Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.
“In certain extreme situations, the law is inadequate. In order to shame its inadequacy, it is necessary to act outside the law, to pursue... natural justice. This is not vengeance. Revenge is not a valid motive; it’s an emotional response. No, not vengeance. Punishment.”
—Frank Castle, The Punisher
What do you do when you witness your family gunned down right in front of you?
A) You commit suicide because you can’t live without them;
B) You call the cops hoping that law and order will put these criminals away for good; or
C) You swear on your parents’ grave that you will honour their memory by bringing to justice the cowardly lot who prey on the innocents by dressing up as a giant bat.
I would go with “C”. There’s only one problem: this isn’t a DC Comics movie.
Marvel Comics’ attempt into the movie foray has either been a hit or a miss. There have been some really good interpretations of these characters on the big screen. And yes, there have been some stinkers. Rarely, though, are there a few movies that just walk the line. The 2004 take on The Punisher is one of those fence-sitters that could have swung either way.
Getting Punished No Longer Requires You to Go to Your Room
Before his retirement from the FBI, Frank Castle worked his last undercover job that leads to a shootout and a couple of deaths. One of the deceased is the son of mob boss Howard Saint. This doesn’t sit well with Saint at all. He swears revenge on Castle and wants his head on a platter. Saint’s wife, however, raises the ante and wants the blood spilled from his entire family.
This is exactly what happens at a huge Castle family reunion in Puerto Rico. Saint’s men methodically guns down each and every participant at this gathering, including Castle’s parents, wife and son. In the end, a battered and bruised frank Castle is saved for the last, shot point blank in the chest, and is left for dead. Big mistake. Rule #1: always make sure the prey is dead.
Castle recovers from his fatal injuries and swears to punish all those responsible for his loss. There is no holding back with Frank Castle anymore. He pulls out all the stops knowing full well that the law is not going to be any use to him. He deploys psychological and militaristic tactics that he has learned in his 20 years of service in the FBI. What entails is a cat-and-mouse game between Saint and Castle with the lives of many caught in their massive crossfire.
Punishable Acts
Usually, I’m the one guy who will cry foul when it comes to not faithfully adapting a comic book character’s origin for the big screen. Just even the slightest bit of deviation has me all in a tizzy, at least in the beginning. For some reason, this isn’t the case with The Punisher (2004) and I’m trying to figure out why.
Director Jonathan Hensleigh brings Marvel’s anti-hero to the big screen. The Punisher has caught the attention of many fanboys due to his no rules, no holds barred routine. This means he has no qualms in killing his target and not above using brutal tactics to do so. Hensleigh doesn’t stray too far from the source material at all with only a few minor tweaks here and there to make things more relevant. What Hensleigh does is emphasize that Frank Castle is a family man. In the comics, his wife and children are gunned down in Mafia crossfire. The movie makes it more poignant by including his parents, extended family and relatives. I believe the total body counted resulted to 34 dead family members. Now that’s sadistic. This is the fuel that drives his tormented soul and his war against Saint.
Thomas Jane does a credible job playing Frank Castle. He shows us the highs and lows of this man’s life, and the lengths he is willing to exact his brand of punishment on those who inflicted such terror upon his family. A big part of Castle’s history is the time he served in the Vietnam War. I think this was a hard event to put into play without dating this character. Instead, and wisely, it shifted away from the war to his service with the FBI. It explains all of his knowledge and training quite sufficiently.
I think the weak link in this movie is John Travolta as Howard Saint. I understand he is supposed to be eccentric, to a degree, and a vengefully jealous mob boss, but I think he took it too far to a point that I could say that it was almost campy. Maybe it wasn’t but his performance doesn't sit right with me no matter how many times I see this movie.
And here’s the thing: it takes multiple viewings of this movie to see that it wasn’t as bad as I first envisioned it. What doesn’t change is the lumbering pace especially the middle part. I’m trying to figure out if having Rebecca Romijn in this movie was necessary. At least she can say she has acted in two different superhero films.
Despite the darkened mood to this film, there are a couple of humourous scenes. The first one is a hilarious torture sequence involving a blowtorch, a steak and a Popsicle. The second is a battle against “The Russian” (played by former WWE wrestler Kevin Nash) that is quite amusing. But make no mistake, this is a violent movie. Guns, knives, explosions and a lot of blood play a big part in the Punisher's world. Still, with the amount of bloodshed that could have possibly happened in this film, the reins were pulled in tightly.
It is safe to say that this was really a story about Frank Castle and his struggle to maintain his sanity. There is only one goal in his mind and once that is achieved, what is left for Castle? It should be of note that the Punisher doesn’t even make an appearance until the very last scene.
The Punisher could have been a debacle (think the 1989 Punisher starring Dolph Lundgren). Castle’s motivation can’t be argued with at all. I’m sure Bruce Wayne would have gone this route as well, if he wasn’t filthy rich and able to create his own technological gadgets. But the difference between the two is this: Bruce won’t take a life; Castle has no problem with it at all. They will both punish criminals but Castle makes sure the criminals never get to do it again by giving them a permanent dirt nap.
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