Punisher: War Zone Blu-ray: Review By Kenneth Albert

When it was announced that Lionsgate Films would be releasing a sequel to The Punisher, I was very interested to see where it would go, but as time went on it seemed that the only place the film was going was straight down the toilet. First, Thomas Jane refused to reprise role as the Frank Castle based on creative differences with Lionsgate, thus causing the sequel to become a reboot. Things moved forward with film and after production was finished rumors begin circulating that director Lexi Alexander (Green Street Hooligans) had been kicked-off the project and that the studio would cut the film to achieve a PG-13 rating. Slowly but surely, my hope of an ultra-violent Punisher film was becoming bleak to the point where I almost lost interest in the film entirely, but thankfully Punisher: War Zone got its R rating which lead me to believe that it would be a bloody good time, and after viewing it I was more than satisfied.

Ray Stevenson (HBO's Rome) picks up the guns as Frank Castle: The Punisher, who after his family was gunned down by the mob takes revenge to all new level by destroying one mob family after another. But after Billy Russoti (Dominic West) just barely escapes the Punisher's wrath and his face is physically disfigured returns born anew as Jigsaw, and along with his deranged brother Looney Bin Jim, (Doug Hutchison) seeks revenge even if he has to recruit every gangster in the city. With Det. Martin Soap (Dash Mihok) and Agent Budiansky (Colin Salmon) hot on his trail and a mother and daughter targeted by Jigsaw, Frank Castle and his gun supplier, Micro (Wayne Knight), are going to have to use every trick in the book and every gun in their arsenal if they're going to survive.

Being a huge fan of the comic series I'm not to state that not only is War Zone the best Punisher film to date. The overall tone is very dark and violent; the only true way a Punisher film should be, it's as if the comic pages were directly transferred to cinema much like the style of Sin City. The color scheme consists of many shades of blues, greens and yellows that add to the film's bleak surroundings, the only atmosphere that would be suitable to house many baddies and very few good guys. This is a great combination that leads to lots of gunfire and enough bloodshed that one could take a bath.

Now with a film being the best of three, it's no coincidence that Ray Stevenson is by far the best Frank Castle. From his look (which is uncanny to that of the MAX series) to his gloomy portrayal of the character, something Thomas Jane and Dolph Lundgren didn't achieved fully. But besides Castle's dark side it was the absence of it that thoroughly convinced me. When Castle is in the process of protecting Angela Donatelli (Julie Benz) and her daughter from Jigsaw and the well-hidden softer side of him reveals itself, reminding us of his former self before everything went horribly wrong.

I'll be the first to admit that this not a film for everyone. If you follow the comic series and know the characters then you will have a good time because you're aware of the material. If you don't you may miss something or you'll flat-out just won't like. Regardless of that, I still found Punisher: War Zone to be a very good adaptation of something I've enjoyed reading over the years. If this is the direction that the Marvel Knights division of Marvel Studios wants to continue I'll be very interested to see where they go from here. Perhaps, a Daredevil reboot? We'll have to wait and see.