen was ultimately destroyed by the direction of it. It had an interesting screenplay that stayed somewhat true to the character, but in result the film is more empty than it should be. This film is not among the better superhero films and its overall a bad film. Fans of this character should find things that excite them, the rest will be garbage.