O Justiceiro

The Punisher was one of the better Marvel films adapted from a comic-thanks mainly to the casting.

Dolph Lungdren was an excellent choice as The Punisher and I cannot imagine anyone else being able to play it as well as he did. His facial expressions were so convincing throughout the movie;you really could believe that he was Frank Castle, a man whose family had been butchered. It was probably one of Dolph's best roles since playing He-Man in Masters of the Universe. The Punisher is a dangerous and pessimistic character and Dolph played it great.

Louis Gossett Jr. played Jake Berkowitz who had been chasing The Punisher for years and the lovely Nancy Everhard played his sidekick.

Jeroen Krabbe played crime boss Gianni Franco and he too did a brilliant job. He wasn't the stereotypical gangster. He made Gianni Franco into an intriguing character.

The casting for this film was brilliant so all that was needed after that was lots of action. And lots of action is exactly what we got. It was very vicious at times and I found myself flinching at times but it was great action.

I do wish there had been a sequel to this film.

I really liked this film, it´s true to the comic, and in some parts is better. For example in the comic Frank Castel has a truck full of weapons (most of them hi tech weapons) but were he gets the cash to pays for them. It´s a better adaptation than most flicks from those years (captain America for example) and it´s full with a lot of action and blood, its like a predecesor for Kill Bill. I give the movie a 7 out of 10.

In fact, I have a suspicion that I will still like this one better even after the release of the new Punisher (2004).

That's because of a couple of reasons. Firstly, the acting. Dolph Lundgren acts very well in this film, portraying a grim, depressed, out of the ordinary action hero whose sole reason for living is revenge. Louis Gossett, jr. also does his best as Lundgren's former best friend. Jeroen Krabbe, in my opinion, is miscast as the big crime boss although he does his best.

Secondly, the action sequences are simply good. Lots of guns blazing, some decent camera angles and of course the whole 'red light' sequence near the end of the film, which I liked. The whole atmosphere of this movie is grim, gritty, depressed. Something I think the remake this year will not accomplish.

6/10

I watched this movie when I was a young kid and I remember thinking "...Eh..." However, while browsing Borders, I saw the DVD for $6.99 and decided to give it another shot. I expected a fun action flick with lots of explosions, death-defying stunts, cool death shots, and a badass lead character. I was not disappointed. After reading so many bad reviews here on imdb I decided I need to write a review defending this movie. I don't know what other people expected when they saw this movie, but I certainly didn't expect much more than a cool action flick, and that is exactly what "The Punisher" gave me plus maybe a little more.

First off, Dolph Lundgren's stiff acting and menacing demeanor make him perfect for the part of the hell-bent, socially backwards loner determined to punish the scum of the Earth (His significant acting shortcomings are his assets here). The writer and director did a good job of showing many different facets of his personality and actually created a deeper characterization of the Punisher than I would have expected. Louis Gossett Jr. plays his his part competently enough. In fact, the acting was not all that bad all around (suitable enough for an action flick).

The action here is also pretty solid. Some examples: The opening sequence where Dolph punishes the trash-talking mob boss and his henchmen with style. In one scene, Dolph is driving a bus with children in tow while a hundred Japanese are firing machine guns and crashing their cars into the side of the bus...way cool.

The plot is pretty standard revenge bit with some minor twists and turns, but the ending is pretty cool and less predictable than most action thrillers, but then again thats not saying much :-)

FINAL RATING: 6/10 I doubt it will make anyone's top ten list, but this low budget action genre flick delivers the goods with solid action and semi-interesting characters, which is more than I can say for many big budget Hollywood action flicks (e.g. Cobra, Mercury Rising, The Watcher, the Art of War). Its not a movie to be analyzed, its a movie to enjoy. Action junkies should dig it, others should probably stay away.

No, this is not CITIZEN KANE. But it is an entertaining film that did make a somewhat unbelievable Marvel "hero" to celluloid.

Lundgren plays Frank Castle, a former NYPD detective (originally a military special ops expert in the comic) who loses his family to a mob hit. This pushes his already unstable personality over the edge, and he becomes a one-man judge, jury, and executioner. The VERY underrated Louis Gossett Jr. plays his former partner, determined to find him and keep him out of the gas chamber.

This movie is quite a decent action film. It actually delves quite deeply into the characters' motivations, their histories, their personalities. I agree with earlier comments that, out of the lot of action stars, Lundgren does bring at least some dramatic chops to the role. I really couldn't imagine Schwarzenegger playing this part, though Stallone or Willis might have been better choices.

The action sequences are done quite well for a low-budget film. The director, Mark Goldblatt, served as editor on films such as TERMINATOR 1 & 2, the underrated PREDATOR 2, TRUE LIES, STARSHIP TROOPERS, ARMAGEDDON, and PEARL HARBOR, so he definitely has knowledge of how to properly compose an action sequence. He also served as Paul Verhoeven's 2nd Unit Director on the original ROBOCOP.

The movie is rather tough to find, and though it strays away a bit from the source material, it does manage to flesh out a rather one-dimensional character.

A new version of THE PUNISHER is now being prepped, starring DREAMCATCHER's Thomas Jane as Frank Castle and directed by Jonathan Hensleigh.