The Punisher DVD

Advantages: Thomas Jane is a good Punisher
Disadvantages: John Travolta is cack, cack, cacketty cack

...Castle is on top of the world. Highly respected at work (he is one of the force's most decorated undercover officers) and adored at home by his wife and son, he decides to retire from the force and enjoy a quieter life with the family. But in his professional life, Castle made enemies. Lots of them. And now one of those enemies decides to avenge the loss of his own son by exacting a terrible act of retribution upon Castle, killing his entire extended ...
...manages to recover. And so The Punisher is born - and the underworld had better watch out. As the onslaught of comic book to movie adaptations continues, some directors are attempting to try and break away from the mainstream. Whilst Spiderman, Hulk and The Fantastic Four may be filling cinemas all over the world, they lack the dark edge that many comic fans crave to see re-created in film. This isn't the first time that somebody has tried to create ... Read review

Advantages: Entertaining
Disadvantages: Strange mixture of drama and comedy

...Castle has just retired from the FBI after an illustrious career and is looking forward to spending some quality time with his family. Unfortunately, in his last case, he was responsible for killing the son of a corrupt businessman called Howard Saint, who then seeks revenge on Castle and his family by killing every single last one of them. Frank somehow manages to survive and, once recovered, decides to exact his own revenge on Saint and his family. ...
...did a reasonalbe job in the role. Based on a Marvel comic character, Castle is not really terribly believable - although he isn't imbued with super-hero characteristics, he does manage to live through violence that would have finished most people off, then get up, dust himself off, and start again. However, bearing that in mind, I thought Jane worked well within the confines of the role. He certainly looked the part - all rippling muscle and brooding ... Read review

Advantages: Good story, lots of action, some humour, fittingly dark atmosphere
Disadvantages: Can be too dark and violent for some people

After seeing the Lindsay Lohan flick Mean Girls, I was in the mood for something different, so I went to my local movie theatre (only two bus rides away). I was planning to see Van Helsing but I decided instead to see The Punisher, which has been in theatres for a few weeks already. I had low expectations for the movie because of bad critical reviews, but I just thought the movie looked good, and I thought right. The Punisher is based on the Marvel ...
...other critics have pointed out, The Punisher has an anti-hero rather than a hero. The viewer is asked to identify with a man who brutally punishes people, and as you can imagine, the film is pretty bleak and depressing. The film begins with a group of guys getting busted by the cops during a weapons deal. Two men are shot and apparently killed, but it turns out that one of the men is actually alive. He is Frank Castle (Thomas Jane), an undercover ... Read review

Advantages: Great Performances from Travolta and Jane
Disadvantages: A little bit forced at times

Ever since X-Men banked at the box office you may have noticed a huge resurgence in movies based on comic-book, heck just to name a few from my own personal DVD collection: Elektra, Daredevil, Bullet-proof Monk, Ghost World, Hell-Boy and of course since I'm writing about it: The Punisher. Being the comic book fan-boy that I am naturally I'd read at least a couple of editions of 'The Punisher' and whilst I thought it was good - it wasn't the sort ...
...happen, wasn't it? * The Storyline * Meet Frank Castle: a softly spoken FBI agent who's recently decided to hang up his gun and badge and just relax with a bit of quiet time for his family and friends, on his last assignment he'd ended up in a bit of a show-down with a few criminals, one of them turned out to be the baby boy of local crime boss Howard Saint, as expected Saint isn't happy (well which crime-boss who's just had his son killed by a ... Read review

Advantages: A fun Friday night action movie
Disadvantages: characterisation of main leads, plot

The new Punisher entry into the ranks of comic book movies is one that does not disappoint, mainly due to lack of hype, diminished expectations and that it is more a mainstream revenge thriller than a comic book fantasy extravaganza. The Punisher is exactly the same as every action based revenge thriller ever made, in fact the plot is almost identical to Vin Diesel's disastrous 'A Man Apart' - cop screws over big gang with operation, gang kills family ...
...get revenge! (And that is the whole plot really) What then would be the question sets The Punisher apart? The main difference between this and every early Arnie, Sly and their successors entries into the violent action genre is the investment put into the minor supporting characters. Frank (The Punisher) Castle's neighbours Bumpo, Dave and Joan are the human side of the film, the non-mainstream, offbeat side of humanity that turn out to be the ... Read review