The Punisher

In fact, I have a suspicion that I will still like this one better even after the release of the new Punisher (2004).

That's because of a couple of reasons. Firstly, the acting. Dolph Lundgren acts very well in this film, portraying a grim, depressed, out of the ordinary action hero whose sole reason for living is revenge. Louis Gossett, jr. also does his best as Lundgren's former best friend. Jeroen Krabbe, in my opinion, is miscast as the big crime boss although he does his best.

Secondly, the action sequences are simply good. Lots of guns blazing, some decent camera angles and of course the whole 'red light' sequence near the end of the film, which I liked. The whole atmosphere of this movie is grim, gritty, depressed. Something I think the remake this year will not accomplish.

6/10

this version of the Punisher is much different than the 2004 version.for one thing it is much darker,and probably more faithful to the comic book version.the pacing is very deliberate in this one,creating more atmosphere.there are some very good fight scenes in this movie.the biggest difference is the antagonist,which is much more deadly in this one and a worthy adversary for the Punisher.Dolph Lundgren plays the role in this incarnation and is much more imposing,with better physical presence.this is mainly due to his size.he definitely would inspire fear in the criminal element.Lundgren is not really a great actor,but he doesn't need to be for this role.overall,this a good movie,more subdued than the 2004 version.there is more physical action,but very little of things blowing up,which works in this film's favor. a strong7/10

I really liked this film, it´s true to the comic, and in some parts is better. For example in the comic Frank Castel has a truck full of weapons (most of them hi tech weapons) but were he gets the cash to pays for them. It´s a better adaptation than most flicks from those years (captain America for example) and it´s full with a lot of action and blood, its like a predecesor for Kill Bill. I give the movie a 7 out of 10.

I watched this movie when I was a young kid and I remember thinking "...Eh..." However, while browsing Borders, I saw the DVD for $6.99 and decided to give it another shot. I expected a fun action flick with lots of explosions, death-defying stunts, cool death shots, and a badass lead character. I was not disappointed. After reading so many bad reviews here on imdb I decided I need to write a review defending this movie. I don't know what other people expected when they saw this movie, but I certainly didn't expect much more than a cool action flick, and that is exactly what "The Punisher" gave me plus maybe a little more.

First off, Dolph Lundgren's stiff acting and menacing demeanor make him perfect for the part of the hell-bent, socially backwards loner determined to punish the scum of the Earth (His significant acting shortcomings are his assets here). The writer and director did a good job of showing many different facets of his personality and actually created a deeper characterization of the Punisher than I would have expected. Louis Gossett Jr. plays his his part competently enough. In fact, the acting was not all that bad all around (suitable enough for an action flick).

The action here is also pretty solid. Some examples: The opening sequence where Dolph punishes the trash-talking mob boss and his henchmen with style. In one scene, Dolph is driving a bus with children in tow while a hundred Japanese are firing machine guns and crashing their cars into the side of the bus...way cool.

The plot is pretty standard revenge bit with some minor twists and turns, but the ending is pretty cool and less predictable than most action thrillers, but then again thats not saying much :-)

FINAL RATING: 6/10 I doubt it will make anyone's top ten list, but this low budget action genre flick delivers the goods with solid action and semi-interesting characters, which is more than I can say for many big budget Hollywood action flicks (e.g. Cobra, Mercury Rising, The Watcher, the Art of War). Its not a movie to be analyzed, its a movie to enjoy. Action junkies should dig it, others should probably stay away.

When "The Punisher" first hit video racks in 1989, I was a rabid teenage comic book collector, and at the time "The Punisher" was one of my favorite Marvel titles. I had a huge collection of "Punisher" comics and never missed an issue, so needless to say, I was quite stoked to finally see Frank Castle hit the big screen (or I suppose I should say "small screen"). Unfortunately, on my first viewing of "The Punisher" I absolutely HATED it. I was so infuriated at how the producers played fast-and-loose with the character's back story and mythology that I actually wrote a letter to Marvel listing off my complaints about the inaccuracies in the film ("Why wasn't Frank wearing the Skull Emblem? Why was he living in the sewers like a damned Mutant Ninja Turtle? He's not an ex-cop, he's an ex-Marine! Where was the War Wagon? Where was Microchip?" etc., etc...)... what can I say, I was young, and Hell hath no fury like an Enraged Geek.

Twenty years have gone by, I'm now a retired Comic Book Geek (I sold off the bulk of my collection, including my "Punisher" books, in the late '90s), and one day I came across Dolph's "Punisher" in the $5 bin at Wal-Mart. I had only vague memories of the film by this point so I figured "Ehhh, what the hell." Now that enough time has passed that I can separate this film from the original source material (I'm still convinced that when New World Pictures obtained the "Punisher" license, they didn't bother to read any of the comics -- they just plugged the characters' names into a generic action movie script they already had laying around in a drawer somewhere), I actually enjoyed "The Punisher" a lot more than I did back in the day. It's still "The Punisher" in name only, and the lack of attention to detail still bugged me a little, but on its own merits, "The Punisher" was a pretty decent B-grade action movie. If carnage is your thing, this flick will definitely satisfy in spades. There are crazy gun battles seemingly every two minutes (using approximately 50,000 shell casings per frame of film), martial arts smackdowns with ninjas, a surprising amount of gore, and decent stuntwork for what was obviously a low budget film. I've never been a big fan of Dolph Lundgren but I have to admit he captured the haunted, tortured look in Frank Castle's eyes and he did present a hell of an imposing figure, stalking the underworld in black leather biker gear and carrying Big F'n Guns. The storyline is silly at best (in a nutshell, Frank's war against the Mafia is interrupted by the arrival of a new gang from the Japanese Yakuza who wish to muscle in on the territory, leading Frank into an uneasy truce with his former targets in order to eliminate their common enemy) but the actors play their roles well (particularly the Japanese actress who portrayed the insane Yakuza head Lady Tanaka and the ever-reliable Louis Gossett Jr., adding yet another Angry Cop role to his resume as Castle's former police partner) and the amount of pyrotechnics thrown on screen will ensure the viewer never gets bored.

I still have not seen either of the two recent "Punisher" films that supposedly are more faithful to the character's comic book origins, but I'll probably get to them one of these days. As of right now, this early draft has shot up a few notches in my estimation and I'd say it would make a decent rental/purchase for the action junkies out there. Ignore the ramblings of the Comic Book Geeks who hate this movie. I should know, I used to be one of them.