The Punisher (1989)

The Punisher was one of the better Marvel films adapted from a comic-thanks mainly to the casting.

Dolph Lungdren was an excellent choice as The Punisher and I cannot imagine anyone else being able to play it as well as he did. His facial expressions were so convincing throughout the movie;you really could believe that he was Frank Castle, a man whose family had been butchered. It was probably one of Dolph's best roles since playing He-Man in Masters of the Universe. The Punisher is a dangerous and pessimistic character and Dolph played it great.

Louis Gossett Jr. played Jake Berkowitz who had been chasing The Punisher for years and the lovely Nancy Everhard played his sidekick.

Jeroen Krabbe played crime boss Gianni Franco and he too did a brilliant job. He wasn't the stereotypical gangster. He made Gianni Franco into an intriguing character.

The casting for this film was brilliant so all that was needed after that was lots of action. And lots of action is exactly what we got. It was very vicious at times and I found myself flinching at times but it was great action.

I do wish there had been a sequel to this film.

Fmovies: I really liked this film, it´s true to the comic, and in some parts is better. For example in the comic Frank Castel has a truck full of weapons (most of them hi tech weapons) but were he gets the cash to pays for them. It´s a better adaptation than most flicks from those years (captain America for example) and it´s full with a lot of action and blood, its like a predecesor for Kill Bill. I give the movie a 7 out of 10.

Frank Castle is the Punisher, a former cop whose family was killed by mobsters. He was presumed dead but has in fact been alive, although not entirely well, for the last five years. Castle is a vigilante on a long lasting mission for revenge, as yet he hasn't reached his limit. Castle lives underground with barely any contact with human life, he is emotionally retarded, a tortured soul, who looks to god for help but as yet receives no answer.

This is a B-movie, so high production values and top script is not exactly expected. This is however an enjoyable comic book action film. Its dark and moody and is perfect for the lead character. Dolph Lundgren is good as the Punisher, he has the right look and his voice is excellent in the role. This is a character who holds in his emotions and you would perhaps say it is an ideal character for an action star to play. But Dolph adds something extra, he really comes across as if he is a man suffering, you can see it in his eyes, he is really into his role but being a character with few emotions Dolph gets little credit, the same could be said for Arnold in the Terminator. They both get more credit for the look and actions of their characters instead of nicely played performances, in roles that need to be underplayed, you could almost call it being wooden because of a need to be wooden. The script gives Castle some depth but we never really get to delve to deep into his life before he became the Punisher, and there could have been some more scenes to show Castle on his own, to see more of his actions away from other people. Around others he is unable to act like a normal human being because of his solitude and emotional anguish.

The script may have flaws and the film seems fairly cheap, but it has class in other areas. The film is very dark, and it has an almost eerie atmosphere that is key for a comic book film like this. It is nicely shot in that respect, they steer clear of to much colour, they take you into Castles dark, dank world. The action is also good, fast paced with some imaginative moments, nothing amazing because the likes of Woo and the Wachowskis have helped the Hollywood action scene evolve in style since the year this was made, but as far as 80's action goes this is quite stylish.

The support cast range from average to just plain awful. The exceptions here are Oscar winner Louis Gossett Junior and Oscar nominee Jeroen Krabbe. They are both in scene stealing form. They have a great scene together at the beginning and also Gossett has a standout scene when he is with the Punisher in a police cell, that was an excellent scene. Krabbe is the show stealer by a whisker though, he is good and his character as a mob boss is more well written than your stereotypical mob boss in most action flicks. Also excellent is Kim Myori, she is delightfully nasty as the head of a Yakuza family looking to take over the business operations of the main mob families. Other than her the rest are not great and some of the henchman are just plain bad. The kid who plays Tommy is good though, he has a good scene with the Punisher right at the end. The rest of the kids in the movie are bad and some are obviously dubbed over by adults putting on child like voices.

Anyway this is by no means a classic, it needed adding to some aspects of the story and character, but it had some surprisingly good scenes in which the Oscar Winner and Nominee both excelled, although they had roles they could do in their sleep. This was Dolphs first real step forward as an actor, he is good

The Punisher fmovies. "The Punisher" (1990) starring Dolph Lundgren and Louis Gossett, Jr. is a movie adaptation of the Marvel Comics character about a presumed dead police officer who wages a one man war on crime. In this big screen adaptation, The Punisher (Lundgren) rises from the sewers to battle the Yakuza (Japanese mafia) who have come to America to try to force the current reigning Franco crime family, headed by Gianni Franco (Jeroen Krabbe) out of business. To do this, the Yakuza headed by Lady Tanaka (Kim Miyori) have kidnapped the children of all the crime bosses. The Punisher reluctantly enters into this complex triangle to try to rescue the children.

I must say that "The Punisher" is a rather solid adaptation of the Marvel Comics character of the same name. Dolph Lundgren proves that he can carry a movie. He can really kick some a** in this film. The action scenes may prove to be the best parts of this movie. Probably the best action sequence is the scene where The Punisher drops through a glass window and begins shooting up a casino.

"The Punisher" get 2 ½ stars out of 5.

In fact, I have a suspicion that I will still like this one better even after the release of the new Punisher (2004).

That's because of a couple of reasons. Firstly, the acting. Dolph Lundgren acts very well in this film, portraying a grim, depressed, out of the ordinary action hero whose sole reason for living is revenge. Louis Gossett, jr. also does his best as Lundgren's former best friend. Jeroen Krabbe, in my opinion, is miscast as the big crime boss although he does his best.

Secondly, the action sequences are simply good. Lots of guns blazing, some decent camera angles and of course the whole 'red light' sequence near the end of the film, which I liked. The whole atmosphere of this movie is grim, gritty, depressed. Something I think the remake this year will not accomplish.

6/10

I watched this movie when I was a young kid and I remember thinking "...Eh..." However, while browsing Borders, I saw the DVD for $6.99 and decided to give it another shot. I expected a fun action flick with lots of explosions, death-defying stunts, cool death shots, and a badass lead character. I was not disappointed. After reading so many bad reviews here on imdb I decided I need to write a review defending this movie. I don't know what other people expected when they saw this movie, but I certainly didn't expect much more than a cool action flick, and that is exactly what "The Punisher" gave me plus maybe a little more.

First off, Dolph Lundgren's stiff acting and menacing demeanor make him perfect for the part of the hell-bent, socially backwards loner determined to punish the scum of the Earth (His significant acting shortcomings are his assets here). The writer and director did a good job of showing many different facets of his personality and actually created a deeper characterization of the Punisher than I would have expected. Louis Gossett Jr. plays his his part competently enough. In fact, the acting was not all that bad all around (suitable enough for an action flick).

The action here is also pretty solid. Some examples: The opening sequence where Dolph punishes the trash-talking mob boss and his henchmen with style. In one scene, Dolph is driving a bus with children in tow while a hundred Japanese are firing machine guns and crashing their cars into the side of the bus...way cool.

The plot is pretty standard revenge bit with some minor twists and turns, but the ending is pretty cool and less predictable than most action thrillers, but then again thats not saying much :-)

FINAL RATING: 6/10 I doubt it will make anyone's top ten list, but this low budget action genre flick delivers the goods with solid action and semi-interesting characters, which is more than I can say for many big budget Hollywood action flicks (e.g. Cobra, Mercury Rising, The Watcher, the Art of War). Its not a movie to be analyzed, its a movie to enjoy. Action junkies should dig it, others should probably stay away.