Punisher War Zone: Kidneys with a Side of Cherry Pie Faces

Punisher War Zone is a movie obsessed with violence and my largest complaint was there was not enough. This is a character from comic books that has plenty of graphic literature with the potential to be put on the screen and done well, yet it seems they kept him solely as a one-note character. Imagine if Romeo and Juliette were just in it for the sex and you get the idea.

Punisher follows Frank Castle, a marine-turned vigilante who, after the death of his family at mafia hands, dedicates his life to a one-man war on crime. He starts with the Italian mob families and finally at the last New York family the film begins with him sneaking in and executing the entire family at the dinner table with decapitations and headshots. This includes a wrenching scene where Castle spins, dangling from a chandler shooting off rounds. Amazing how he can hit everyone while spinning, but they can't even hit the chandler.

He goes to finish the job at a bottle recycling plant, hunting down the last family members. This leads him to throwing a man into a pit of broken glass, then turning on the crusher so he gets washed in it. Maybe Lionsgate was hoping to top it's pit of needles from Saw 2. Either way, the result is Jigsaw, a man with a puzzle for a face. He looks like someone who was too ugly to be cast in Dick Tracy.

This leads to a war of guns between the Punisher and Jigsaw. In the middle is the wife and daughter of the undercover agent the Punisher mistakenly killed. This is where the movie loses it's edge, if it didn't fall out from the chandler. Punisher, from the comics, is an interesting character because he never second-guesses his decisions, never quits his persuit of punishment, and whines. He gets his mind off of his family's death by continuing his crusade. Here, in the film, he falls into the action-hero cliche. He uses the over-used "this is my last mission" line and looks like he's going to cry when he's around the girl. That's not matching character with the guy firing rockets into jumping bad guys. There's hints of smiles, which doesn't match either. If the Punisher was looking for redemption and salvation from little girls and their moms, he should have watched the remake of Man on Fire. Now he's just like every other action hero in the book.

Since I read the books, I'll say the books are more interesting in the character. The movie limits the weaponry to simply guns, gernades, and a single shot from a rocket launcher, all of which are familiar to movies. The books gave us a man the bad guys didn't stand a chance agaisnt. He won half the battle before walking up by using carefully placed trip-mines, misleading information to set a trap, and poisoning the food. Not as exciting, but he isn't action man, he's Punisher. Fair fighting isn't part of the programing. Read back and think which would be more interesting.

In all fairness, there are a few good Punisher moments, such as the broken glass pit. He shoots a man in the face without warning, to which the audience will most likely laugh. He has a broken nose and resets it without a word. He walks up behind someone and pushes their face into a doorframe, crushing it like cherry pie. Looking back at some of the violence, was everyone's face made out of cherry pie? Jigsaw recruits his men while marching around, an American flag behind him, giving the advice, "We'll do this the Army way. Give them money for a college fund they'll never see, give them a gun, and promise them they won't go to Iraq." His sidekick is his brother, Looney Bin Jim, who, upon his escape, celebrates by eating kidneys of the hospital staff. I guess cherry pie in the face wasn't enough.

Is it entertaining? No. The pace is slow and the character is one-note.

Is it for everyone? It is for those who like kidneys and cherry pie.

Is it memorable? I will admit, yes. There are moments of violent humor which will be hard to top. This humor is well-delivered against the face of Ray Winstone.