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Punisher (The)
R1 - America - Lion's Gate Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Stevie McCleary & Noor Razzak (14th December 2006). |
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The Film
 Based on the Marvel Comics character, "The Punisher" is director Jonathan Hensleigh's first film and it features many a homage to various western films. Made on a shoestring budget (forcing the shoot location to be in Tampa, Florida rather than a more appropriate New York) it is a film enjoyed by as many as those who didn't. Many think it was too comical and flawed from the get go. Others see it as a tribute to western films of old, done as well as possible given the conditions. Here in this extended cut of the film, a further sub-plot involving Castle's long-time friend helps to give the film more scope and insight into the character of "The Punisher". Frank Castle (Thomas Jane), an ex-soldier and retiring FBI agent has just completed his last undercover assignment, which ends with the death of wealthy entrepreneur Howard Saint's (John Travolta) son. As Frank heads off to a family reunion in Puerto Rico, Saint plans revenge on the man responsible for the loss of his son. Sending a hit squad that wipes out Castle's entire (and I mean entire) family, Frank is presumed dead….but like Clint Eastwood in "Hang 'em High" (1968), he's not. Frank returns to mete out punishment on Saint and his lackeys. The extended cut has a new opening sequence: an animated version of the Kuwait scene that was to be in the original film but deemed too expensive by producers. Now, reproduced using computerised versions of "Punisher" cover artist Tim Bradstreet, we get a look into what Frank went through in the Gulf War. It sets up his friendship with fellow soldier and eventual FBI agent Jimmy Weeks (A. Russell Andrews), which becomes an important part of this version. After the animated sequence we get the original title sequence of the film (fantastic black and white artwork) followed by a brief scene which gives a background to why Saint's son is down at the docks. All this makes for a much better first ten minutes than the original, which jumped us directly into seeing Frank for the first time at the docks with horrible blonde hair. Much of the film follows the same after this, with the Weeks subplot inserted where it would have been originally. This gives a darker edge to certain parts of the film, and is a welcome addition. The film's story is based heavily on the "Welcome Back, Frank" storyline written by Garth Ennis. This was at the request of Marvel Comics, as that storyline had resurrected much interest in the character. Unfortunately this put off long-time fans of the character, as it was quite light-hearted at times and features several supporting characters taking up a lot of screen time, and by the time the movie came out Ennis had switched to writing an increasingly dark and gritty version of Castle. These two factors did not help the film's chances at all, let alone that it opened against "Man on Fire" (2004) and the "Kill Bill" (2003-2004) films. As it ended up, there were plenty of people saying it was too dark, and plenty saying it was too light. The supporting cast get a lot of flack, supposedly for lightening the mood, but with the exception of the teased romance sub-plot they help steer the film away from just being dark all the time. Rebecca Romijn, Ben Foster and John Pinette all do good jobs with the material they have. There is a nice chemistry amongst them, which offsets the self-destructive nature of Jane's "Punisher". Jane obviously really got into the character and it shows. There is no doubt he was the best man for the job. He is Frank Castle. Then again, anyone would have been better than Dolph Lundgren's sad effort in the 1988 version. The big letdown for me is John Travolta. I'm not a fan of his work normally, but even Travolta fans have issue with this one. He seems to happily sail through his dialogue, sometimes over the top and other times nearly narcoleptic. And he sports the most ridiculous haircut that flops around over his face. It is such a bizarre choice. The score is arranged by Carlo Siliotto, who had long refused to score any American films due to finding them without merit. However, once Hensleigh sent an unscored copy of the film to Carlo, he realised that Hensleigh's film was a homage to the spaghetti western style and signed on. The score he created heavily echoes those westerns of times past, and it is one of my favourite film scores for that very reason. It gives strength to the film that an ordinary score would have let it down with. "The Punisher" still has numerous issues, some of which caused by the budget, but are nonetheless still a factor. At times the jumps between comical and serious do not feel very even and hurt the film because of it. A few over the top moments also bring it down a bit as well. However, the plot is solid and well-thought out. If approached like a western would be, the whole movie makes a lot more sense. The Jimmy Weeks scenes give further character development and explain some of the minor plot holes that existed due to it being missing before. I count myself as one of the fans of this film and am happy with the extended cut. Regardless of what you may have thought of "The Punisher" movie before, if you saw it, the extended cut does what the director's cut of "Daredevil" (2003) did: took a film that was at one level and made it much, much better. I definitely recommend this version over the original, and rate "The Punisher" as a very enjoyable entry into this genre.
Video
The film is presented in the film's original 2.35:1 widescreen ratio, this anamorphic image is nearly perfect, but a few things hold it back, while the image is for the most part solid with accurate skin tones and natural colors, I found that some scenes were on the soft side and darker scenes included some grain throughout. Otherwise the image is quite good with consistent shadow detail and no evidence of edge-enhancement or compression issues.
Audio
Two audio tracks are included one in English DTS ES 6.1 and the other in English Dolby Digital EX 5.1 surround. For the purposes of this review I chose to view the film with its DTS ES track, this track is mighty aggressive, with clear dialogue and well balanced ambient and effects surrounds this track buzzes with activity lacing "The Punisher's" world with gun fire, explosions and every else related to the action onscreen. As far as DTS tracks go this is a perfect example of how to do action movies. Optional subtitles are also included in English and Spanish.
Extras
Lion's Gate has included a small collection of extras that includes an new animated introduction, a featurette, a gallery plus a collection of bonus trailers, below is a closer look at these supplements. "Kuwait" is an animated introduction which runs for 4 minutes 28 seconds, this scene can be seen on it's own or Incorporated as part of the film. This scene was originally conceived for the theatrical cut but dropped because it was too expensive. For this DVD the scene has been completed using various methods and provides some background on both Frank Castle and Jimmy Weeks as they both served in the Gulf. "Tour Of Duty: Making the Extended Cut" is a featurette which runs for 9 minutes 10 seconds and features the director explaining the additions to the film which include the new animated opening as well as the Jimmy Weeks sub-plot which was removed from the theatrical cut. The clip also takes a look at the making of the animated introduction which combines artwork, photographs and computer generated backgrounds that have been brought together much like a stylized animatic. Next up is "The Punisher comic book" gallery which includes 73 pages of covers and information regarding each key cover from the 1970's, 80's, 90's and 2000's. Each cover includes listings of the creative tram behind the issue as well as a synopsis of the issue. Also included are some bonus trailers for: - "Saw II: Special Edition" which runs for 1 minute 32 seconds. - "Reservoir Dogs: 15th Anniversary Edition" which runs for 2 minutes 24 seconds. - "The Descent" which runs for 2 minutes 6 seconds. - "See No Evil" which runs for 32 seconds. - "Saw III" which runs for 1 minute 16 seconds. These are all start-up previews and can be skipped. Rounding out the extras is a 3-panel booklet that features some of Tim Bradstreet's artwork.
Packaging
This DVD is packaged in a single digi-pack with a cardboard 'skull' slip-cover.
Overall
Fans of this film will likely pick up this version for the simple fact that this cut includes 17 additional minutes of footage presented with a kick as DTS ES track, otherwise you'd have to weigh up the benefits of this double-dip considering the extras are very light.
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