The Punisher Review

Hello, and welcome to the 11th episode of the

MWire. Today we're going to be discussing the

Punisher in our Marvel Spotlight. I am DFG1 Mike,

and as usual, I am with Steve Megatron. Hello.

Hello, and you are entering the Steve Light Zone.

Uh, no, that would be the Steve Twilight Zone.

No, it's the Steve Light Zone. In a world where

Steve controls everything you see. God, I don't

live there. Yes, the land of bums and hookers.

Oh, that's funny as hell. So, how are you? Um,

pretty decent. Yes, we just got done recording

Headshot 12. Yes, or Nutshot. Crotch Shot, Dude

Shot, I don't know, whatever you want to call

it. Ass Shot. So go over there for all the updates

as far as the stuff. Today we are going to be

discussing The Punisher, as I said. I really

enjoyed this one. It was really, really cool.

I thought it was a good movie. So we will be

right back with the show topic, which, as I said

again, is The Punisher. I can't believe I'm home.

I could ever be so lucky. We're not lucky. We

are blessed. All right, everybody, quiet down.

This is the first family reunion we've had in

five years. The future. The future. The future

was something my family would never see. Thomas

Jane, John Travolta. This is not revenge. It's

punishment. Alright, it is time for today's show

topic, which is The Punisher, a 2004 comic book

action film based on the Marvel Comics character

with the same name. Starring Thomas Jane as the

anti -hero Frank Castle slash The Punisher, and

John Travolta as the villain Saint. What the

hell was that? What? I don't know. I heard a

microphone echo or something. Something was...

I don't know. Who Orders the Death of Castle's

Entire Family. The film is not a sequel to 1989's

The Punisher. It is a reboot. The story and plot

were mainly based on two Punisher comic book

stories. The Punisher Year One and Welcome Back

Frank. Along with scenes from other Punisher

stories such as Marvel Preview featuring Punisher

Number Two. The Punisher War Zone, and The Punisher

War Journal. The film was released on April 16,

2004 by Lionsgate Entertainment, grossing $13

,834 ,527. In the U .S., over its opening weekend,

The Punisher received mainly negative reviews

from film critics, a DVD release that followed

on September 7, 2004, with 10 .8 million in copies

sold. Well, even though it received negative

reviews, at least the DVD sales were good. Yeah,

that's good. Yes. The Punisher was shot on location

in Tampa in mid to late 2003. It is distributed

by Lionsgate Entertainment in North America,

although Artisan Entertainment, which produced

1989's The Punisher, financed and co -distributed

the film with Lionsgate. Columbia Pictures distributed

the film in non -North American countries. Director

Jonathan Hensley agreed to helm the film during

its development stage despite a dispute with

Marvel Studios. The Punisher was rated R by the

MPAA for pervasive, brutal violence, language,

and brief nudity, making it one of the few Marvel

films to receive an R rating. The success of

the DVD sales of the film prompted Marvel Comics

and Lionsgate to start development on a sequel

titled The Punisher 2, which instead became the

reboot titled Punisher Warzone after Jane and

Hensley left the project due to creative differences.

One thing that really surprised me about the

2004 Punisher was the fact that John Travolta

was the villain. I don't... I'm trying to remember

back then what films Travolta was in around that

time, and it was like a real shock to me to see

him in this. Yeah, he definitely... He usually

doesn't play a part like that, though. Well,

he plays a villain. He plays a very, you know...

A very vicious villain, actually. You know, having

someone's entire family killed just because his

wife tells him to. But, I don't know, at the

time I was really, really surprised to see him

in a Marvel movie. Of course, you know, two years

before this was released we had Spider -Man,

two years before that we had X -Men, and then,

you know, we had Spider -Man 2 in 2004 as well.

But it was just really, really surprising. So

getting into the plot here, Bobby Saint and Mickey

Duca meet with their contact, Otto Krieg, during

an arms deal in Tampa. But the FBI intervenes,

and Bobby and Otto are supposedly killed, and

Mickey is taken to prison. It is revealed that

Otto Krieg was an FBI agent and an ex -Delta

Force soldier named Lane Castle. who is shot

by an agent using a plank. Shortly thereafter,

Frank celebrates a retirement party with his

friends and heads home. Bobby Saint is revealed

to be the son of the powerful mob boss, Howard

Saint, who is enraged by the death of his son

and attempts to kill Mickey. Instead, Howard

and his associate, Quentin Glass, bribe the FBI

for the confidential information about Otto Krieg

and find his true identity. At Bobby's funeral,

Howard learns Frank is at a family reunion in

Puerto Rico. and we'll be heading for London

soon. Howard and his wife, Livia, decide to murder

Frank and his entire family as well. Just the

beginning to this, first of all, the title sequence

is really awesome. You know how normally Marvel

does, like with Fantastic Four, they did like

their Marvel logo, but instead of going red like

in Spider -Man, it goes blue? This, they went

all black. So it's the Marvel logo, it fades

to black, and then bullet holes, like bullets

penetrate the logo, and it was really, really

cool. The beginning scenes, it really sets up

how famous this guy and his family are. You know,

they're shaking hands at his club, all these

people wanting to get into his dance club and

stuff like that, and I thought that was really,

really cool. As far as the... Crap. the scenes

with Frank and everything else, at first I thought

he was dead, too. I mean, I was like, what? How

could they kill him so early? Which was really,

really cool. We should mention that you have

not seen this, so you probably aren't going to

have that many thoughts on it. No, not very many,

but I'm reading and listening as I go. Oh, okay.

At the reunion, Howard's cronies, Quentin Glass

and John Saint, among them, kill most of Frank's

family. Frank and his father manage to kill several

men. Meanwhile, Frank's wife and son try to escape

in a jeep, but they are run over with a truck.

Frank is shot three times, but survives and is

nursed back to health by a local man named Kent

Larrie. Frank seeks refuge in the old tenement

building where three young outcasts, Dave, Bumpo,

and Joan live. He starts his own mission of revenge

after learning that the police and the FBI have

no intention of pursuing the men responsible

for his family's death. In the process, Frank

sabotages Saint's money laundering business and

severs Saint's partnership with the Cuban mobsters,

the Toro brothers, and starts tailing Livia and

Quentin, learning that Quentin is in fact a homosexual,

with information from Mickey. Howard realizes

that Frank is alive and sends two assassins to

kill him. First is Harry Heck, who after a brief

car chase is killed when Frank shoots a ballistic

knife into Heck's throat. The second is the Russian,

a behemoth who has boiling water thrown in his

face, which blinds him long enough for Frank

to throw him down the staircase. Moments later,

Saints men arrive, led by Quentin and John. Dave,

Joan, and Bumpo hide Frank and refuse to tell

Quentin where he is. Despite Quentin sadistically

pulling Dave's piercings out with a pair of pliers,

they leave the man behind to kill Frank when

he gets back. Frank leaves the elevator and chops

the top of a man's head open with a paper cutter.

That night, Frank prepares himself for battle

and manipulates Howard into believing that Quentin

and Livia were having an affair by planting one

of Livia's earrings on Quentin's bed. Howard,

unaware that Quentin is a homosexual and believing

Livia to be capable of cheating on him, kills

them both. I kind of went on and on on that just

because the plot for this movie is really cool,

I think. The way that it's set up. In the reunion

scene in the beginning, like right after Howard

Saint finds out about his son dying, when they

show the reunion in Puerto Rico, first of all,

I had no idea that, what's his name, Roy Schneider

was in this. I had no idea, and I kept, because

Roy Schneider plays Frank's father, I kept looking

at him, and I'm like, wait, wait, wait. That's

Captain Bridger from Sequest DSV. That's where

I knew him from, was on the show Sequest DSV,

but I had no idea. And as I was watching it,

I'm like, oh, wow, cool. And, of course, getting

to the whole meeting Joan, Bumpo, and Dave, those

scenes are pretty funny. Kevin Nash plays the

Russian. Which, that's why the Russian is such

a behemoth, because it's Kevin Nash, for Christ's

sake. Yeah. I mean, you put a Super Shredder

suit on him, and you've got Super Shredder. Nice.

I really, really enjoyed this movie. I don't

know why it got such bad reviews. So Frank then

attacks Saints Club, where he wages a one -man

war on Saints' entire crew, killing everyone

inside, including John. Howard attempts to escape,

but Frank catches up with him and shoots him

in the stomach. As he writhes in agony, Frank

reveals that Quentin and Livia were not having

an affair, and he ties Howard to a car, which

goes into a bomb -laden car park, blowing up

countless cars and lighting Howard on fire. The

destruction and wreckage culminates in the shape

of Frank's iconic skull. He leaves and lets Howard

burn to death. After his revenge is taken, Frank

prepares to kill himself. However, he remembers

his wife and decides he will continue his vigilante

mission against others who deserve punishment.

Before departing on his next mission, he leaves

some of Howard's money for Bumpo, Joan, and Dave.

In the final scene on the Sunshine Skyway Bridge,

Frank delivers a short monologue. who do evil

to others, the killers, the rapists, the psychos,

the sadists, will come to know me well. Frank

Castle is dead. Call me the Punisher. Which I

thought that was a really, really cool way to

end the film. The whole rapists, psychos, sadists,

just the... Just the way he says that made me

think of Edie McClurg in Ferris Bueller when

she's going, oh, everybody likes him, the wastoids,

the dweebies, you know, just that whole, it just

made me think of when she did that. That was

just so funny. Overall, I think for this film,

the casting was spot on. You've got Thomas Jane,

which I've never heard of him before, as Frank

Castle. John Travolta as Howard Saint. Will Patton.

It's Quentin Glass. Will Patton's been in a bunch

of stuff. You have Rebecca Romijn, who this is

actually our third film with, no, our fourth

film with her in it. Actually, fourth film in

a row. We did X -Men, all three X -Men films

last week. Yep. You have Ben Foster as Spacker

Dave, John Pinette as Bumbo, Samantha Mathis

as Maria Elizabeth Castle. Marcus Johns as his

son, Will Castle. Russell Andrews as Agent James

Weeks. And a whole bunch of other people. The

only one that I really recognize, Kevin Nash,

Mark Hawley, Roy Schneider. Kevin Nash and Mark

Hawley played the assassins, and Roy Schneider

played his father. Just overall a great cast

for the film, I thought. What did you think so

far, just from reading? Well, honestly, I think

I might have to actually pick this up and watch

it as soon as I get time. Because I think my

mom has some of these that I don't have out of

the Marvel ones. So I think I'm going to have

to pick this one up and borrow it from her. Cool.

Before we get into any of the other information,

I should say that there are two cuts to this

film. There's the original theatrical cut, and

then there's the extended cut, which I had the

original theatrical one, but I sold it because

I like the extended cut better. The only difference

is they flush out the story of, because when

Frank first comes back, he doesn't want anything

from the police or the FBI. He just wants who

gave him up to Howard Saint. And they flesh it

out in this with an animatic in the beginning

of him in Kuwait. It's basically just an animated

scene. Then the film starts as the regular one

does. And they work in that Jimmy Weeks was the

one to betray him, his best friend. And it flushes

out that whole story in this extended cut. The

special features on here, they're... Let's see.

The Punisher comic book gallery. This feature

will allow viewers to click through a gallery

of select past and present Marvel comic book

covers featuring the Punisher. A treasure trove

for the Punisher comic book fans. This is the

ultimate compendium to anyone's collection. It

has a making of featurette and just the regular,

you know, 16x9 widescreen. Which... It's something

I was going to rant on in Headshot, but I forgot

about it, and it's actually more appropriate

here. I want to ask a question to our listeners.

How is it that the aspect ratio and sound quality

are special features? Those are technically specifications

of... The DVD quality or the film quality or

whatever you want to call it, technically those

are not a special feature. A special feature

is a making of, a commentary, you know, the photo

gallery thing, cast and crew credits or whatever.

A fucking 16x9 widescreen and 5 .1 Dolby Digital

surround sound is not a special fucking feature.

No. Director Jonathan Hensley and Avi Arad said

in many interviews that Thomas Jane was the first

and only actor to be asked to play the title

role. Jane initially turned it down the role

twice, as well as a part in the first X -Men

movie and a few other comic book movies, as he

did not see himself as a superhero actor. Jane

said when asked the second time to play the Punisher

that he became interested when Arad sent Tim

Bradstreet's work of the Punisher. After learning

more about the Punisher's character, he accepted,

he read as many Punisher comics as he could to

find, to understand the character, and became

a fan of the Punisher, trained for six or seven

months with the United States Navy SEALs, and

gained more than 20 pounds of muscle for the

part. And I think that's really awesome. Again,

I can't say how cool... That's dedication there.

Yeah, I can't say how cool the... the casting

for it is. It was really, really cool. As far

as the release and reception, prior to the Punisher's

release, the novelization of the movie was written

by D .A. Stern and released in March 2004. The

Punisher opened in 2 ,609 theaters on April 16,

2004. In growth, which I've already said, the

gross stuff. I'm not going to repeat that. Actually,

it did have a foreign gross of $20 ,889 ,916.

giving a worldwide total of $54 ,700 ,105. I

didn't say that. On its release, it was met with

mainly negative reviews and received a 29 % Rotten

rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 160 reviews

with an average rating of 4 .5 out of 10. With

25 % approval rating from top critics and 62

% from the RT community, film critic Roger Ebert

gave the film two stars. stating that the Punisher

is so grim and cheerless, you wonder if its hero

even gets satisfaction from his accomplishments.

And someone from the Hollywood Reporter said,

by the end, the Punisher's greatest adversaries

emerge as an unwelcome trio known as a jokey,

hokey, and hammy. Few reviewers have defended

the movie, stating that compared to most comic

-based films, it is done well. It is a well -done

throwback to the old -school action movies of

the 1960s and 70s, which I kind of agree with

that. This isn't your average action film, even

though it is comic book. It's a good comic book

action film. As far as the home media, I've already

stated the special features on the extended cut.

There was a standard edition, and it's also on

Blu -ray. I'm trying to see. It doesn't really

have... It doesn't say what the special features

are on the original cut. It does have a soundtrack.

The Punisher, the album, was released in 2004

by Wind Up Records, and it's the official soundtrack

for the movie, The Punisher. Its lead singles

were Broken by Cedar and Evanescence, Front Woman,

Amy Lee, Step Up by Downing Pool, and Edgewater's

Eyed, Wired, Shut, all of which have accompanying

music videos. Just looking at this soundtrack

list, because I actually have some of these songs.

After Dave Williams, the lead singer of Drowning

Pool, died in, I believe, 2001, 2002, I did not

really care for Drowning Pool after that. The

only songs I can listen to is the ones that he

actually sung on. Yeah. I pretty much like the

original ones, too. I never really got into any

of their music past him. No, like Bodies and...

Yes, Bodies and I Don't Care About Anyone. Yeah.

I love that song just because of how the song

starts. I don't necessarily... I mean, even without

the audio or the singing, it was a background

song. Yeah, very much so. But the only other

song on here that... The one that's on here by

Donnie Poole, Step Up, it's okay. It fits the

film, like when you watch a trailer for it. But

it's not one that I listened to. The main song

that I was surprised at was this. And unfortunately,

as I said before, we had to move around these

films. I originally wanted the Marvel films to...

The way I plotted out the Marvel spotlight was

to do them by year, like X -Men and the X -Men

movies were 2000, 2003, blah, blah, blah, Spider

-Man, blah, blah, blah, blah. Well, Daredevil

was done before this, before The Punisher was

done in 2003. And Nickelback had had a song on

that called Learn the Hard Way. They have a song

on this called Slow Motion, which I absolutely

love that song. Of course, everybody knows I'm

a big Nickelback fan. And then, of course, you

had the breakout hit Broken by Cedar and Amy

Lee. which got tiring after a while after hearing

it so many times. The score to The Punisher was

composed and conducted by Italian composer Carlo

Siliotto. I think I'm saying that right. Director

Jonathan Hensley wanted the music to be very

emotional and was aware of Siliotto's previous

work, which led to him being chosen. When scoring

the film, Saleto saw Frank Castle as a tragic

figure, stating this man, Frank Castle, is somebody

who has a slaughtered family. He comes through

that slaughter and becomes a punisher, but he

is a sad man. He drinks, and he has bad memories

always coming to him. There's a lot in the film,

and at times it makes a modern version of a classic

tragedy like Othello. I really like the score

to the film. I actually like... Everybody will

hear it in the outro for this episode. I actually

compiled his declaration. Throughout the film,

he lists three things as his declaration. The

first one is in one scene, and then the other

two are in... one of the final scenes. And then

I compiled the thing at the end where, you know,

he's talking about the killers, the psychos and

all that stuff. Um, the theme for when he's doing

that, I thought was really, really cool. Uh,

let's see. It did hit one, a Taurus world stunt

award, and it was nominated for a prism, a few

prism awards. Um, as we said before, there is

a sequel, uh, despite the modest reception of

the film received at the box office lines, get

entertained. Had Greenlit, a direct sequel, tell

The Punisher 2 to be made based on the film's

strong DVD sales performance? Avi Arad, chairman

and CEO of Marvel Studios, stated that the second

film would become the fifth Marvel property to

become a sequel. Jonathan Hensley said that he

was interested in working with Thomas Jane again.

For The Punisher 2, Jane said the villain for

The Punisher 2 would be Jigsaw. Okay. That's

a little weird. The project, however, lingered

in development for over three years. Jonathan

Hensley completed a first draft of the script

before pulling out around 2006. John Dahl was

in talks to direct the film, but pulled out due

to script quality issues. In a statement on May

15, 2007, and in two audio interviews, Thomas

Jane said that he had pulled off the project

due to creative differences and the budget of

the film being cut. In addition to director Walter

Hill being turned down as director by Lionsgate,

after reading the new script by Coach Sutter,

Jane stated, What I won't do is spend months

of my life sweating over a movie that I just

don't believe in. I've always loved the Marvel

guys, and I wish them well. Meanwhile, I'll continue

to search for a film that one day might stand

with all those films the fans have asked me to

watch. In the summer of 2007, Marvel Studios

announced that Lexi Alexander would direct the

film as a result of Doll pulling out, and that

actor Ray Stevenson would play the Punisher in

the new film, thus replacing Thomas Jane. The

Punisher 2 then became Punisher Warzone. reboot

of the Punisher film series with no connection

to the 2004 film. The reboot was released on

December 5th, 2008. This is the second time the

film series has been rebooted after the 2004

production rebooted 1989's The Punisher. When

I first saw the trailer for Punisher Warzone,

first of all, I'm the type of person that once

I see somebody in a role like say Spider -Man

or Peter Parker live action, I want that person

to play the role no matter what. Same thing with

Thomas Jane as the Punisher. I understand he

didn't do it because of creative differences,

that's fine, but I'm the type of person that

I don't like change that well when it comes to

films and stuff like that. I don't like change

that well in general, but anyway. And I just

couldn't see Ray Stevenson as Frank Castle. I

was so still hooked on Thomas Jane playing him

in the way that he played him. I have not seen

the Punisher Warzone. I will not see the Punisher

Warzone. It just didn't appeal to me from trailers.

If a trailer does not catch my eye, then I probably

won't see it, and probably will very reluctantly

maybe do a $1 Redbox rental. And I haven't even

done that. I haven't even looked for this film,

for the second reboot film. Yeah, I don't think

I'll run it anytime soon. based on the fact that

it didn't look appealing to me to begin with.

Yeah, I mean, overall, I think the 2004 film,

it's very underrated. I thought it was very well

done for what it is, and I think that's probably

the best one that we're going to get, unless,

of course, somehow there's a script for yet another

reboot or a sequel or whatever, and Thomas Jane

and Jonathan Hensley come back, but... Overall,

I don't know. So I think we are going to take

a break, and we will come back with the closing.

We'll be right back. Thank you for joining us

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we will be discussing or reviewing the Marvel

Spotlight, the Spider -Man franchise. For now,

I am TFU and Mike with... Steve Megatron Phillips.

Singing the mortal words of Cadet Eugene Tackleberry.

Drop that stereo before I blow your goddamn nuts

off, asshole. And thank you for listening. Until

next time. I leave this as a declaration of intent,

so no one will be confused. One. Sic vis pacum

para bellum. Latin. The boot camp sergeant made

us recite it like a prayer. Sic vis pacum para

bellum. If you want peace, prepare for war. Number

two. Frank Castle is dead. He died with his family.

Number three. 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. Those

who do evil to others, the killers, the rapists,

psychos, sadists, you'll come to know me well.

Frank Castle is dead. Call me... The Punisher.