O Justiceiro: Em Zona de Guerra

Roger Egbert was spot on when he wrote - ""The Punisher: War Zone" is one of the best-made bad movies I've seen". Viewed independently, it is an ultimate men's movie and more fun to watch than all Steven Seagal movies put together. This movie does not hold back on anything like the wimpy Thomas Jane's Punisher, who was more of a schemer than a punisher. That movie had its own reason to be liked in that it was a brave move to bring an ultra-violent (Punisher has even used nuclear bomb to kill an otherwise unkillable villain), gory and very dark comic, which only had a cult following, to the mainstream cinema. While that movie did not feel like a comic book adaptation at all, the story being pretty ordinary and plot being too heavy, war zone is much closer to the source material. Corny situations had corny, and extremely violent solutions. Villains were perfectly cast and did feel like Punisher villains and got what they deserve from a Punisher. The accents were distracting in the beginning, but once you get used to them (which is pretty fast, since everyone uses a fake sounding and bad accent), you stop noticing it and focus on action, which is plenty. Ray Stevenson was a perfect cast and comes across the perfectly believable, imposing and intimidating killing machine as the Punisher. The much-maligned first scene actually set the tone for rest of the movie for me, when Punisher goes on a killing spree on the dining table, killing everyone on the table, men-women alike, in different, but extremely bloody way. That is Punisher for me. Perfect movie for fans of Punisher and violent action movie fans in general.

I have to say I will remember to this movie,from this summer,it was released straight to video(DVD)here in Hungary,maybe from economical reasons,but I have to recommend this film for action,and also for horror fans,cause this is very gory,and violent.

Do not see the trailer before see the film,cause this film has a little problem,with scenery,but it will not hurt you if you see the film without see the trailer before the movie.

The acting,is just great in this movie,I have to say that Ray Steveson as punisher,and Dominic West as Jigsaw,they were just awesome as main characters in this movie.Maybe the story line of Julie Benz has some irritating elements,but still has an interesting one.

Lexi Alexanders movie was not really successful as business,against this was a very honest,and sometimes funny the smell of real world type of a film.I will keep my eyes on these artists.

Against I'am not a fan of violent films,usually I found them,this one will not disappoint most of you.

7/10

I love this gory wild action extravaganza! Ray Stephenson, Dominic West, and Doug Hutchinson are all great! I like how theirs a bunch that don't like Punisher: War Zone and others that love it. The action sequences are a bit whacky and I admit their is some poor characters otherwise I absolutely love the bulk of the film plus any part with Doug Hutchinson is fantastic. I need to own everything Punisher related at some point I'm a fan of it all.

I really enjoyed The Punisher (2004) though I don't think Thomas Jane made a good Punisher he is a competent enough actor to have pulled it off.

When I heard about this one 4yrs later I had no interest, I was frustrated that it had essentially been rebooted and that Jane was no longer playing Frank Castle.

Here we are 9yrs later I've finally given it a chance and I'm saddened I didn't earlier. Punisher: War Zone is not the brainless action flick cash grab that I expected, in fact it rivals the 2004 version.

For a start Ray Stevenson is perfectly cast as The Punisher, he looks perfect and blows Jane & even Lungren out of the water. He thoroughly takes the role and makes it his amidst a host of great actors and characters.

Extremely violent and quite loyal to the original material this is something I could have gotten behind if it had become a franchise.

I'm not an action junkie, in fact I'd say it is by far one of my least favourite genres but when its done right like it is here it makes for some great entertainment.

Ignore the critics and put the 2004 version aside for a moment, War Zone is a damn decent film.

The Good:

Remarkably violent (As it should be)

Awesome soundtrack

Very competent cast

Ray Stevenson makes a great Punisher

The Bad:

Accents are hit and miss

Recasting/Reebooting so soon after the last movie was a stupid move

Hero is a Christian, villain is an atheist. Overwhelming irony

Jigsaw monologue scene was dumb

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

I would love to see this Punisher added to the Marvel Universe

R-Rated superhero movies were a thing before Deadpool

Julie Benz is ageless

I suspect this film was victim to the old (pre-Deadpool) rule of PG13 superhero movies being the only ones to bring a profit, even if it diluted the source material so much that the character's spirit was lost.

Punisher was, and is, a violent character - I remember my dad being extremely disapproving of my teenage self reading it due to its violence, and he isn't generally a prude.

The previous Punisher movies are both watered down for a more mainstream audience, but if Punisher fans want a movie that captures the grittiness, personal torment and sheer unadulterated vengeance meated out by Frank Castle then this is it!

The movie probably also suffered from poor marketing - I for one had never heard of it, I bought it as part of a double DVD box set with it's more well known predecessor and I was sceptical of what I perceived to be a straight-to-video b-movie barrel of pants. How wrong I was. It's less "Hollywood", more realistic, more violent, darker, grittier and morally murky - everything the character deserves.

The villains do suffer from the pre-MCU superhero movie tendency towards camp over-acted hamminess and the acting credentials of those portraying them suggests to me that this was a director driven decision rather than the actors personal choice and, given the overall grittiness of the film it does seem a little incongruous but when you consider this was the norm for this genre before Iron Man came along then it can be forgiven, as can the unnecessarily inept cop that seems to have been inserted as an attempt at a comedic character to lighten the mood and it is to Dash Mihok's credit that the character still remains likeable despite the Lt. Frank Drebin/Clouseau-esque material he was given to work with.

Fans of The Punisher comics should definitely see this movie, fans of the other Punisher movies should watch it to get a truer sense of the source material and Marvel should bring Frank Castle into a Deadpool movie to bring the character into the MCU movie arena rather than relegated to the Netflix series - the potential for a successful portrayal of the darkness and violence of Punisher in a post-Deadpool superhero universe is just waiting to be tapped. In the meantime - watch this.