MOVIE REVIEW: THE PUNISHER (2004)

I dig the Punisher. He's my kind of good guy, you know? He doesn't rough up the goons real good till the cops arrive. No, he doesn't wait for the shields to come. In fact, they shouldn't waste their time getting to where the Punisher is, coz all that'll be left for them are dead bodies, splattered brains, broken shins and ribs, and a whole cornucopia of pain.

If only the Punisher movie lived up to my standards.

No offense to anyone who watched the latest Punisher movie (with Thomas Jane, not the weirdly offensive version with Dolph Lundgren) and enjoyed it, but it sorta became apparent to me that the movie was hitching a ride in the sub-par wagon by the time it gets to the middle.

I just watched it on HBO kanina...so consider this a review for if ever you wanna borrow it in CD form na lang...hehe.

For all the people who don't know, Punisher is the story of Frank Castle, a Marine who has his family gunned down by the mob and promises not to rest till no bad guy is left breathing.

I really don't know where to start. In actuality, the movie was pretty good. Thomas Jane was excellent. The killing scenes were good. My fave John Travolta was at his usual best. The real nails to the coffin were the budget constraints and the low-level writing. Anyway lets get to it.

WRITING: (4/10)
They stayed true to the Punisher we knew and loved from the comics, I give them that. Unfortunately, there's not much dialogue to give the story weight. The story picks up sooo fast after Frank's family was murdered and drags awfully in the middle. Not much talk for most of the cast here. It's kind of sad, since Jane can really make the Punisher stand out on this one, only if they gave him something to work with.

ACTING: (5/10)
Let's face it, dead people don't need to act. But I can't differentiate the dead ones from the living. It seems like all of the characters except for the Punisher are just waiting to be killed by him. Thomas Jane was really good in portraying a brooding Pun, heck, even John 'Saturday Night Grease' Travolta gave one for the team. But his performance looked like he's just on auto-pilot, not giving us anything new. At one point, I thought I was watching Swordfish. Again, they didn't have anything good to work with, so I forsake the failing grade.

CINEMATOGRAPHY: (7/10)
Whoever directed this movie oughtta be counseled. But fair is fair, and at least there were no psychedelic trip-the-light-fantastic shots here.

FUN FACTOR: (8/10)
As a comic book fan, it satisfied me. As an action movie fan, it satisfied me a lot. All of my fave guns were there a-blazin' and killing everybody with every spit of the bullet. But my fave part was when the Punisher started using this cool-looking hunting bow to kill off the guards. Every arrow's swish in the air was pure bliss for me.

OVERALL: (6/10)
Punisher was no Spider-man 2. But at least it's not trying to be. It was as it was advertised, and it delivered. But I wonder if Robert Rodriguez directed this thing...that Harvey Heck guy's guitar case would bring more than just musical instruments....


I'm tired. Gud morning, y'all.