much better than I expected it to be
11:32 PM 4/3/09 · When I initially saw the trailers for Punisher: War Zone I was less than pleased. Looked like a great action flic but it didn't seem to sit well with my image of the Punisher. Then again, my knowledge of the character stems from his older stuff to close to the present...
...but I'm largely in the dark about the MAX series.
Figures this film is based more from that then what I know.
Part of the reason I rented this wasn't so much just because I wanted to see it as the fact that after all the hype before it came out I was kinda surprised that I haven't seen one posting about how Punisher: War Zone was after the fact. Could've just missed them but regardless, wanted to make sure there was at least one no matter what I thought of it.
I was more than a bit surprised how gory War Zone is. I'm used to gun battles and this kind of film but the amount of damage done by the various guns to those shot seemed a tad excessive. That said, damned fun to watch!
Frank Castle is a lot more human seeming in this than I'm used to. The guy's usually a pretty cold read, with the occasional hiccup and some twisted humor points. It also seemed that he was stronger than he should be. Something similar I noticed when I saw Watchmen there's a tendency to give comicbook heroes unusual strength regardless what they're supposed to be like...
...Jigsaw also seemed a lot stronger than he's supposed to be.
I liked that Soap was in this and was surprised to see Micro. Jigsaw's brother was damned impressive and I was kind of surprised to find that he was a wholly original character created for the film. Just made him that much more amazing.
However, Jigsaw was a disappointment. Visually impressive and I liked the acting...but that's about it. Some of his fashion choices were a bit questionable but that wasn't it...
...Jack Nicholson's portrayal of the Joker was fun but the thing that disappointed me was that in the final fight he couldn't offer much of a physical challenge. Was kinda pathetic really.
Same dealio with Jigsaw. Granted, in the comics the guy doesn't have the same military training that Castle does, exception to whatever programming was leftever from what The Right tried to do to him, but he's tough enough to hold his own in a face to face battle with Castle.
No contest here.
The thing I disliked from the trailers was that whole hanging upside down thing with the chandolier. The Castle I know would never do something that flashy, can't speak for the MAX version, cuz it would leave him too exposed.
As far as the look of the Punisher goes, I still prefer the Thomas Jane version. Costuming as well as just the appearance of the character. For some reason the Ray Stevenson version reminds me a lot of the Dolph Lundgren one. Stevenson's outfit was better though and the only problem I had with it was the neck/collar piece...
...that and the skull on front. Seemed over·emphasized at some points.
On a random note, he did something that seemed a little too Daredevil to me. There's a scene when he's in a long empty hallway and he knows it likely that there's potential enemies there. Rather than do a door by door search, as he'd done on a previous floor, he makes a clicking noise and then cocks his head at an odd angle and suddenly his hearing goes up a notch.
Radar vision much? I swear that seemed like a sonar thing.
Kinda fuzzy how I feel about this being a Punisher film but it's definitely worth watching.
...but I'm largely in the dark about the MAX series.
Figures this film is based more from that then what I know.
Part of the reason I rented this wasn't so much just because I wanted to see it as the fact that after all the hype before it came out I was kinda surprised that I haven't seen one posting about how Punisher: War Zone was after the fact. Could've just missed them but regardless, wanted to make sure there was at least one no matter what I thought of it.
I was more than a bit surprised how gory War Zone is. I'm used to gun battles and this kind of film but the amount of damage done by the various guns to those shot seemed a tad excessive. That said, damned fun to watch!
Frank Castle is a lot more human seeming in this than I'm used to. The guy's usually a pretty cold read, with the occasional hiccup and some twisted humor points. It also seemed that he was stronger than he should be. Something similar I noticed when I saw Watchmen there's a tendency to give comicbook heroes unusual strength regardless what they're supposed to be like...
...Jigsaw also seemed a lot stronger than he's supposed to be.
I liked that Soap was in this and was surprised to see Micro. Jigsaw's brother was damned impressive and I was kind of surprised to find that he was a wholly original character created for the film. Just made him that much more amazing.
However, Jigsaw was a disappointment. Visually impressive and I liked the acting...but that's about it. Some of his fashion choices were a bit questionable but that wasn't it...
...Jack Nicholson's portrayal of the Joker was fun but the thing that disappointed me was that in the final fight he couldn't offer much of a physical challenge. Was kinda pathetic really.
Same dealio with Jigsaw. Granted, in the comics the guy doesn't have the same military training that Castle does, exception to whatever programming was leftever from what The Right tried to do to him, but he's tough enough to hold his own in a face to face battle with Castle.
No contest here.
The thing I disliked from the trailers was that whole hanging upside down thing with the chandolier. The Castle I know would never do something that flashy, can't speak for the MAX version, cuz it would leave him too exposed.
As far as the look of the Punisher goes, I still prefer the Thomas Jane version. Costuming as well as just the appearance of the character. For some reason the Ray Stevenson version reminds me a lot of the Dolph Lundgren one. Stevenson's outfit was better though and the only problem I had with it was the neck/collar piece...
...that and the skull on front. Seemed over·emphasized at some points.
On a random note, he did something that seemed a little too Daredevil to me. There's a scene when he's in a long empty hallway and he knows it likely that there's potential enemies there. Rather than do a door by door search, as he'd done on a previous floor, he makes a clicking noise and then cocks his head at an odd angle and suddenly his hearing goes up a notch.
Radar vision much? I swear that seemed like a sonar thing.
Kinda fuzzy how I feel about this being a Punisher film but it's definitely worth watching.