Punisher: War Zone

A sad story about how a promising director gets a job for a mid-budget action flick but, because she has a worthless screenplay, entirely hopeless casting and inadequate production facilities, the film inevitably bombs and she doesn’t get another chance. At the same time, there was potential, and the basic concept of relating Punisher to earlier works on which it was based and coming up with a comic-bookishly exaggerated film,in which there would be properly caricature-ish schematic characters and slapstick violence, could have been a necessary shot in the armfor this unfortunate series. But in order for it to work, it would be necessary to cast in the lead role an actor whom you wouldn’t spend the whole time mistaking for someone discovered in a commercial for grey Primalex paint orthinking that the assistant director forgot to recall the main character's stand-in from his spot. It would also help if it pressed hard on the gas where style is concerned. The gloominess is fine, but when it lacks color, it simply merges into anonymous black – that’s why the Ninja Turtles are green and eat pizza so that their home in the sewer has a bit of flair, whereas Punisher’s underground lair, with its seamlessness, gives the impression that the production company forgot to hire someone to design the set and the lighting designer “rescued” everything at the last moment. War Zone is riddled with a lot of similar things where a little was enough and could have been better. On the other hand, the introductory sequence of a visit to a mafia get-together, abounding with exhilarating Pollock-esque creativity, shows that this could have been a lot of fun, if... (05.01.2020)

For me, this is still a better version than the previous installment, even though there is a different main protagonist. I especially like it in those rough scenes, where there are proper massacres. It just fits and finally there is a superhero who is not afraid to kill scum and women. Otherwise, it is predictably boring and cliché, but I simply like this element. (23.05.2014)

This film is a striking reminiscence of the 1980s with all the trimmings (stony heroes, plot dullness) polished with contemporary glitz (camera filters, fountains of blood). It is not ashamed of its decadence (the crazy comic stylization of the villains) and offers a great portion of action carnage that no man, let alone woman, can boast about. It's obviously cheap entertainment, but the honest "old-school" feel of it comes through in spades, and expecting more from it than the film actually delivers in the end is a bit... naive. :) (11.02.2010)