 Like I said in my review of Captain America, back in the 80's, Marvel Comics made the mistake of selling their film licenses to Cannon Films. This resulted in some of the most God-awful flicks I've ever witnessed. The Punisher is the worst of the bunch, and if you see it, don't say I didn't warn you. Dolph Lundgren stars in this adaptation of the Marvel comic, about a Vietnam vet whose family is killed after witnessing a Mafia execution. In this film, however, The Punisher--aka Frank Castle--is an ex-cop who now lives in the sewers of New York City (next door to the Ninja Turtles, most likely). He doesn't wear a costume. He doesn't say much. If you've committed a crime, he'll blow your head off. Simple as that. How hard is it to translate such a simple concept to film? Pretty damn hard, it seems. This film doesn't even struggle; it's dead from the word "go". It's a parade of violence with no reward, no plot, nothing. Even when the film finds a plot (halfway into the picture, a bunch of Yakuza thugs kidnap the children of some Mafia heads, including the son of Castle's archnemesis), it continues to fester. Castle's enemy, Gianni Franco, is forced to team up with this nut-job in order to rescue his son, but nothing is felt there. Punisher simply tells Franco he's going to kill him once this thing is over, or something like that. Dolph shows no emotion, and fails to strike up any chemistry with his costars, even Lou Gossett Jr, who shows up to play Frank's ex-partner, and the only man who might be able to talk Frank out of excessive killing (he doesn't; no surprise there). Like Captain America, this movie was released straight to video domestically. And like Cap, this movie sucks. Fortunately, Cannon no longer holds the rights to most Marvel properties, though when I last heard, it continues its legal crusade to keep the Spider-Man rights. Someone rule in Jim Cameron's favor! About the author: Comments? Questions? Send them all to AmazinBoyS@aol.com, where they will be answered. You may read another review, submit your own, or return home. |
