The Punisher: Dirty Laundry

I'm watching this fresh off a(nother) disappointing viewing of 2004's "The Punisher", so there's really nowhere to go but up, right? Especially when it's only a 10-minute running time. Either way, "The Punisher: Dirty Laundry", lean, mean and minimalist, finally lets Frank Castle get down to the business of kicking some ass. All of the necessary brooding and none of the lame villains, no milquetoast sadism - hell, the real fun here is watching Thomas Jane take a whiskey bottle to the heads of a street gang (with the requisite blood sprays). It's quick, to the point, and violently satisfying.

It's a sad state of affairs when Hollywood can't do (in three movies!) what a YouTube video can.

7/10

The Punisher: Dirty Laundry, is a short film that is nothing but awesome fan service. Seriously, I've been waiting for the day that Thomas Jane embodies Frank Castle again. This right here is that sequel we always wanted. Unfortunately, it is only a 10 minute long short. But, we get some nice stuff here.

The Good: Tom Jane is the perfect Punisher. He is so dang good in the role! His performance is out of this world! Also, nice Ron Perlman cameo! Very cool. The story here is very Punisher-esque, along with the ideals of punishment and justice that Frank speaks of at the end and with Perlman's character. Nice photography as well. I love the new Punisher logo too!

The Bad: Since this is a short film, the blood and gun effects are pretty lousy. We also get some over the top violence that I think even Garth Ennis would not write into his books. It's violent alright, but not the violence I enjoyed from the 2004 film. It's bloody and gory, but too more gore and they lose me. Also, the score is the Dark Knight score. It pulls me right out of the story when I hear it used here. Wish they used something else, oh well.

Overall, this is Thomas Jane as The Punisher again. Need I say more?

This is one of those "I've just had enough" films where the guy finally gets out there and takes care of business. The Punisher wants to mind his own business, sleeping in his van, doing his laundry at a coin laundry. People are raped and attacked behind him. But finally he has to act. I don't know the character, so I can't speak with any true knowledge of him. Just that he is silent and sort of depressed. Well done for what it is.

It never occurred to me that I could review this on here given that it is a ten minute film but once I discovered it was on here I had to sings it praises. This film may be low budget and borrow music from The Dark Knight but it manages to capture the essence and tone of The Punisher in a way no movie or show ever has. It's also a glaring reminder that I would like to see Jane in this role one more time in the definitive Punisher movie but that will never happen so we'll have to accept this as the preview of something great which will never be. Hands down THE BEST PUNISHER EVER PUT TO FILM!

Watching The Punisher (2004) starring Thomas Jane was a fun ride. I thought a lot of the action sequences were well staged as were the acting and the music well written. My only quarrel with the film was that plot dragged slightly and how the moments of sadness in the weirdest places. Most of them dealt with Travolta's character. For example, when Howard Saint (Travolta) confronts a longtime friend about betraying him, as a villain, he should be livid, not emotionally distraught. The sadness that Jane displays is frequent too but it's forgivable since the reboot had to establish the fact that his family was gone.

Thankfully, there's nothing like that in this ten-minute film. Eight years later, we find Thomas Jane back as Frank Castle just trying to do some laundry when he stumbles onto innocent blood being spilt. Need I say more? We all know what happens next; pure punishment. The difference between this film and the feature length remake that Jane starred in 2004 was the tone of the movie. The first dealt more with Castle's grief about the death of his family (which is understandable to a point). Here, Castle has accepted the fact that his family is gone and now could care less who he's hurting. And that's also the attitude of Ron Perlman's character whose just a store clerk. For the few lines he gave, it was something you wouldn't normally hear from a store clerk. All good acting though.

I'm still not giving this short film a full ten stars because this wasn't a full feature length movie. There's obviously not enough to explore in ten minutes. Plus the fact that the blood was fake as well but what do you expect for a ten-minute film. The hand-to-hand combat is great to watch as is the improvised weapon Jane uses to break up a gang. The music, although I have no idea who scored it, sounded good and the ending was quite satisfying. Will this bring Jane back as Frank Castle? Right now, that's in the air but if it does end up coming to fruition, having it done this way would be a much better way to go.