Punisher: War Zone: Review By Lone Wolf

I just saw "Punisher: War Zone" last night, and I got to say, it was better than I expected.

Now first off, this film is certainly not better than the 2004 Punisher film, but it is so much more accurate to the comic book than the first one was which just makes it more enjoyable for me. I'm glad that this film is not another origins film. I already know the Punisher's story and I wouldn't want to see them play it over again for the third time. This time,"Ray Stevenson"'s Punisher is more like a "Terminator" who just goes in and kills who needs to be killed and anyone who gets in his way. He is not like the "Thomas Jane" Punisher who just sits back like a mastermind and watches his plan unfold. In addition to the killing, there are a lot of improvisation kills that some may recognize from the comic book.

Another thing about this film that impressed me was the lighting and color effects that were used for each shot. Every scen was brightly colored or tinted to one main color and all the scenes had a bright tint to it. This makes the film look like it came directly from the comic if you ask me. There were very few scenes where a persons face was focused in the center of the screen. There faces are either on the right or the left, leaving you with a blurry visual of the background, which was, in my opinion, a very neat idea.

Ray Stevenson plays the Punisher very well. The tone of voice is almost perfect for the role, and he looks more like "Frank Castle" than Thomas Jane did. "Dominic West" does a superb job as "Billy The Beat Russotti" or a.k.a. "Jigsaw". He is kind of a combination of "Two-Face" and "The Joker". He has a deformed face, who is out to get revenge for the guy who ruined his looks and his mob organization, but yet he has the very dark sense of humor that the Joker has. One thing that I was pleased to hear, but some people may find it annoying, are all the thick Brooklyn accents that about 95% of the characters have.

Now I've been naming off a few things that I'm proud of in this film, but this film was pretty flawed. To start off, there is Jigsaw's brother, "Looney Bin Jim", who is portrayed by "Doug Hutchison". I really couldn't take this role to seriously, Doug kinda overacts the role too much with the constant chuckling and goofy dialouge, of course this is not his fault, for most of the dialouge comes from the comics. But he just really didn't fit the role for me.

Then there is "Dash Mihok" who plays the detective "Martin Soap". Now I know he has pretty big role in the comics, and Dash got the role down pretty good, but the character himself I was really hoping the director "Lexi Alexander", would leave out of the film. His character is just too much of a goof and has too much silly dialouge, to be in a Punisher film. SPOILER ALERT: For example, the last line of the film is said by Soap and here it is, "Oh God, now I've got brains splattered on me." Now who can take that seriously even if you are a fan. But believe it or not, the scenes that may make you laugh, like that line for instance is supposed to be INTENTIONALLY funny.

I could ramble on forever about the goods and bads of this film, but I'll wrap it up. This is a great and worthy ode to the comic, but it does not surpass the first film. If you are a fan of the franchise, then this film is a must, but this film is not for the fainted heart or people who are gonna try to take it seriously; but if you're just looking for a fun time at the movies, then I suggest you see Punisher: War Zone.