Punisher: War Zone - Preview

Comment on “Punisher: War Zone”

1. Karl Says:
   December 6th, 2007 at 23:44

   Ray Stevenson as Frank Castle?! WTF man! What happened to Thomas Jane?! This is gonna bomb big time! I'm not even looking forward to this one. *sigh.

1. Daniel Says:
   February 14th, 2008 at 16:42

   Come On!
   Give Ray a chance!
   It may or may not be good, but let's wait and see!

1. Daniel Says:
   February 14th, 2008 at 16:42

   Give Ray Stevenson a chance!
   Maybe he won't do good, but lets wait n see

1. Primo Says:
   February 15th, 2008 at 10:14

   I"m glad Tom Jane pulled out. He didn't have the frame, facial features, or even general demeanor of the character. I have tried to defend the last movie for too long. It was much better than the first film but the back story was still completely different from the comic.
   
   BTW...
   
   RIP Roy Scheider

1. justin Says:
   March 17th, 2008 at 22:09

   the punisher will not be the same without tom jane

1. tantryl Says:
   June 3rd, 2008 at 00:56

   The 2004 Punisher movie was a surprisingly good piece of cinema, directed by someone who has a good background in it both writing and producing and who clearly has a good connection with the Western style of film making, which translated well to the vigilante character of Frank Castle. When you think about it The Punisher's origin and drive feel like they're torn directly from the Western genre and Hensleigh did a modernised take on the concept.
   
   For that movie Thomas Jane was perfect. The look of the character means nothing to me, comic book characters change their look from time to time and it's easy to roll with - different artists, different plots, different emotional targets and they'll choose a different look. Look means virtually nothing in transforming a comic book character (no-one points out Hugh Jackman is about a foot too tall for Wolverine for instance).
   
   The director of this one actually looks like she's got a lot of potential. Green Street Hooligans, which she wrote and directed a couple of years back, is a very decent flick with a strong story and characters even though it falls for a somewhat simple narrative style. Picked it up for $5 in a bargain bin about a year back and it's probably the best cheap DVD I've bought.
   
   A couple of interviews I've seen seem to focus on the fact she's done some martial arts and stunt work in her time instead of her film making when talking about this new Punisher flick, which was kind of annoying because it gave you the feeling she was just a stunt/action director which Hooligans clearly shows she isn't (although there is some reasonably convincing brawl action in there).
   
   She did however mention in the interviews a liking of the Punisher MAX series and that this coming one would try and mimic them as much as possible. From what I've seen in photos this is more going to be in regards to sets and lighting than it is the tone of the flick. Punisher MAX is very dark, tonally. Very dark. Regular Punisher is a big wussbag compared to MAX Punisher. Bad guys in Punisher MAX aren't big girly comic book bad guys like Jigsaw (although I have to admit it's been a while since I read them and it's entirely possible Jigsaw makes an appearance :P).
   
   Stevenson is a fine actor, it'll be interesting to see how well he pulls off a New Yorker accent (assuming they've gone back to NY).
   
   Movie has plenty of potential, but I smell the smelly smell of something that smells smell. We shall see.

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