Rating of
2.5/4
Not even close to a true Super Hero Movie.
mdtinney - wrote on 10/12/09
Angst is not something that ever bothered the Frank Castle of the comics world. Marvel's recent string of heroes have simply been too angsty. Daredevil? Angst! The Punisher? Angst! Spiderman? Ang-- oh, wait, he's supposed to be that way... But anyhoo, this movie took a great concept and watered it down seriously. First off, Thomas Jane tried his best, but his severely lacked the menacing nature of the Punisher -- Frank Castle of the comics is an unstoppable meat-grinder when it comes to crooks, but the movie version just makes you want to yawn in comparison. Travolta's villain was just Travolta doing his usual schtick, and lacked any real threat-factor of any sort. Rebecca Romjin-Stamos is beautiful and gutsy, but the character from the comic is _neither_ of those things, so she just comes across as cliche. Spacker Dave and Mr. Bumpo were pretty darn good (though Bumpo must've been on the Subway diet for this film in comparison with his comic counterpart) and the Russian was a spot-on match (despite his lack of dialogue, which was unfortunately a big loss in character) -- the fight sequence between him and Frank is about 80% close to the comic's same scene. Overall, it's an ok film and has some funny parts to it, but doesn't seem like it really earned the R-rating and just seriously... lacks, for lack of a better term. If you have to get up to go to the bathroom in this film, don't worry: you won't miss much.
