"Pros, Cons, and the History of The Punisher in Film."

  Aren't movies grand? I mean, who doesn't enjoy a good film now and then? The cinematic silver screen affords us a gateway to escaping from our own realities where we can become immersed in an entertaining story. Some are better than others, and some are just down right laughably bad. Lately, there's been a surge in Hollywood for more and more movies based on comic books, and they're becoming increasingly successful and popular. It's almost getting to where the average Joe will think themselves an expert on Iron Man, just because they've seen the few films with Robert Downey Jr. Personally, I've never seen a Harry Potter film, but I wouldn't exactly consider myself knowledgeable in that realm if I was to see a few of them.

  Skip ahead to the Punisher universe where to date there's been three motion pictures released about him. Such an entertaining entity with endless ways of telling his stories. What follows is just an overview of the good, the bad, and the ugly of Mr. Francis Castiglione, Frank Castle, in film.

  Starting off what seems like centuries ago, in 1989 Artisan Entertainment released the first Punisher movie starring Dolph Lundgren. I've actually read on websites, and seen comments scattered about, claiming this was the best Punisher film, and that Dolph Lundgren was the best to portray the Punisher. It's statements like these that have me shaking my head.

 
 Actually, I'd consider the opposite true. This is in my humble opinion, the worst of the series. The acting was real bad, like, terrible soap opera bad. The script wasn't really impressive by any standards, and the whole film lacked excitement. Also, all the guns fired had that 80's cap gun pop, and there were so many elements and important traits from the comic that they forgot, or just left out. He never even sports the classic white skull on his chest, how do you not do that? That's like Batman movie without him ever wearing his costume! I could go on and on about things I disliked about this film, and there's a reason why I watched this very little. Maybe I should focus on some of the good factors going for this one. There were some good scenes, and Dolph does have a fighting background and is big enough to pull off a muscular-like Punisher. One of the best scenes in the movie, I don't remember if it was deleted or not, showcases Punisher's knife which has the famous skull on it. Here's a quick clip of one of the better scenes, in an otherwise kind of boring portrayal:

  It's worth owning, and I think the main thing is that people forget how the movie actually was, and remember it to be more impressive than it was. At least they made this film, because it laid the groundwork for the next ones. Having said that, let's move on to the next one in succession, which happens to be my favorite of the series.

 The Punisher starring Thomas Jane was released in 2004, with intermediate success. This one is far and away my personal favorite because it's the only one to have scenes in the movie directly taken from a particular comic. Plus, there's so many impressive scenes. Whether it's the dramatic and captivating scene where his ENTIRE FAMILY is killed on the pier, or him fighting the Russian or battling a foe, there was too much I enjoyed here. Yeah, I know there were some glaring errors. I really wish they wouldn't have included John Travolta, as he was given too much screen time and emphasis, and I don't like how Punisher just finds the skull shirt in the water, but most of what else I could disapprove of is nitpicking. Thomas Jane is the best actor of all three to play the Punisher, and that's not really that arguable when you look at all his acclaim from his award nominations and the diversity of his roles. I don't, however, think he was the best Punisher, just the best Frank Castle, if that makes sense. My favorite scene in this movie is where he's on the ground about to be shot, and he fires the knife mechanism, stabbing his would-be assassin, Harry Heck, which is scene for scene from the Garth Ennis comic.

  This was the short version, the longer one with the quick car chase wouldn't upload for some reason. Anyways, great film, and very little I didn't like. Even though I could of done without Rebecca Romijn's version of the character she played from the comic, and the final scene with a skull formed from cars on fire was a bit over the top, they were small stumbles in an enjoyable film.

  Lastly, there was Punisher: War Zone, with Ray Stevenson in 2008. There was a lot of good, and some bad with this take, I felt. I'd like to give credit to the fact that they included Jigsaw, one of Punisher's antagonists, and the amount of actual bloodshed depicted in this film. Although the actor that played Jigsaw, Dominic West, was atrocious and I disliked him, it was still cool that his character was involved. While none of the three films have been gory enough for my expectations, this one was probably the bloodiest, which is a huge plus. I felt that Ray Stevenson had the most believable portrayal of the actual Punisher, but wasn't a good Frank Castle. My biggest gripe would also be that a majority of the film was just too cheesy. However, I loved that this was the first one to include one of Punisher's only friends, Micro. I feel maybe my expectations were just too high for so long hearing about this flick forthcoming, so I was a bit let down. Still, it's a great imagining, and has some very good redeeming qualities.  

   In summation, I feel as though none of the films have got it perfect, or hit most details right on the head; The perfect amount of gore/darkness, with the perfect amount of great acting/story development. Which is good for us, because that will hopefully guarantee more films in the future. I feel as though it's inevitable with such a great character as the Punisher. Imagine the possibilities.
   Looks like that about sums it up, I guess. Damn, now I want to watch them all back to back, realizing I've never done that. Epic fail for a huge Punisher fan. I mean, my rap moniker is CAStLE for crying out loud. Whoops! I thank you for reading this garble, as I love and immensely enjoy writing and putting it all together. Let me know of any disagreements you have, or errors I might have made. Until next time, peoples!