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The Punisher: War Zone

The Punisher, Frank Castle, is the bad ass of the Marvel universe. He has no superpowers to aid him in his one-man war on crime, just an array of weapons. While Spider-man and the other heroes in the house that Stan Lee built go to extreme lengths to avoid killing bad guys, morgues are filled with the bodies of mobsters and other criminals that Castle has left behind. He is Death Wish’s Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) on steroids, a vigilante with no family or close friends. Two attempts have brought the anti-hero to the big screen. The first, starring Dolph Lundgren, was released in 1989 and the second, starring Thomas Jane four years ago, have been utter failures, even though the man with the white skull on his shirt fits perfectly in a long line of revenge-oriented action heroes that have dominated cinema for decades. With a ready made legion of passionate testosterone-filled geeks clamoring to see his brutal adventures, his movies should at least take in the box office of a second-tier superhero like Hellboy or Daredevil. Instead Lundgren’s effort went straight to video and the 2004 version took in a rather pathetic $12 million before disappearing to DVD. So, why has multiplex success eluded Frank?

In order to understand why the character has failed in the movies so far, one must understand who the character is. Created in 1974 as an enemy for Spider-Man by writer Gerry Conway, The Punisher was inspired by Don Pendleton’s, novel series, “War Against The Mafia”, featuring a character named Mack Bolan, “The Executioner,” whose family had crumbled under pressure from the mob. The Executioner seeks revenge against those who destroyed his family. (Why no comic book company has bought the rights to this character is beyond me.) Although extremely popular as a bad guy having made several appearances in Spider-man throughout the next six years, because of his cold and bloody ways and the fact that he killed people, Marvel never thought about spinning him off into his own series until Mike Zeck and Steve Grant pitched the idea in the early 1980s. Zeck, who was always pushing the boundaries with his horror comics, was in talks to make the jump over to rival DC Comics and many in the House That Stan Built felt that pitching a series centering on a murderer, which would naturally be rejected, would give him to the excuse to leave. Marvel decided to approve the series but would give it no promotion which would cause the series to die quickly, allowing them to retain Zeck and move him on to another character. What they did not count on was the fans response. The first issue sold out within three hours of hitting the stands. Looking at sales numbers, Marvel realized that they had a hit on their hands and quickly began to promote the series they regarded as repugnant. They even spun him off into two other series, The Punisher War Journal in 1988 and The Punisher War Zone in 1992.

Although the character’s popularity sagged in the mid-1990s, which led to the series being canceled, and with several relaunchs ending in failure, Frank Castle was ready made for the talents of writer Garth Ennis, who had made his bones writing the violent and strange adventures of Preacher, The Hitman, and Hellblazer for DC Comics. Published under Marvel’s more mature Max imprint which allowed Ennis to use his entire bag of tricks, Ennis’s Punisher has been universally hailed by fans and critics as groundbreaking and among one of the best comics being written. But who is Frank Castle?

Frank Castle is a Vietnam War vet from New York City. He is pushed over the line when his wife, Maria, and his two young children, are killed by mobsters. Using all of his training garnered in the Marines, he decides it is his task in life to eradicate the same kind of scum that murdered his family. An island onto himself, Frank allows no one close to him as he wages his guerrilla warfare against the Mafia. Over the years he has taken on the Italians, the Russians, the Yakuza, the Triads, biker gangs, pedophiles, corrupt cops, drug cartels, rapists, muggers, gunrunners, and almost every other organization or kind of crime. He has battled not only standard criminals as found in the pages of most newspapers but has even battled super villains and occasionally a superhero that has had the mistake of crossing his path. Unlike others in the Marvel Universe who wear elaborate costumes, Frank’s only flare is the iconic white skull on his chest which is there to inspire fear in criminals.

The Punisher is a sullen, bitter loner with no emotional ties or bounds to anyone. He is the embodiment of a nihilist anti-hero with a belief in nothing except “an eye for an eye” brand of justice. Therein lies Hollywood’s difficulty with the character. Tinseltown wants likeable heroes an audience can identify with, action heroes that crack jokes and have a romance or two with some hotty. The Punisher is a lot of things, a killing machine, a one man funeral home, a morose assassin; a man swallowed up in his own darkness and pity, but likeable is not one of them. Much like John Constantine of Hellblazer, his personality does not lend itself to a mass audience, feel-good, Bruce Willis-type, romp. A real Punisher tale would naturally be a hard R affair, not something that could be sold to the coveted teenage male audience most films are geared for.

Even a blind man in a dark room painted black with no windows could read the writing on the wall when it comes to comic book based movies sfter the success of Spider-man, 300, Sin City, and Batman Begins and the failure of Constantine, Elektra, and Catwoman. When Hollywood captures the ethos of a character that has been beloved by fans for years, it usually equals success at the box office. You can make slight alterations in the costume, simplify the origin story, and play in the margins and people will enjoy the movie. Wholesale changes, reinventing the wheel for the sake of reinventing the wheel, always leads to disaster and to audiences feeling ripped off.

For the most part, fans and critics of the 2004 film felt it was a dud. It captured certain elements of the Ennis run but all in all was not The Punisher that fans had come to love. Even though the story had a lot to be desired, actor Thomas Jane, who played Frank Castle, was universally proclaimed to be perfect for the role. While theaters in America remained empty during its April run, it found new life on the world stage and on DVD. When everything was said and done, it grossed $115 million, just enough money to merit a sequel. One little problem, Jane, who not only writes comics but owns his own comic book publishing company, agreed with most people’s sentiments and tried to pressure the producers to make the next film in the franchise more in line with the comic book. When the producers would not budge, Jane decided not to return. After a long search, Ray Stevenson (“Rome,” King Arthur) was named as his replacement. Anyone who has seen his run as Titus Pullo knows that he has the weight and ethos to play Frank.

The villain? Jigsaw (Dominic West), a maniac mobster named Billy Russoti whose face Frank has left looking like a jigsaw puzzle after throwing him through a glass window face first. The formerly handsome gentleman blames Frank for his disfigurement and wants revenge. With an FBI and law enforcement task force hot on his trail, Frank is on his own in trying to take down Jigsaw and other thugs recruited by Russoti. After a summer of superhero home runs, the Punisher is more of a single down the center. While Stevenson plays the role perfectly, the script does not quite capture the comic book character. Still, it is better than the previous two efforts. If Marvel Comics ever gets the rights back from Lions Gate hopefully they can do the character correctly. It would mean doing a hard rated “R” dark, nihilistic blood bath. We are getting closer. Lets hope we get another effort.

Verdict: Better Than The Previous Effort