Review: The Punisher
April 27, 2004; Regal Cinemas Falmouth #6
* (out of four)
This was atrocious.
There is nothing else that comes to mind. A few good performances - the shreds of redeeming qualities that earned this movie one star - were so overpowered by Hollywood crap that they are entirely insignificant. This movie is unrelentingly dark, unforgivingly brutal, and inexcusably formulaic.
But first, the good, because there's so little of it that putting it at the end would be the same as writing it off entirely. Some people do their job well, or at least as well as they can. Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, playing a neighbor of Frank Castle (Thomas Jane) later in the movie, tries hard. Unfortunately, she's so bogged down with a complete lack of developement, terrible dialogue, and some awful attempts at romance (to show that Castle is devoid of real human emotion) that nothing she does will be good enough to cut through the crap. And even though Howard Saint (John Travolta) is a cardboard villain, Travolta's good at that. He's not trying hard - there's no need for him to - he makes Saint very convincing when motivated by his hate for Castle or possessive jealousy about his wife.
Beyond those faint glimmers of light... whooo boy. First off, this movie is dark. Completely. There's no relief. It works in the beginning, because it sets up that the massacre of Castle's family is serious stuff, and that his subsequent revenge is also deadly serious... but then they try to shove down our throats that the fight between Castle and The Russian (Kevin Nash) is funny... and it's just not. None of it is. Thus, this becomes a story about a man on a killing spree, with no breaks for anything lighter, and that's hard to watch for two hours.
Frank Castle is another issue. Thomas Jane plays the part well; he's disconnected, antisocial, recklessly driven... but it all starts too soon. With the exception of him being maybe a little bit angrier and quieter, there was no real distinct difference in Castle before and after the massacre. It was like he knew what was coming, and had already given up before a single shot was fired.
Above all else, this movie fits perfectly and unoriginally into the action formula. There's a happy exposition - mind you, it is the bare minimum that must be told to get the audience up to speed - a car chase, a gunfight, a fist fight, and stuff blows up. Anything in between these events is uninspired, and exists only to make the movie longer and give some semblance of plot. Also consider that the dialogue is ridiculous; one-liners like "God's gonna sit this one out" or "They have something to lose" are insulting to anyone old enough to get past the R rating. From what I've read, The Punisher actually has a decent story. Marvel's made good money off the character, so there must be something worthwhile... why didn't any of it get used?
April 27, 2004; Regal Cinemas Falmouth #6
* (out of four)
This was atrocious.
There is nothing else that comes to mind. A few good performances - the shreds of redeeming qualities that earned this movie one star - were so overpowered by Hollywood crap that they are entirely insignificant. This movie is unrelentingly dark, unforgivingly brutal, and inexcusably formulaic.
But first, the good, because there's so little of it that putting it at the end would be the same as writing it off entirely. Some people do their job well, or at least as well as they can. Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, playing a neighbor of Frank Castle (Thomas Jane) later in the movie, tries hard. Unfortunately, she's so bogged down with a complete lack of developement, terrible dialogue, and some awful attempts at romance (to show that Castle is devoid of real human emotion) that nothing she does will be good enough to cut through the crap. And even though Howard Saint (John Travolta) is a cardboard villain, Travolta's good at that. He's not trying hard - there's no need for him to - he makes Saint very convincing when motivated by his hate for Castle or possessive jealousy about his wife.
Beyond those faint glimmers of light... whooo boy. First off, this movie is dark. Completely. There's no relief. It works in the beginning, because it sets up that the massacre of Castle's family is serious stuff, and that his subsequent revenge is also deadly serious... but then they try to shove down our throats that the fight between Castle and The Russian (Kevin Nash) is funny... and it's just not. None of it is. Thus, this becomes a story about a man on a killing spree, with no breaks for anything lighter, and that's hard to watch for two hours.
Frank Castle is another issue. Thomas Jane plays the part well; he's disconnected, antisocial, recklessly driven... but it all starts too soon. With the exception of him being maybe a little bit angrier and quieter, there was no real distinct difference in Castle before and after the massacre. It was like he knew what was coming, and had already given up before a single shot was fired.
Above all else, this movie fits perfectly and unoriginally into the action formula. There's a happy exposition - mind you, it is the bare minimum that must be told to get the audience up to speed - a car chase, a gunfight, a fist fight, and stuff blows up. Anything in between these events is uninspired, and exists only to make the movie longer and give some semblance of plot. Also consider that the dialogue is ridiculous; one-liners like "God's gonna sit this one out" or "They have something to lose" are insulting to anyone old enough to get past the R rating. From what I've read, The Punisher actually has a decent story. Marvel's made good money off the character, so there must be something worthwhile... why didn't any of it get used?
posted by Matt S. at
10:16 PM
