Of the three Punisher films that have been made, most would probably put this film as the best and while it is certainly . . . what’s the word for it . . . the most “movie-esque,” Tom Jane’s The Punisher is my least favorite of the three.
Yeah, I like Punisher: Warzone better, but we’ll talk about that movie next week.
So, what do I mean by “movie-esque?” Essentially, this film fits the same mold of most superhero movies that have been made. It begins before Frank Castle becomes the Punisher and he goes through all of the same steps to become the titular hero (except for the curious omission of a training montage – Castle seems to have the crime-fighting part down). Compare this to the Dolph Lundgren film where the film begins with the Punisher as an urban legend – a merciless, avenging angel who has murdered over 100 people before the movie even starts. Meanwhile, it takes nearly half the film before Frank Castle decides to start punishing criminals.
And that’s what makes this movie the most “movie-esque.” Much like Spider-man, or Batman Begins, the film pain-stakingly withholds the big reveal of the title character so the audience waits in breathless anticipation for the big moment when the costume is worn for the first time and the hero battles crime. Unlike Spider-man or Batman, however, the Punisher isn’t really a hero so much as he is a stone-cold murderer, so this Joseph Campbell type journey just doesn’t fit the way other superhero films might.
Even when he becomes the Punisher, Frank Castle isn’t all that tough or interesting. After kidnapping a criminal to torture him for information, Frank has the following exchange:
Micky Duka: What’s the torch for?
Frank Castle: 2000 degrees, Mick. Enough to turn steel into butter.
[sighs]
Frank Castle: It won’t hurt at first. It’s too hot, you see? The flame sears the nerve endings shut, killing them. You’ll go into shock… and all you’ll feel is… cold. Isn’t science fun, Mickey?
Instead of actually using the torch on the criminal (something that the comic book Punisher would have no problem doing), Castle uses a popsicle to simulate the cold feel. Of course, our criminal is so dumb that he believe that he is being tortured and gives up the information.
See, the root of the problem doesn’t lie within Tom Jane because he plays the part much better than Lundgren ever could. Jane is a great actor with a lot of range, but the problem is that the character himself just isn’t the Punisher.
What makes the Punisher so compelling is that killing is the only way for him to feel again. When his family was murdered, Frank Castle lost all of his humanity and while murder doesn’t necessarily give him joy, it’s the only thing left that reminds him of what he lost.
The Thomas Jane Punisher just simply seems sad. He’s upset that his family is dead, but one almost gets the sense that he might get over it someday. Meanwhile, the Dolph Lundgren Punisher looks absolutely dead inside (this could be perhaps due to Lundgren’s acting ability more than a deliberate attempt in which case Lundgren is an idiot savant). Jane has the ability to explore the depths of Frank Castle’s sadness, but the film never really gives him that opportunity and this lack of depth further enhances the film being “movie-esque” – for all of its attempts at being deep, the film is all surface.
But the Punisher isn’t the only difficult aspect of the film (he just happens to be the biggest sin) because the villains of the film are absolutely unbearable.
By far the worst scene of the movie has to be this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfxXcBJ0LP0
A Johnny Cash assassin enters the diner the Punisher is eating in, plays a song and leaves. Afterward, he and the Punisher briefly battle (and I emphasize briefly because it’s maybe three minutes long) and that’s it. No more Johnny Cash. It’s useless, pointless, and adds time to movie that is too long.
Lundgren’s film is 89 minutes.
Jane’s is 124 (with the extended cut being an unfathomable 140).
This aside with the Johnny Cash assassin leads to the larger problem of the film just having a lot of needless short scenes that could easily be cut to save time. Another such scene is with Mr. Super-Shredder himself, Kevin “Big Daddy Cool Diesel” “Oz” “the Outsider” “Chet Lemon” “Master Blaster Steel” “Vinnie Vegas” “Big Sexy” Nash as the Russian.
First, the comic the fight is based upon.
And now the fight itself.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlQz92fxTMY
It’s actually not that bad of a fight, but in the comic, the Punisher kills the Russian by suffocating him with his large neighbor, Mr. Bumpo. Of course, this would be out of place in a film as realistic as this one, but why recreate a scene and leave out one of the most memorable parts?
With these two shining examples, it seems unnecessary to discuss John Travolta as the film’s main villain, but he is oftentimes the first thing people mention when they trash this movie. There is nothing redeeming about Travolta’s performance, but he is the least of the film’s problems. He is a little kooky at times and comes off desperate and funny at times and melodramatic and cold at others, but that’s because Travolta has no idea what to do with the character. It’s almost as if he is just making it up as he goes along and while this is certainly horrible, one has to realize that when the title character is written to be consistently mopey and boring, the writing on Travolta’s character isn’t much better and he is trying to do the best with what he is given – which isn’t much.
If anything, the film is enhanced by Travolta’s inclusion if one were to imagine that he is just a grown up version of Travolta’s Danny Zuko from Grease. Zuko has fallen back into a rough crowd and worked his way up from high school no-goodnik to head of his own crime family. While his wife in the film looks nothing like Sandy, the reveal at the beginning of the film as she pulls back her black veil and orders her husband’s muscle to go murder Frank Castle’s family seems as if we should be familiar with her, so we might as well say that this is the same character.
It’s really the only way to make this movie even halfway watchable.
