by James Moore
U-Wire
The Lantern (Ohio State U.)
"The Punisher," the big screen adaptation of a comic book anti-hero, is disappointing and remarkably bad in nearly every way.
The film is a mishmash of the character's story of origin, a dozen generic action movies, a liberal cribbing from the far superior comic book miniseries "The Punisher: Welcome Back Frank" by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon, and a dull plot. Frank Castle (Thomas Jane) is a retired FBI agent whose last case has come back to haunt him. In revenge for killing a mob boss's (a hammy John Travolta) son, Castle's entire family is massacred while conveniently attending a family reunion on a tropical island.
Surviving the attack, Castle returns to New York, moves into an apartment building with some unusual neighbors and launches a one-man war on the mob responsible for his family's deaths.
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"The Punisher" feels like the inbred offspring of any number of 1980s action/revenge movies. A Reagan-era extremist-vigilante aesthetic permeates every aspect of the film, from the plotting to the way the violence is presented.
The dialog is frequently laughable. For example, after Castle's family is murdered, the man who saved his life during the attack says, "Go with God," to which Castle grimly intones, "God's gonna sit this one out." Dreadful. The music staggers from ominous puesdo-opera at dramatic moments, to nu-metal tracks that play over the credits. More importantly, the pacing is horrendous as scenes end abruptly.
To some extent, the flaws lie in the character himself. The Punisher is an emotionally dead man who has lost all humanity and has become, for all intents and purposes, a serial killer. Whether the film works depends on whether a viewer can sympathize with his psychosis, as well their capacity to appreciate copious amount of explosions.
The action sequences are occasionally interesting but more often sloppy and unoriginal. The movie uses a pre-"Matrix"/John Woo style of violence that generally lacks any impact because the Punisher is apparently invincible. There's no risk for the character, which inspires no interest.
The film is not entirely without its positives, most of which are taken from the Ennis miniseries. The supporting cast of Spacker Dave (Ben Fostor) and Bumpo (John Pinette) provide great comedy relief and a human dimension to the film, and while Rebbeca Romijn-Stamos is far too glamorous and entirely miscast to play Joan, she too brings a human element.
The filmmaker's attempts at Ennis-esque dark comedy are well done, if infrequent, which demonstrates how dour the rest of the film is.
By the end of the film, "The Punisher" reveals itself to be a bloated, mixed-up and bizarrely retro film that will appeal only to action junkies and the most die-hard fans of the comic.
