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display:block!important; width:100%!important"><script type="text/javascript">document.write(lycos_ad['leaderboard2']);</script></div> <noscript> <img src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/img/common/ot_noscript.gif?rand=221726" alt="" width="1" height="1" />  <iframe frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" width="728" height="90" src="http://ad.yieldmanager.com/st?ad_type=iframe&ad_size=728x90§ion=209094"></iframe>  </noscript> <p align="center"> <font size="7" font color="red"><u>The Punisher (2004)</font></p></u> <br> <i><font color="#FFCC33"><b>Director: Jonathan Hensleigh</b></font></i><br> <p> Well, to be fair, it’s sorta hard to lump this 2004 version of “The Punisher” in with the recent batch of Marvel Comic screen adaptations, as the character of Frank Castle a.k.a. “The Punisher” really has nothing in common with his super powered endowed brethren. He can’t fly, make himself invisible, shoot lasers from his eyes, or lift cars with super human strength. All he possesses are his combat skills and weapons know how, combined with a complete and soul consuming desire for vengeance on all manner of rapists, killers and assorted scum. <br> <br> Director Jonathan Hensleigh’s version has Frank Castle (Thomas Jane) as an FBI big shot who’s stepping down into the land of retirement after one last big successful raid on an illegal arms deal. Weeks later at a family reunion Castle’s entire family, including wife and young son, are mobbed down by a gang of mobster’s intent on exacting revenge in the name of mob boss Howard Saint (John Travolta), who’s son was killed during the arms deal raid. Castle survives the massacre, stocks up on lots and lots of guns & whiskey, holing up in a ratty apartment and waging his one-man war against Saint and his assorted cronies. Yeah, I know…it’s sorta like “Death Wish” without Charles Bronson’s mustache.<br> <br> Aside from the realistic take on the character of Frank Castle, what really sets this one apart from the other “super-hero” movies is its “R” rating. “The Punisher” is the type of action flick that I haven’t seen in quite some time. It’s a big, loud, hyper-violent smorgasbord riddled with gunfight after gunfight, knifes to throats, bodies burned to a crisp, fist-fighting brawls, and, well, you get the picture. It’s violent with a capital V…especially the unrated print I viewed. However, all explosions and stabbings aside, this baby is embedded with some major problems.<br> <br> Despite the gleeful violence, what’s amazing to me is that the filmmakers were still able to deliver such an overlong and utterly boring film. Actor Thomas Jane is completely unable to gain any sympathy from the viewer, delivering a detached and seemingly forced performance. I didn’t feel bad for the dude in any way, and here’s a guy who just had his entire family massacred! Maybe I’m just cold hearted, I don’t know. There’s also many a plot hole in evidence, from Castle going from supposedly dead to him popping up in city square, bitching out the police and essentially proclaiming to every bad guy in town, “I ain’t dead yet!” Why not stay dead and use that as an advantage over your enemies? It’s also interesting to see that for a mob boss, Zane can’t quite figure out where Castle is staying, as “The Punisher” really makes no qualms about residing in a run down apartment building that may as well scream in neon letters “Vengeful Vigilante living here!!” And the least I get into Castle’s “sidekick” fellow tenants the better…lame characters that really added nothing to the film. Blech. Maybe these things would not have bothered me so if it weren’t for the ridiculous two hour running time, a length that really hinders the films various faults by giving the viewer ample time to sit and think, “Jesus, is this some dumb shit”. Dumb shit in any action/horror/sci-f flick is oft times to be expected, but boring dumb shit? That’s simply unforgivable. Piss on it. </p>  <script type="text/javascript" language="javascript"> var sc_project=1012323; var sc_invisible=1; var sc_partition=9; var sc_security="0cad53b7"; </script> <script type="text/javascript" language="javascript" src="http://www.statcounter.com/counter/counter.js"></script><noscript><a href="http://www.statcounter.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://c10.statcounter.com/counter.php?sc_project=1012323&java=0&security=0cad53b7&invisible=1" alt="free stats" border="0"></a> </noscript>  </body><br> <b><body link="#FF6633" alink="blue" vlink="gray"> <a href="www.horrorapocalypse.com/ActionCrimeFlicks/ZActionCrimeFlicksHome.html/ActionCrimeFlicks/ZActionCrimeFlicksHome.html">Action/Crime</a><br> <b><body link="FF6633" alink="blue" vlink="gray"> <a href= "http://www.horrorapocalypse.com/index.html">Home</a> </html>