The Punisher
Director: Jonathan Hensleigh
Writer: Jonathan Hensleigh, Michael France
Based on: Gerry Conway, John Romita Sr. and Ross Andru‘s comic character
Cast: Thomas Jane, John Travolta, Ben Foster, John Pinette, Rebecca Romijn, Roy Scheider, Will Patton, Laura Harring, Samantha Mathis, Eddie Jemison
Seen on: 20.12.2024
[Here are my reviews of the other Punisher movies.]

Plot:
After a drug deal gone wrong that kills the son of Howard Saint (John Travolta), Saint is looking for somebody to blame. And he finds this somebody in Frank Castle (Thomas Jane), an undercover cop who was part of that drug deal. Saint exterminates Castle’s entire family at a family reunion. As luck will have it, Castle manages to survive – and swears to punish Saint and his cronies.

The Punisher is probably my favorite of the Punisher movies, though I still maintain that none of them can hold a candle to the TV show. But it has a little more humor than the other films and good character work, even if I still would have liked to see more of the critical potential realized.

I think what makes this film better for me than the other two is that it pays more attention to the characters aside from Castle. And that it has more of a sense of comedic timing, meaning that the (admittedly few) jokes actually land. Also thanks to Jane who delivers excellently cheesy one-liners with flair. „God is sitting this one out“ took me out.

Jane generally has a lighter touch with Castle than Lundgren or Stevenson, allowing for a bit of mischief in the character. Not that it’s exactly humorous when he fake tortures someone, or when he sows dissent in among Saint and his wife and his right-hand man. But the script gives him a bit of trickstering there, and that is interesting for Castle as a character. Even if I would have liked it better if the film had expanded the critical parts of his character more than this side of him.

The constellation between Saint, his wife (Laura Harring) and his right-hand man (Will Patton) was interesting, and added more depth to the characters than villains are often afforded. And the other threesome constellation – the found family in Castle’s apartment building (Ben Foster, John Pinette, Rebecca Romijn) – was a nice contrast, albeit a tad stereotypical, but showing what family could look like aside bloodlines and clan structures, simply when people take care of each other.

The action scenes are decent, but probably the least interesting part of the film. The pacing is fine, and overall it works. But mostly thanks to the characters.

Summarizing: not great, but still pretty good.