The Punisher: Dirty Laundry

I think what happened to the "Punisher" franchise over the past decade has been a shame. I personally thought that 2004's "The Punisher" (starring Thomas Jane) was a fantastic adaptation of the comic, boasting a great tone and a wonderful interpretation of the character. Evidently, the studios didn't like it so much. After teasing a sequel for some time, the series was rebooted with "Punisher: War Zone"- a weird, hyper-stylized, low-budget freak-show of a film that had a lot of nice moments, but was just too silly and weird and questionably constructed for its own good.

And it was a shame for fans like myself, who yearned to see a follow up to the 2004 film. The reboot came (and subsequently under-performed at the box office), and it seemed we'd never get to see more of Jane's take on the character.

Cut to 2012, with "The Punisher: Dirty Laundry." A fantastic short film from director Phil Joanou, in which Jane is finally able to reprise his role from his previous outing. (Although it's never specifically made clear that this is the same "Punisher", I believe the implication is that this is indeed set in the same "universe" as the 2004 film) We follow Frank Castle, aka "The Punisher" as he observes the dark events in the city around him, and contemplates whether or not to take action and punish the corruption and crime around him.

Everything in this short works quite well. Jane and the other performers present (including a small role from Hellboy himself, Ron Perlman) give awesome, evocative performances that hit the material home. Direction by Joanou is very strong and slick for such a small production. The script by Chad St. John hits just the right tone, and is suitably claustrophobic and oppressive. The setting and look is perfect for the script and character. Everything gels fairly well.

That being said, there are a few detractors here. The film's direction, while quite good, does fall into the annoying "shaky cam" style a few times too many. (I wish we could be rid of shaky-cam style camera-work for a few years, honestly) And the music... is very... distracting! It fits the mood perfectly, but the fact is the score for this short was taken from Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight", and it can't help but pull you out at times. I honestly thought Heath Ledger's Joker character was going to pop up at some point, because once you hear his iconic theme in the background, he's almost all you can think about. It's a shame, because the tone and style of the music is just perfect for this film, but because it's already well-known and notable music, it does more harm than good.

Those complaints being said (and that complaint about the music is actually a pretty big issue, even though it seems like it should be inconsequential), this is still a great short film. And a great follow- up for fans who wanted to see more of Jane in the role of The Punisher. It re-invigorated my hopes for future "Punisher" projects in a way that I hadn't experienced since I first saw the 2004 film. And I hope the strong fan reception of the short leads to more "Punisher" projects (whether they be shorts or perhaps another film) with Jane.

I give "The Punisher: Dirty Laundry" a very strong 8 out of 10. Fans of the character (and 2004 film) should definitely check it out. As should anyone looking for a fast, dark ride.

A 40-something man(and is that...? No, it couldn't be, right...?) goes out to the laundromat in a bad neighbourhood, and notices the other allusion of the title - a gang, terrorizing the residents. At first, he goes about his business. Who wouldn't? Can't fix all the world's problems by yourself, right? As the tension mounts(consistently over the course of the well-paced 10 minute running time), however, he may find that he can't ignore what's going on in the street.

The YouTube(yes, this is available for free, legal viewing, so get to it) title originally didn't reveal who this is about, so while the IMDb entry's currently does, I will not give away what graphic novel icon this is about. It does, however, do them complete justice, something that, arguably, wasn't quite achieved by the silver screen attempts. The bleak tone and gritty realism are uncompromising, and fit perfectly. Yes, this is made for and by fans - if you aren't already familiar with the source material, you might not fully appreciate this, and really, when something has decades of printed stories, either you condense and disappoint, or assume that the audience already knows. And yes, if you go into this not knowing yet who it's about, it will, indeed, gradually become clear to you, as with the more recent effort by the same team, Truth In Journalism.

Acting is spot-on. The gold-toothed bad guy, the leader, could easily be hammy, in his nuance-free evil(this is not a complaint), and yet he feels like he belongs in our world - near the end, this does go beyond that, but otherwise, the whole thing is firmly anchored there. We could see this happening. While there is not a lot going on character-wise, what there is, is established, developed and played just right. The score, borrowed from The Dark Knight, is used to great effect. FX are solid, and the reliance on practical ones serves the short well. It increases credibility further.

There is a lot of bloody, graphic, disturbing and violent content in this. I recommend this to any fan of comic books. 8/10

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.

I happened to stumble across this while checking out the recent stories from Comic Con 12. Wow! Am I glad that I did. This 10 minute short is absolutely superb!

It's dark, gritty, dramatic and has a sense of realism to it that makes it that much more enthralling. I always loved Thomas Jane as the punisher character Frank Castle but felt that the rest of the movie wasn't done as well as it could have been.

This short has the atmospheric tension and drama that the movie was missing, as the street thugs continue to run rampant the suspense and tension continuously builds until it gets to the stage where we know what must be done. Punishment.

Also some of the shots used were just sublime, the slow motion shot of Frank Castle crossing the street while throwing the Jack Daniels bottle in the air is awesome! You forgive the poor blood effects given it was made by Thomas Jane as a fan/tribute video but by god, did they do a fantastic job!

Have to give a nod to the acting in general, Thomas Jane is the punisher and performed greatly as expected but the surprise appearance by Ron Pearlman was terrific and his acting as nothing but a store clerk was amazing and very convincing.

If you are yet to see it, do yourselves a favor and get onto YouTube to watch it! I hope that this ends up being seen by the right people and Thomas Jane gets picked up to reprise his role as the most bad-ass vigilante to grace the silver screen.

"What's the difference between justice and punishment?"

Excellent to see Frank Castle return, especially with Thomas Jane at the helm. I wasn't expecting too much when I stumbled on this short, however after seeing it, well, I want another Punisher movie with him in it! Part of Warzone's failure was that it just didn't carry off the dark and brooding atmosphere that Tom Jane projects. Aside from that, the atmosphere of the short itself is really nicely put together, from the exterior street shots to the dreary interiors.

10/10 from me, cant see how this could've been better and let's just hope the studios realise that Tom Jane can be put to better use than bit parts in TV Shows and convince him to reprise his role in another big budget Punisher!