The Punisher vs Punisher: War Zone

"Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves," says an ancient Asian proverb. Grief and sorrow fuel the anger and action in these two films. The Punisher and Punisher: War Zone tell the stories of Frank Castle, former government agent-turned-vigilante, and his loss. In both, Frank loses his family in a gangland assassination; in both, he turns to crime-fighting as revenge and in both he regains his soul in the process. Both stories are different, however. The soul stays the same, but the methods of delivery are drastically different.

The Punisher feels like any revenge action flick, mostly due to the rock-solid performances by Thomas Jane, John Travolta, Will Patton and Ben Foster. They bring a vintage, muscle-car, testosterone-fueled swagger that was famous back in the Dirty Harry and Steve McQueen days of the 70's and 80's. Completely masculine, the way that I wish men were portrayed today. Even Foster's Spacker Dave is masculine to the bone, even if Dave starts out weak. It also has an old-school western feel that I grew up watching in my childhood and still love today. The action is is dry and gritty with very few theatrical style points. The sound design makes it so. And it makes it as beautiful as the Carlo Siliotto’s film score, sounding like old-school Ennio Morricone's spaghetti-westerns. And you'd expect this film to feel like it belongs in the Marvel Family, but it doesn't. The "based on a comic book" design is absent, with the exception of one scene. With dynamic photography and its story penned like a classic revenge tragedy, it's the "black sheep" of the Marvel Family. But overall it's got a brilliant mix of sorrow and anger, which cuts down into the soul and makes it worth seeing.

Punisher: War Zone from the start makes amends with the family and restores the comic book tone. From its credits sequence to its main villain, its fighting style and photography, it belongs in the Batman Forever era in the Batman franchise. However, its redeeming feature is the plot line involving the Punisher's accidental slaying of an undercover FBI agent with Ray Stevenson's chilling performance as Frank Castle. Colin Salmon and Wayne Knight also offer solid performances as the FBI agent revenging his partner's murder and Castle's weapons-master, Micro. It's very clear, from the retroactive continuity elements in Castle's backstory, that this installment is not related to the other film whatsoever. In this one, Castle's already lost his soul and the FBI agent's death draws him to nearly lose his resolve. Guilt drives this one, just as sorrow drove the other. Stevenson seethes powerfully, allowing the character's emotions to fill him as he radiates guilt and remorse, both for what he's done and what he's lost. "Who punishes you?" Julie Benz' widow shrieks, for which Castle has no response, because it's clear: he does. The part that feels like a comic book, is Doug Hutchinson's Looney Bin Jim and Dominic West's Jigsaw. The pair of brothers are so incredibly ludicrous, they don't work against Stevenson's Castle; as they fail to be worthy targets for Frank's vengence. The stylistic action and photography, as well as cheese-ball cliche lines makes this installment less elegant that its counterpart. However, Stevenson's worth watching.

Of the two, Jane's Punisher is an opera. Everything from the music to the stunts to the performances shines above Stevenson's installment. Stevenson and Jane both portray Frank Castle with deep, compelling emotion making it difficult to choose whose face I'd rather see him wearing. However, it's the package that matters and I've got to choose Jane's. Director Jonathan Hensleigh's labor pays off high above Lexi Alexander's. The emotional release is better, the characters are more credible and I found I connected better with them, even Travolta's Howard Saint and Patton's Quentin Glass. The package is better and that's enough.

****

In: Thomas Jane

Out: Colin Salmon

Coming Soon: Resident Evil