Plot
After hunting down and killing hundreds of violent criminals, Frank Castle, aka The Punisher, faces his most deadly foe yet: Jigsaw.
Release Year: 2008
Rating: 6.0/10 (27,172 voted)
Critic's Score: 30/100
Director:
Lexi Alexander
Stars: Ray Stevenson, Dominic West, Julie Benz
Storyline Frank Castle, the ex-military man whose family was killed by criminals, who became a vigilante known as the Punisher, goes after a whole mob family and gets everyone except enforcer Billy Russoti. He tracks Russoti down and chases him into a vat that is used for crushing bottles. Frank turns on the crusher hoping it would take care of him but it doesn't. He survives but sustains very severe injuries that even with plastic surgery his face looks like a jigsaw puzzle. So he decides to adopt the name Jigsaw. Frank who killed one of Russoti's people who unknown to him is an undercover Fed, decides to pack it in. But when he learns Russoti didn't die and is looking for the money he entrusted to the Fed and will go looking for it at his home which means his family is in danger. So Frank tries to save them. But Russoti wants revenge on Frank so he breaks out his brother who is so crazed that he is committed to an asylum...
Writers: Nick Santora, Art Marcum
Cast: Ray Stevenson
-
Frank Castle
Dominic West
-
Billy
/
Jigsaw
Doug Hutchison
-
Loony Bin Jim
Colin Salmon
-
Paul Budiansky
Wayne Knight
-
Micro
Dash Mihok
-
Martin Soap
Julie Benz
-
Angela
Stephanie Janusauskas
-
Grace
Mark Camacho
-
Pittsy
Romano Orzari
-
Nicky
Keram Malicki-Sánchez
-
Ink
Larry Day
-
Agent Miller
Ron Lea
-
Captain Ross
Tony Calabretta
-
Saffiotti
T.J. Storm
-
Maginty
Opening Weekend: $4,271,451
(USA)
(7 December 2008)
(2508 Screens)
Gross: $7,948,159
(USA)
(21 December 2008)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
Seeing as he had absolutely no involvement with the creation of the original Punisher character, this is one of the few movies based on a Marvel Comic that Stan Lee does not appear in.
Goofs:
Audio/visual unsynchronized:
When Punisher is seen attaching a sound suppressor to his M4A1 rifle, a distinctive sound of torque wrench is heard. Frank however, does it by hand, not using any tools.
Quotes: Loony Bin Jim:
Yummy, yummy, yummy in my tummy, tummy, tummy.
User Review
Exactly what you'd want in a Punisher movie
Rating: 7/10
I saw this a couple hours ago in Fullerton, CA. I was a reader of the
comic, and am a fan of what we've seen from Marvel lately. This movie
is just what I wanted, and what I expected.
Ray Stevenson is perfect as Frank Castle, and everyone else is at least
good enough for an action movie. Dominic West is over the top as Jigsaw
- which is what Jigsaw should be! A horribly disfigured mob boss with a
vendetta is not a subtle thing to begin with.
As for the "respectable" critics' complaints: 1. Violence: Of course
it's violent! What part of the title "Punisher: War Zone" implies
peaceful conflict resolution? He's not the "Admonisher". The gore and
violence is not at the level of a "Saw" film, but it is high. It is
rated "R" for a reason.
2. Dialogue: I think the critics have been spoiled by "Dark Knight" and
"Iron Man". Those were comic-book movies with extraordinarily good
dialogue. "Punisher: War Zone" is no worse than a "Predator" or "Rambo:
First Blood". Not great, but not awful. This is not supposed to be
"Hamlet".
3. Script: The story moves along well, and when there's a break in the
action (which isn't very often), the film doesn't drag- it's always
going somewhere. Not perfect, but good. Much better than the critics
have made it out to be.
All in all, a good time, and one that I'll buy and re-watch as soon as
it comes out on DVD.
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