There have been three Punisher films to date. The first one starred Dolph Lundgren as the titular badass. I haven't seen that one, but it's reputed to be an 80s crapfest. The second movie, released in 2004, starred Thomas Jane as The Punisher and John Travolta as the main baddy. It was an OK effort, but Jane always struck me as too much of a pretty boy to play ultra-hardman Frank Castle convincingly.
This latest version stars nobody I've really heard of (although I did recognise a few faces in it) and clearly had a lower budget than the 2004 version although it retains a similar style. It suffers from some terrible dialogue and accents, unfortunately (especially bad guys Jigsaw and Loony Bin Jim who are downright irritating) - and while Ray Stevenson makes an excellent Frank Castle when in hardcore badass mode (note the scene when he resets his broken nose with a pencil), he's not particularly good at showing the more sensitive side during those brief moments when it's called for.
Overall, I preferred this to the 2004 version and hope that they can make another but hire a scriptwriter that can do dialogue and supporting actors that can do accents. It's a solid action movie - with 80s levels of gritty violence, which is a good thing IMO. Just don't expect any Oscar winning performances, switch your brain off and you might enjoy it.
My rating: 6.0 / 10
IMDB rating: 6.4 / 10
Running time: 103 mins
IMDB link
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