O Justiceiro: Em Zona de Guerra

I love this gory wild action extravaganza! Ray Stephenson, Dominic West, and Doug Hutchinson are all great! I like how theirs a bunch that don't like Punisher: War Zone and others that love it. The action sequences are a bit whacky and I admit their is some poor characters otherwise I absolutely love the bulk of the film plus any part with Doug Hutchinson is fantastic. I need to own everything Punisher related at some point I'm a fan of it all.

I saw this a couple hours ago in Fullerton, CA. I was a reader of the comic, and am a fan of what we've seen from Marvel lately. This movie is just what I wanted, and what I expected.

Ray Stevenson is perfect as Frank Castle, and everyone else is at least good enough for an action movie. Dominic West is over the top as Jigsaw - which is what Jigsaw should be! A horribly disfigured mob boss with a vendetta is not a subtle thing to begin with.

As for the "respectable" critics' complaints: 1. Violence: Of course it's violent! What part of the title "Punisher: War Zone" implies peaceful conflict resolution? He's not the "Admonisher". The gore and violence is not at the level of a "Saw" film, but it is high. It is rated "R" for a reason.

2. Dialogue: I think the critics have been spoiled by "Dark Knight" and "Iron Man". Those were comic-book movies with extraordinarily good dialogue. "Punisher: War Zone" is no worse than a "Predator" or "Rambo: First Blood". Not great, but not awful. This is not supposed to be "Hamlet".

3. Script: The story moves along well, and when there's a break in the action (which isn't very often), the film doesn't drag- it's always going somewhere. Not perfect, but good. Much better than the critics have made it out to be.

All in all, a good time, and one that I'll buy and re-watch as soon as it comes out on DVD.

I suspect this film was victim to the old (pre-Deadpool) rule of PG13 superhero movies being the only ones to bring a profit, even if it diluted the source material so much that the character's spirit was lost.

Punisher was, and is, a violent character - I remember my dad being extremely disapproving of my teenage self reading it due to its violence, and he isn't generally a prude.

The previous Punisher movies are both watered down for a more mainstream audience, but if Punisher fans want a movie that captures the grittiness, personal torment and sheer unadulterated vengeance meated out by Frank Castle then this is it!

The movie probably also suffered from poor marketing - I for one had never heard of it, I bought it as part of a double DVD box set with it's more well known predecessor and I was sceptical of what I perceived to be a straight-to-video b-movie barrel of pants. How wrong I was. It's less "Hollywood", more realistic, more violent, darker, grittier and morally murky - everything the character deserves.

The villains do suffer from the pre-MCU superhero movie tendency towards camp over-acted hamminess and the acting credentials of those portraying them suggests to me that this was a director driven decision rather than the actors personal choice and, given the overall grittiness of the film it does seem a little incongruous but when you consider this was the norm for this genre before Iron Man came along then it can be forgiven, as can the unnecessarily inept cop that seems to have been inserted as an attempt at a comedic character to lighten the mood and it is to Dash Mihok's credit that the character still remains likeable despite the Lt. Frank Drebin/Clouseau-esque material he was given to work with.

Fans of The Punisher comics should definitely see this movie, fans of the other Punisher movies should watch it to get a truer sense of the source material and Marvel should bring Frank Castle into a Deadpool movie to bring the character into the MCU movie arena rather than relegated to the Netflix series - the potential for a successful portrayal of the darkness and violence of Punisher in a post-Deadpool superhero universe is just waiting to be tapped. In the meantime - watch this.

This is one of those films where you expect nothing from it and get pleasantly surprised. Ray Stevenson in my opinion has been the best version of Francis castellione to date - he captures his nihilism, physicality and looks.

Skipping past the origin story of why castle became the punisher and instead jumping into his eternal battle with crime and his internal struggle with himself. Action sequences are solid with some nice gore - straight from the pages of grant Morrisons comic run and it's good to see a villain like jigsaw on screen - played brilliantly by Dominic west.

All in all it's a leave your brain at the door decent actioner that you feel with the right budget and better writers could of been an 8 or 9/10.

Okay, first off, let me put it straight... It's better than the first two films. There. I've said it. Why? Because this movie is the comic fan's wet dream come true. There's bullets, buckets of blood and guts, bodies flying, and explosions to boot, and did I mention blood and guts? Anyway, the movie is NOT meant for critics. Who in their right mind would walk into a Punisher movie and expect something like Citizen Kane? Of course, you put into account that The Dark Knight and Iron Man were released the same year, so people were expecting some intelligence from this film. No. This is a movie about a one-man strike force, and this will appeal to guys who like Rambo. The hint's in the title, critics: WAR ZONE.

Ray Stevenson replaces Thomas Jane as the titular character. Here instead of Jane's sort of old-school action hero persona, we get a loyal interpretation of Frank Castle. It's wrong to compare the two Punishers, as they are completely different movies. The 2004 movie was more of a traditional revenge film, and this new one is a faithful, and bloodied, adaptation of the comics. (I am ignoring Dolph Lundgren's version as I haven't seen it yet) Technically speaking, the direction is fast-paced and energetic. The action sequences are nicely done without the usual chop-socky quick editing. The New York cinematography gives the film its distinct dark look that the comics had, and, of course, there is much blood to savor here. The violence, is, spectacularly brutal and sadistic, and that's all we want to see.

However the film has its weaknesses. Most of these come from wooden acting, to over-acting, weak dialogue, and hammy moments involving a child. Dominic West, who plays the horribly disfigured main villain Billy "The Beaut"/"Jigsaw" Russoti out for revenge, and Doug Hutchison who plays his brother James "Looney Bin Jim" Russoti (love that name), hams it up every time they are on screen. Dash Mihok plays a dim-witted detective that looks out of place in a film this dark. Julie Benz is wooden as the wife of the undercover FBI agent which Castle accidentally kills during his outing.

Watch the film with the intent of seeing a full-blown, graphically violent, no-holds-barred action movie, with a beloved character not just kicking ass, but shooting the living crap out of them. This is destined to be a cult classic, and sadistic entertainment at its finest.

Entertainment value: 10/10

Overall: 6.5/10