Every shot in this film looks like a panel from a comic, and once I got into that vibe I was able to enjoy it; however, I had to get past the first act for that vibe to kick in-I cringed for nearly a full 40 minutes. The first act is jam-packed with clichés, boring plot, & bad acting, (I assume the film was shot in order because the acting gets better in some ways.) If you're looking for "passed-on CW pilot turned motion-comic feature film" energy, this is the film for you.
I know WWE whatever is the studio behind this film, and that's fine (I liked some of their films, Oculus (2013) in particular,) but if I wanted to watch pro-wrestling-style fight scenes I would just watch pro-wrestling.
Paul Wight, who plays the antagonist, Victor Abbott, is under-utilized. Everytime I saw that man I thought, "Yes, give me some of that Vincent D'Onofrio-Kingpin!," and everytime I was let down. The way Wight fights in this film evoked the weak-sauce, muted violence of the in-ring pro-wrestling matches so much that it was hard to not picture him in an André The Giant leotard while he snarls into the camera. It really took me out of the film to watch such a powerhouse merely push his victims to the side-I couldn't take it seriously, the stakes were nonexistent.
I will give the Soska Sisters credit for not forcing us to endure the violence against one of the few women characters in this film, however, the smash cut from such an obviously missed opportunity to homage The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) to the such a gruesome finale to that confrontation was jarring and left me a bit confused. I was also a bit disappointed that she had to be fridged.
I do not like The Punisher, as a character, I never have. Dean Cain, who plays Mason Danvers, was able to keep my interest in the film by never going full-Punisher. (I don't know why but I got more of a Cyclops vibe and I like that for him, l've always been more of an X-Men gal anyway.) Something snapped inside the mind of Frank Castle, and that makes The Punisher who he is; however, Mason Danvers comes off as calculated and intentional, something other characters in the film seem to pick up on. Dean Cain did a really good job.
Michael Eklund, who plays a stereotypical, string-pulling prison warden, is in a totally different and much better film.
Even though the soundtrack was not my cup of tea, I did appreciate the use of music in the film.
Most of the dialogue was cliched nonsense and exposition. I wish I could have seen what motivated these characters, instead I was told. Even then those motivations were often ambiguous concepts rather than specific, character-defining motives.
Despite the resolution of the film being at the end of an all-out, chaotic prison-yard-brawl, it was anticlimactic enough that I out-loud ask, "that's it?!"
