Ok I admit it. I have a real soft spot for the Punisher character and movies. It's fun seeing how they evolved over the years even though none of them are particularly great.

The Punisher(89) was cheesy and had it's problems but there are parts of it that work. I thought Dolph was good in the lead role, and some of the action scenes are fun with a high body count. The plot is boring and the skull is missed but overall it's still fun.

The Punisher(2004) had a lot of good things about it but it misses the mark. Tom Jane was great in the lead but the movie couldn't decide whether it wanted to be campy of serious. I also wasn't a fan of his whole family being killed and our vigilante driving around with a fire hydrant.

Punisher: War Zone is my favorite overall. Ray Stevenson made a great Frank Castle and the tone was campy throughout. The movie was well shot and really it's just a fun time.

So which is better?

I thought Lundgren played the best Punisher. He seemed very grim, and mentally unbalanced. Thomas Jane seemed too nice under the tough exterior. Ray Stevenson is a decent if not good actor but I thought his portrayal, as well as the tone of the film, seemed more direct to video IMO.

89 Punisher is cheesy at times. But that Punisher seemed more ruthless, and had they kept the original ending in the film, it would have been more true to the character, and made the film better.

The Punisher with Travolta and Jane.

The Punisher: War Zone was awful. One of the credited co-writers, Nick Santora, even said on a commentary track for Breakout Kings that he thought the movie sucked. He seemed pretty embarrassed by it. I guess Ray Stevenson is more like the comic version of the character.

All three are hokey schlock, and I like every single one of them.

War Zone is the most entertaining, though.

Jane's Punisher is my favorite.

I wish Showtime or HBO would do a series based on Punisher MAX.

Lundren's for sure. Good pace, ninja bad guys, and some good action.

Punisher: War Zone

Fan-fucking-tastic. Fuck the others.

I appreciate the "They All Suck" poll option. I'm sad only two of us can see that's the case.

Jane all the way

Probably Face/Off or Max Payne.

None of them were all that great if you ask me. I went with the "They all suck" option, but if I had to pick one to watch I'd probably go with the Thomas Jane one. Does Marvel have the rights to the character back?

Micro gets iced in War Zone. Nuff said.

I don't remember much about the Dolph Lundren movie, but I do remember thinking he was not good in the role.

Thomas Jane was excellent as the Punisher... but his movie on its own was not so good. He spent so much time trying to trick bad guys to turn on each other so that they kill each other. The Punisher shouldn't mess around doing junk like that, he should just kill them all himself and get it over with. Also the guy who showed up, starting playing a guitar and singing to the Punisher, and then left to go outside to try to kill him - what the hell was that?!! And the Punisher's goofy neighbors that were like people out of a bad sitcom - who wrote this shit??? It's a shame that Thomas Jane's performance was wasted on such a lousy script. At least he got to play the character again in that online "Dirty Laundry" short from a few years ago without all the goofiness.

Yeah, Punisher: War Zone was an over-the-top action movie, but it was still 100x better than the Thomas Jane movie. And Ray Stevenson was almost as good as Jane playing the Punisher.

I'm 99% sure Punisher reverted to Marvel the same time Daredevil and Blade did.

The Punisher featuring Thomas Jane was the best IMO.



+1 on the bolded.

+1

War Zone was a joke. They definitely upped the violence and graphic language from The Punisher, but it was immediately apparent the director had never picked up a single Punisher story in her life.

Jane made for a good Punisher, but Travolta hammed it up too much.

Uhhhh War Zone looked like the comic. She was totally into Castle's world. The problem was that she had a shit script. She GOT The Punisher. Her direction was solid. Unfortunately she only had so much control too.

War Zone was most definitely inspired by the Marvel Knights Punisher series. That comic had the same over-the-top comical violence.

Some examples

Punisher shoots Wolverine's balls off



Punisher runs over Wolverine with a steam roller



A quadruple amputee tries to bite Punisher's leg, and Punisher punts her like a football



The Russian is decapitated



The Russian's head somehow survives and is attached to a female body with enormous boobs



Spider-Man likes the Russian's boobs

Gerard Butler should've been Punisher. But now I think they should just make it a TV show like Dexter.

My favourite Punisher movie is Escape From New York.

I could barely stomach War Zone. It was just way too bloody and graphic for me. I've always enjoyed Jane's version. It had a great supporting cast with Will Patton and Roy Scheider. The Russian scene is fun, and I love the way he took out the son with the grenade.

Only thing I found stupid was that Castle spends all this time and effort to rig his car, and the thing gets destroyed after one scene.

The goofy neighbors in Jane's Punisher are right out of Garth Ennis' heralded first run on Punisher (aka "Welcome Back, Frank")

Jane had a great fondness for the character and it showed. It would have been nice to see what he could have done in a sequel.

War Zone is just a mess, and would not get any praise if it wasn't for the over the top kills. Which is what most people mention when praising it.

Setting Janes Punisher in Florida was a terrible call to me. The Punisher works best in urban areas like NYC. Specifically the 70s-80s NYC.