punisher: war zone

[kakihara]

i finally got around to seeing this. i liked it. though the acting was horrible and most of the characters were stupid. i think the violence made up for all of crap in this movie. it could have been more graphic but its a step in the right direction. c'mon, this guy is supposed to shoot and kill people.  all i can say is its about time. just look at the last punisher movie. that guy saw his family get killed, he turned into an alcoholic recluse, and was still a pretty boy. he had a good tan, nice hair cut, and his 5 o'clock shadow was nice & neat. ive been meaning to watch the old one with dolph lundgren. i barely remember it, i heard its pretty bad. i remember how dolph looked though, all sick and pale from not sleeping. i think thats one thing thats missing from these superhero movies, grit and violence. i would like to see them a little more realistic. i liked the wolverine movie too, but it was weak. basically his whole existence has been a violent struggle. i think i got of subject again....

[D-Man]

I've said over and over that Ray Stevenson could have been an awesome Punisher.  He's a way better actor than this movie shows.  This film  suffered from the same problems of weak dialogue and characters, plus the fact that it was directed a friggin' kickboxer!

What's sad is, everyone is gonna think that this was all poor Ray's fault, which is really unfair.  His career deserves a lot better than this tripe. 

[kakihara]

im not knocking the guy who played the punisher (war zone), i think he fit and looked the part pretty well. he needed bigger guns though, i would have loved to see him with some heavy artillery . dont get me started on last punisher movie. i hope they make a sequel to war zone with the same guy. as long as the keep it a basic shoot em up movie and not over the top. again, im glad marvel made this one a little more mature, i think the violence actually helped the movie on this one. how about the old movie with dolph lundgren? anybody got any opinions on that one, im thinking about checking it out.

[fortunato]

Of the three Punisher movies, I think the 2004 film with Thomas Jane was the best.  He was by far the closest in style to the 70s antihero archetype that inspired the character.  Ray's and Dolph's films were less character driven and far more set-piece driven.  Not that I don't own and watch all three with some regularity, mind you.

[Nathan]

I liked that you could actually follow the action throughout the movie, something that shouldn't be remarkable, but sadly is.

[D-Man]

Well, the one thing I liked about this movie was how it seemed to recall the gruesome action movies of the 80's and early 90's, particularly the ones by Paul Verhooven, of Robocop and Total Recall fame.  If it had just been directed by someone as competent in film as Verhooven, then it might have had a chance.

[Jim H]

I've said over and over that Ray Stevenson could have been an awesome Punisher.  He's a way better actor than this movie shows.  This film  suffered from the same problems of weak dialogue and characters, plus the fact that it was directed a friggin' kickboxer!

What's sad is, everyone is gonna think that this was all poor Ray's fault, which is really unfair.  His career deserves a lot better than this tripe. 

It's interesting to note that the same director also did Hooligans, which I've heard almost nothing but good things about. 

War Zone is very flawed, but I still found it entertaining.  Ray Stevenson definitely LOOKS the closest to the part.  But, just kind of a meh in my book overall.

[3mnkids]

Action wise I loved this one. Starts off with a bang and doesnt stop. My only complaint is with the accents. They are awful. AWFUL. It was so distracting.

[D-Man]

Ray Stevenson definitely LOOKS the closest to the part.  But, just kind of a meh in my book overall.

You've obviously never seen HBO's Rome.  Do yourself a favor and rent it on Netflix sometime.  I promise you, Ray Stevenson can really act.  The problem is, he doesn't seem to get any work now that allows him his full range.  He's a way better actor than what War Zone shows. 

[Jim H]

Ray Stevenson definitely LOOKS the closest to the part.  But, just kind of a meh in my book overall.

You've obviously never seen HBO's Rome.  Do yourself a favor and rent it on Netflix sometime.  I promise you, Ray Stevenson can really act.  The problem is, he doesn't seem to get any work now that allows him his full range.  He's a way better actor than what War Zone shows. 

I worded that badly.  I meant the movie was meh overall.  Passably entertaining.  Ray Stevenson was fine, but didn't really get anything to work with.  I haven't seen all of Rome, BTW, but I've seen enough to know he can act.

[Torgo]

The thing that really blows my mind is that you would think that The Punisher would be one of the easier comic book characters to turn into a kick ass film.  But after 3 failed attempts I've given up hope.  The sad thing is that Ray Stevenson is perfect casting but the movie surrounding was awful.

[Jim H]

The thing that really blows my mind is that you would think that The Punisher would be one of the easier comic book characters to turn into a kick ass film.  But after 3 failed attempts I've given up hope.  The sad thing is that Ray Stevenson is perfect casting but the movie surrounding was awful.

The utter simplicity of his storylines I think makes him hard to adapt at times.  Rather, it should be easy to make a DECENT Punisher film, but very hard to make a GREAT Punisher film. 

In current Marvel comics, the Punisher just got killed off (by Wolverine's evil and extremely dull son, at that).  He also was just ressurected as Frankencastle, pieced together and now basically unkillable. 



Maybe they'll adapt Frankencastle into a new movie?   

[kakihara]

what the hell has happened to comics?!!! i havent kept up with them since the mid-90s, im afraid to see what happend to the other characters. anyway, why so much hate for pun/war zone? the acting, story and characters are sub-par but what do you expect? it could have been alot worse. like elektra. maybe if it wasnt for those accents.  like i said earlier, its a step in the right direction as far as action movies go. what about the first one? i want to hear some opinions about it before i waste my money on it.

[SkullBat308]

I like Warzone, thought it was the best of the three.

[bladerunnerblues]

I prefer the original Lundgren one.Great Villianess,Frank having to team up with someone that he has on his s**t list etc
I thought the 2004 one was zzzzzzzz.I just could not believe Travolta as a criminal.
War Zone was fun.The violence is so over the top that I laughed out loud a few times.I regret not seeing it in a theater.