The Punisher (1989)

Day 218 - 8/6/09 - Movie #214

BEFORE: OK, back to comic-book vigilantes. I've seen the second Punisher movie, the one with Thomas Jane and John Travolta, but not this one, starring Dolph Lundgren (aka Ivan Drago from "Rocky IV"). True story - in 2002, when we were flying down to Florida for our honeymoon cruise, I found myself sitting next to actor Ed Burns on the plane. I noticed he was reading a script for a Punisher movie - at the time, comic-book movies were starting to really catch on, and I figured he was looking to get involved in one. Rather than talk to him directly, after my wife fell asleep I pulled out a couple comic books and started reading, which led to Ed Burns asking me questions about comics - he wanted to know which heroes I liked, which books were popular, and so forth. He'd been a reader of Marvel Comics when he was a kid, but didn't know too much outside of Spider-Man and the Silver Surfer. I referenced the Punisher script he was reading, and mentioned that a Punisher movie had been made before in 1989, which he was surprised to learn. So I'm guessing that when he got off the plane, he looked up this movie, and that was probably the end of his interest in the franchise.

THE PLOT: Frank Castle is an ex-cop who lives in the sewers and acts as judge, jury, and executioner to the city's criminals in retaliation for the unpunished murders of his wife and kids. Frank's ex-partner Jake finally catches up with the vigilante as he tries to stop the Japanese mob, which is trying to take over the city's mafia operation.

AFTER: Yeah, this movie was definitely made on the cheap in the late 80's - it makes "Lethal Weapon" look like "Gone With the Wind"... Lundgren is a man of few words, but that sort of fits with the Punisher's character. The movie is short on plot and dialogue, but not on explosions, and in terms of action, it does manage to capture the spirit of the comic-book, which is usually just simple shoot-em-ups. (OK, sometimes knives are used...)

Louis Gossett Jr. plays Frank's old partner, Jake Berkowitz (funny, he doesn't look Jewish...), and character actor Jeroen Krabbe plays the head mobster. Production values are very poor, the editing is sloppy, the plot is simplistic, and it seems like a vast majority of the dialogue was added later in post, probably in an attempt to make some sense out of the footage that was shot.

The only positive thing is that it does portray Castle's determination, and in that sense is true to the character. If Punisher needs a bus, he steals a bus. If he needs to blow up a building, it gets blowed up. It's pretty simple stuff, but so is the source material.

RATING: 3 out of 10 samurai swords