Punisher: War Zone -- The Reviews/Comments thread

DJariya · 12-06-08, 03:59 AM

Rather than everyone throwing in their 2 cents in a "How Badly Punisher will bomb thread", I thought I would start an actual reviews thread for comments from all of you.

I saw it this evening and I thought it was a good B action film. Lots of bloody and grotesque violence and some really dark humor as well.

I never actually heard of Ray Stevenson, but I thought he was well-casted as Castle. He has a very dark and brooding presence that actually suits the character more than what Thomas Jane brought to the last movie. Was not a fan of Dominic West's Jigsaw. I thought it was one of his worst acting performances ever. It was sooo cartoonish and over the top....unless it was intended to be that way like a comic.

I actually was surprised that Lionsgate and Marvel did a re-boot of the story like Hulk than an actual follow-up to the last film. The flashback scenes of Castle when his family was murdered at a picnic through me off. Was that how the comic was written?

Overall, if your a fan of the character and the last film, then I would recommend this movie.

mdc3000 · 12-06-08, 10:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DJariya

I never actually heard of Ray Stevenson, but I thought he was well-casted as Castle.

Go out right now and buy ROME: THE COMPLETE FIRST & SECOND SEASON. You can thank me later

I posted this in the other thread:
I liked it... lots of fun, no matter how ridiculous and laugh out loud some parts were. Highly entertaining with Ray Stevenson kicking all kinds of ass. He makes a great Frank Castle and most of the supporting cast does a great job - with the notable EXCEPTION of Dominic West as Jigsaw...just cringe inducing the whole time. The over the top wiseguy accents are terrible and feel forced as hell. Dash Mihok also doesn't bring much to the table, adding to the 'B movie' cartoon feel, which just doesn't jive with the rest of the tone.

The action is extremely violent and over the top, but that all works...it's a lot of fun watching bad people get what they deserve. If they had done better by the villain, I think this one really would have been something special. As is, check your brain at the door and get ready to watch bad guys get blown away.

blucadet3 · 12-06-08, 11:42 AM

I had a great time at the theater. The hate for this movie is surprising. I read a ton of Punisher comics when I was a teen and this film is my favorite of the three. Id say it just slightly edges out the first one (I was so pissed he didnt wear the skull shirt in that first movie!). I was not even going to see it if it wasn't rated R and I'm glad that the rumors of a pg 13 cut were just rumors. Ignore the fancy pants critics. If you like action movies like Rambo, or are a Punisher fan go see it. I'm sick of pg 13 horror movies marketed to teen girls. This is a Punisher film for people who can stand to see some carnage and get a thrill out of it. Its fun to see bad people getting f'd up. Jigsaw was a little silly and the big changes in his origin bothered me some, but thats my inner comic geek acting up. In contrast this movie gets Punishers origin panel perfect! Overall its one of the best 9 bucks I've spent this month.

I look forward this team doing another Punisher movie soon!

mdc3000 · 12-06-08, 01:08 PM

I wonder if it was just a coincidence that Julie Benz was in this and Saw V, or if she signed some sort of "Lionsgate 2 Jigsaw Picture Deal as a Brunette" contract :P

TimeandTide · 12-06-08, 02:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mdc3000

Go out right now and buy ROME: THE COMPLETE FIRST & SECOND SEASON. You can thank me later

BIG thumbs up to that suggestion.

I'm planning on seeing Punisher solely because I'm such a big fan of Stevenson as result of his turn as Pullo in Rome. Fantastic actor.

civiclx · 12-07-08, 06:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TimeandTide

BIG thumbs up to that suggestion.

I'm planning on seeing Punisher solely because I'm such a big fan of Stevenson as result of his turn as Pullo in Rome. Fantastic actor.

I don't have HBO so I haven't seen Rome but I did get season one on sale at Best Buy for $39.99. Pretty good considering that Season 1 and 2 can cost anywhere from $59.99 to $89.99 each. I have only seen Ray in King Arthur but I look forward to seeing him in more things

Gilgamesh1082 · 12-07-08, 09:34 AM

I had low expectations for this film. I was going to go see it in a couple weeks, maybe, or possibly wait for the BR. Then yesterday afternoon, a friend of mine texted me, and her exact words were, "War Zone was FUCKING AWESOME. I think I even prefer it to the Tom Jane Punisher. They shot it like a comic book panel and its easily one of the top 5 comic book movies."

I immediately told her she would rue the day if she was lying to me and gathered up a friend and went to the theater.

And you know what? She was spot on with her review. The Punisher works best when you just put him in the middle of NYC and let him start fucking up the mob. Basically, this was the comic book movie equivalent of Rambo. From the minute Stevenson steps on screen, you're getting just this obscene amount of murder and mayhem served up by the Punisher. Its ridiculous. And it works. I hated the fact that it took Jane walking off the movie in order to get them to give it a hard R, but Stevenson took it and ran with it. He makes you forget Thomas Jane ever donned the mantle. He is that good. The only complaint I have with it is that the Kingpin was never mentioned. I only hope that this does well enough to warrant a sequel, with Stevenson reprising the role.

Zen Peckinpah · 12-07-08, 09:43 AM

I think I laughed as much at this movie as I did at Pineapple Express and Tropic Thunder (still the better movies, natch

). Between the myriad novelty deaths, Dominic West acting like a zombie Paulie Walnuts auditioning for a role as the Joker in the first Batman movie, the "recruitment" scene, the clusterfuck of a climax (which, arguably, is about half as good and hilarious as PE's abandoned barn storm of violence, but still frickin' brilliant), Newman, the fact that the Punisher said as many words as Schwarzenegger in The Terminator, Loony Bin Jim, and the last line of the movie (uttered by the dumbass detective tailing him), this was a expertly made guilty pleasure.

It more than beats out Doomsday and Death Race for the title of guilty pleasure of the year.

DJariya · 12-07-08, 12:00 PM

Just noticed that this is Julie Benz's third straight Lionsgate feature. She must have some kind of multi-picture deal with them (Rambo, Saw V and Punisher)

Anyways, I can definitely see an "Unrated" DVD coming for this.

One last comment, I thought it was hysterical when Jigsaw and his brother went out and recruited every crime syndicate stereotype you could think for that final shootout with Castle.

droidguy1119 · 12-07-08, 01:24 PM

Last two weeks, I saw Slumdog MIllionaire, Benjamin Button, The Wrestler and Let the Right One In pretty much consecutively. It was great.

This week I got to see The Punisher punch a dude so hard in the face his face caved in and The Punisher's fist went into his skull.

YES.

Also Dominic West's hilariously scenery-chewing performance was amazing. The only part that was lame was the finale, which felt less "big" than the other action sequences.

Michael Allred · 12-07-08, 03:02 PM

Wow, am I in the minority here? "War Zone" was the biggest pile of dog shit I've seen all year. In fact I walked out of the theater feeling EXACTLY like I did when I left "Batman & Robin" a few years back. Awful in every....single.....way......

FantasticVSDoom · 12-07-08, 06:39 PM

Its funny I remember reading that they were thinking about making this a pg-13 movie to make it more "audience friendly" and thought that they had. And for the first part of the movie I kept thinking, "its amazing what gets a pg-13 rating these days"

RD1973 · 12-08-08, 01:04 AM

This movie was awesome, but for all the wrong reasons. I was laughing my ass off at everything. The opening bloodbath, Jigsaw saying just about anything, his over-the-top insane brother, the guy taken out by a missile, the retarded cop-sidekick, the closing bloodbath. I was embarassed to be there, but I had a great time.

There were 2 really strange things about the movie, though. First, there's a severe lack of character development for Frank Castle. My date thought he was the bad guy for the first half of the movie and she had no idea why he was killing everyone.

Secondly, the wife of the cop Frank killed seemed to get over it too easily. At the end, she says something like, "You killed my husband but what you do is necessary I guess." LOL

Having said all that, Lexi Alexander is really cute and based on this movie, she must be pretty cool too.

The Bus · 12-08-08, 10:22 AM

For people who liked War Zone, did you also like Shoot 'Em Up?

stingermck · 12-08-08, 10:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Bus

For people who liked War Zone, did you also like Shoot 'Em Up?

Yes

Solid Snake PAC · 12-08-08, 11:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Bus

For people who liked War Zone, did you also like Shoot 'Em Up?

That film was fun if you really really just accept it for what it is...it's ok. War Zone is better...

Giles · 12-08-08, 11:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DJariya

Just noticed that this is Julie Benz's third straight Lionsgate feature. She must have some kind of multi-picture deal with them (Rambo, Saw V and Punisher)

Anyways, I can definitely see an "Unrated" DVD coming for this.

One last comment, I thought it was hysterical when Jigsaw and his brother went out and recruited every crime syndicate stereotype you could think for that final shootout with Castle.

I'll wait, with a busy month and trying to catch other movies this month, this can definately wait for it's video release.

The Bus · 12-08-08, 12:21 PM

Well, that settles it: I'm not seeing War Zone.

mdc3000 · 12-08-08, 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Bus

For people who liked War Zone, did you also like Shoot 'Em Up?

I fucking hated Shoot 'Em Up but had fun with War Zone... it was less 'mean spirited' and didn't have the annoying directorial 'flourishes' of SEU... however, I would definitely say my expectations were much lower for Punisher than they were for SEU when I went to see it, so that plays a factor for sure...

Ravenous · 12-08-08, 03:22 PM

Pullo will get my money!

Cant wait for the bluray, and please let Ray do commentary!

FantasticVSDoom · 12-08-08, 04:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mdc3000

I fucking hated Shoot 'Em Up but had fun with War Zone... it was less 'mean spirited' and didn't have the annoying directorial 'flourishes' of SEU... however, I would definitely say my expectations were much lower for Punisher than they were for SEU when I went to see it, so that plays a factor for sure...

100% agree with this...

BuddyRevell · 12-16-08, 05:51 PM

Oh man. I had a blast with this movie! I knew going into it not to expect Iron Man, but a B-movie. There's so much carnage I could not stop laughing. It was exactly what I expected. Good times!

SPRBD · 12-19-08, 03:18 AM

Ray Stevenson was GREAT and the violence in the film was spot-on. Sadly, the plot was pretty lame. The attempts to humanize the Punisher fell flat and were unneeded. The Russian mob was WASTED. And I can't remember a worse villain ever than the way that the Jigsaw was played.

This movie was 1/3rd guilty pleasure and 2/3rds big steaming pile of shit. To bad it bombed so bad it's unlikely that they'll give Ray another chance.

Ravenous · 02-18-09, 04:24 PM

Finally caught this (I was gone from my theaters by the time I made time to see it) and loved the flick. Stevenson kicked ass and West was great. People who said he was over the top were stupid; hes no different than the joker. Percy Whitmore was hilarious to see.

I just saw Shoot em up the other day too. It was alright.

MrSmearkase · 02-18-09, 04:36 PM

Just caught this last week at the dollar store, and I loved it! Great over-the-top action, and good supporting performances from Doug Hutchinson and Dominic West.

Also saw The Spirit at the same dollar theatre, and it wasn't as bad as I've heard people say it was.

12-06-08, 03:59 AM	#1
DJariya DVD Talk Hall of Fame Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: La Palma, CA Posts: 8,659	Punisher: War Zone -- The Reviews/Comments thread Rather than everyone throwing in their 2 cents in a "How Badly Punisher will bomb thread", I thought I would start an actual reviews thread for comments from all of you. I saw it this evening and I thought it was a good B action film. Lots of bloody and grotesque violence and some really dark humor as well. I never actually heard of Ray Stevenson, but I thought he was well-casted as Castle. He has a very dark and brooding presence that actually suits the character more than what Thomas Jane brought to the last movie. Was not a fan of Dominic West's Jigsaw. I thought it was one of his worst acting performances ever. It was sooo cartoonish and over the top....unless it was intended to be that way like a comic. I actually was surprised that Lionsgate and Marvel did a re-boot of the story like Hulk than an actual follow-up to the last film. The flashback scenes of Castle when his family was murdered at a picnic through me off. Was that how the comic was written? Overall, if your a fan of the character and the last film, then I would recommend this movie.

12-06-08, 01:08 PM	#4
mdc3000 DVD Talk Hall of Fame Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Guelph, Ontario Posts: 8,191	I wonder if it was just a coincidence that Julie Benz was in this and Saw V, or if she signed some sort of "Lionsgate 2 Jigsaw Picture Deal as a Brunette" contract :P __________________ Rank 'Em As You See Them 2009 2008 2007 Spending Tab 2009 2008 2007 Follow me on TWITTER

12-07-08, 09:43 AM	#8
Zen Peckinpah DVD Talk Gold Edition Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 2,683	I think I laughed as much at this movie as I did at Pineapple Express and Tropic Thunder (still the better movies, natch ). Between the myriad novelty deaths, Dominic West acting like a zombie Paulie Walnuts auditioning for a role as the Joker in the first Batman movie, the "recruitment" scene, the clusterfuck of a climax (which, arguably, is about half as good and hilarious as PE's abandoned barn storm of violence, but still frickin' brilliant), Newman, the fact that the Punisher said as many words as Schwarzenegger in The Terminator, Loony Bin Jim, and the last line of the movie (uttered by the dumbass detective tailing him), this was a expertly made guilty pleasure. It more than beats out Doomsday and Death Race for the title of guilty pleasure of the year. __________________ "The next time the motherfucker call, tell him I said suck my dick. I don't give a fuck, whatever the fuck make the people laugh, say that shit. Do the people laugh when you say what you say? I said, 'Yes.' He said, 'do you get paid?' I said, 'Yes.' He said well tell Bill I said have a Coke and a smile and shut the fuck up! The Jello puddin'-eating motherfucker!"

12-07-08, 01:24 PM	#10
droidguy1119 DVD Talk Reviewer Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 3,870	Last two weeks, I saw Slumdog MIllionaire, Benjamin Button, The Wrestler and Let the Right One In pretty much consecutively. It was great. This week I got to see The Punisher punch a dude so hard in the face his face caved in and The Punisher's fist went into his skull. YES. Also Dominic West's hilariously scenery-chewing performance was amazing. The only part that was lame was the finale, which felt less "big" than the other action sequences. __________________ DVDTalk Reviews \| The Following Preview \| facebook \| My DVDaf (RIP DVDSpot) \| e-mail me 1 Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever \| 2 Antichrist \| 3 Bronson \| 4 $9.99 \| 5 The Lovely Bones 6 Saw VI \| 7 The Box \| 8 A Serious Man \| 9 Sherlock Holmes \| 10 Where the Wild Things Are Last edited by droidguy1119; 12-07-08 at 01:27 PM.

12-07-08, 03:02 PM	#11
Michael Allred Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Michigan, USA Posts: 448	Wow, am I in the minority here? "War Zone" was the biggest pile of dog shit I've seen all year. In fact I walked out of the theater feeling EXACTLY like I did when I left "Batman & Robin" a few years back. Awful in every....single.....way...... __________________ Help get Lovecraft's "The Resurrected", John Carpenter's TV films (and more) released on DVD! Click on the link to learn how. http://members.tripod.com/~evilbaby/ROTLDpetitions.html

12-06-08, 11:42 AM	#3
blucadet3 Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 335	I had a great time at the theater. The hate for this movie is surprising. I read a ton of Punisher comics when I was a teen and this film is my favorite of the three. Id say it just slightly edges out the first one (I was so pissed he didnt wear the skull shirt in that first movie!). I was not even going to see it if it wasn't rated R and I'm glad that the rumors of a pg 13 cut were just rumors. Ignore the fancy pants critics. If you like action movies like Rambo, or are a Punisher fan go see it. I'm sick of pg 13 horror movies marketed to teen girls. This is a Punisher film for people who can stand to see some carnage and get a thrill out of it. Its fun to see bad people getting f'd up. Jigsaw was a little silly and the big changes in his origin bothered me some, but thats my inner comic geek acting up. In contrast this movie gets Punishers origin panel perfect! Overall its one of the best 9 bucks I've spent this month. I look forward this team doing another Punisher movie soon!

12-07-08, 09:34 AM	#7
Gilgamesh1082 Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 476	I had low expectations for this film. I was going to go see it in a couple weeks, maybe, or possibly wait for the BR. Then yesterday afternoon, a friend of mine texted me, and her exact words were, "War Zone was FUCKING AWESOME. I think I even prefer it to the Tom Jane Punisher. They shot it like a comic book panel and its easily one of the top 5 comic book movies." I immediately told her she would rue the day if she was lying to me and gathered up a friend and went to the theater. And you know what? She was spot on with her review. The Punisher works best when you just put him in the middle of NYC and let him start fucking up the mob. Basically, this was the comic book movie equivalent of Rambo. From the minute Stevenson steps on screen, you're getting just this obscene amount of murder and mayhem served up by the Punisher. Its ridiculous. And it works. I hated the fact that it took Jane walking off the movie in order to get them to give it a hard R, but Stevenson took it and ran with it. He makes you forget Thomas Jane ever donned the mantle. He is that good. The only complaint I have with it is that the Kingpin was never mentioned. I only hope that this does well enough to warrant a sequel, with Stevenson reprising the role.

12-07-08, 12:00 PM	#9
DJariya DVD Talk Hall of Fame Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: La Palma, CA Posts: 8,659	Just noticed that this is Julie Benz's third straight Lionsgate feature. She must have some kind of multi-picture deal with them (Rambo, Saw V and Punisher) Anyways, I can definitely see an "Unrated" DVD coming for this. One last comment, I thought it was hysterical when Jigsaw and his brother went out and recruited every crime syndicate stereotype you could think for that final shootout with Castle.

12-07-08, 06:39 PM	#12
FantasticVSDoom DVD Talk Hall of Fame Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Deep behind enemy lines...NYC! Posts: 8,943	Its funny I remember reading that they were thinking about making this a pg-13 movie to make it more "audience friendly" and thought that they had. And for the first part of the movie I kept thinking, "its amazing what gets a pg-13 rating these days" __________________ GO REDSOX!!! "Fighting is the best thing a man can have in his soul."-Renzo Gracie

12-08-08, 01:04 AM	#13
RD1973 Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 404	This movie was awesome, but for all the wrong reasons. I was laughing my ass off at everything. The opening bloodbath, Jigsaw saying just about anything, his over-the-top insane brother, the guy taken out by a missile, the retarded cop-sidekick, the closing bloodbath. I was embarassed to be there, but I had a great time. There were 2 really strange things about the movie, though. First, there's a severe lack of character development for Frank Castle. My date thought he was the bad guy for the first half of the movie and she had no idea why he was killing everyone. Secondly, the wife of the cop Frank killed seemed to get over it too easily. At the end, she says something like, "You killed my husband but what you do is necessary I guess." LOL Having said all that, Lexi Alexander is really cute and based on this movie, she must be pretty cool too.

12-08-08, 10:22 AM	#14
The Bus DVD Talk Hero Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Delaware Posts: 42,898	For people who liked War Zone, did you also like Shoot 'Em Up? __________________ Panda Killer XBL/PSN/Steam: Chiwotweiler \| hd dvdaf \| last.fm \| Movies: 2002 / 03 / 04 / 05 / 06 / 07 / 08 / 09 "Wearing Shakira's ass for a hat interests me more than anything else in the universe." - Hokeyboy

12-08-08, 12:21 PM	#18
The Bus DVD Talk Hero Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Delaware Posts: 42,898	Well, that settles it: I'm not seeing War Zone. __________________ Panda Killer XBL/PSN/Steam: Chiwotweiler \| hd dvdaf \| last.fm \| Movies: 2002 / 03 / 04 / 05 / 06 / 07 / 08 / 09 "Wearing Shakira's ass for a hat interests me more than anything else in the universe." - Hokeyboy

12-08-08, 03:22 PM	#20
Ravenous DVD Talk Platinum Edition Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Where the river Styxx ends... Posts: 3,221	Pullo will get my money! Cant wait for the bluray, and please let Ray do commentary! __________________ "How come Im seeing all this crap; Ive seen mods and reviewers with avatars but now people with lower statuses than me? What the hell!" My (Too Many) DVDs Wii Friend Code: 2036-1088-5135-3045 Mario Kart Wii Code: 1977-0748-1136

12-16-08, 05:51 PM	#22
BuddyRevell DVD Talk Special Edition Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: San Francisco Posts: 1,191	Oh man. I had a blast with this movie! I knew going into it not to expect Iron Man, but a B-movie. There's so much carnage I could not stop laughing. It was exactly what I expected. Good times! __________________ "I suppose you could say that everyone has an El Guapo. For some, shyness may be an El Guapo. For others, lack of education may be an El Guapo. But for us, El Guapo is a large ugly man who wants to kill us."

12-19-08, 03:18 AM	#23
SPRBD Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 533	Ray Stevenson was GREAT and the violence in the film was spot-on. Sadly, the plot was pretty lame. The attempts to humanize the Punisher fell flat and were unneeded. The Russian mob was WASTED. And I can't remember a worse villain ever than the way that the Jigsaw was played. This movie was 1/3rd guilty pleasure and 2/3rds big steaming pile of shit. To bad it bombed so bad it's unlikely that they'll give Ray another chance.

02-18-09, 04:24 PM	#24
Ravenous DVD Talk Platinum Edition Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Where the river Styxx ends... Posts: 3,221	Re: Punisher: War Zone -- The Reviews/Comments thread Finally caught this (I was gone from my theaters by the time I made time to see it) and loved the flick. Stevenson kicked ass and West was great. People who said he was over the top were stupid; hes no different than the joker. Percy Whitmore was hilarious to see. I just saw Shoot em up the other day too. It was alright. __________________ "How come Im seeing all this crap; Ive seen mods and reviewers with avatars but now people with lower statuses than me? What the hell!" My (Too Many) DVDs Wii Friend Code: 2036-1088-5135-3045 Mario Kart Wii Code: 1977-0748-1136

02-18-09, 04:36 PM	#25
MrSmearkase Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Westborough, MA Posts: 575	Re: Punisher: War Zone -- The Reviews/Comments thread Just caught this last week at the dollar store, and I loved it! Great over-the-top action, and good supporting performances from Doug Hutchinson and Dominic West. Also saw The Spirit at the same dollar theatre, and it wasn't as bad as I've heard people say it was.