a5c7b9f00b Frank Castle, the ex-military man whose family was killed by criminals, who became a vigilante known as the Punisher, goes after a whole mob family and gets everyone except enforcer Billy Russoti. He tracks Russoti down and chases him into a vat that is used for crushing bottles. Frank turns on the crusher hoping it would take care of him but it doesn't. He survives but sustains very severe injuries that even with plastic surgery his face looks like a jigsaw puzzle. So he decides to adopt the name Jigsaw. Frank who killed one of Russoti's people who unknown to him is an undercover Fed, decides to pack it in. But when he learns Russoti didn't die and is looking for the money he entrusted to the Fed and will go looking for it at his home which means his family is in danger. So Frank tries to save them. But Russoti wants revenge on Frank so he breaks out his brother who is so crazed that he is committed to an asylum, to deal with him. And also another Fed who's a friend of the man Frank killed wants him too. Hell-bent on punishing the gangsters responsible for the death of his family and countless others, Frank Castle finds himself on a violent path of destruction, waging a one-man war against the despicable crime family led by a man known as Jigsaw. I began this post as a rant, but halfway through I bothered to research what I was ranting, suffice to say I can now degrade this movie without making incorrect references to the Punisher Legend..<br/><br/>This is the worst follow up movie I have ever watched, it reached my #1. worst ever spot within minutes of the opening, with Frank Castle conducting a Chandelier pirouette.<br/><br/>prior to this movie, I had two films I could quote as horrible.. Highlander 2 and The Crow: Wicked Prayer.. but now, what saves these two films is that they have Sean Connery, Christopher Lambert, David Boreanaz, Edward Furlong, Macy Gray, Reno Owen.. sure crap roles in crap films, but still preferable to watching Ray Stevenson attempt to be an American Vigilante, perhaps he should go back to acting in British soaps. because an action hero he is not. This reboot of the Punisher film adaptation is done just right. It's not a masterwork of cinema. It's not a noble contribution to society. It is a shoot-em-up written, directed and acted within the construct of the comic book genre. We know that we are watching a superhero movie, and we know that watching a film about The Punisher has the same exploitative expectations from an audience as a slasher film: The rhythm of the narrative depends on excessively gory shootouts and gruesome murders. And this effort more than delivers without sacrificing production and storytelling virtues to pitiful usage of clichés. There are of course several clichés, but in the expected service of the story.<br/><br/>Where Thomas Jane, though he's a very good actor, doesn't look like he could punish anybody, Ray Stevenson is perfect. He looks like a few beers could turn him into a smaller scale version of the outlandish character he plays here. There are no big names in the film at all, really, save for character actor Wayne Knight playing the role he might now be able to play in his sleep. Dominic West's outrageously implausible villain is also pitch-perfect. Everything from his overselling of a Brooklyn gangster accent to the cartoonish mannerisms of his character after his transformation, which screams echoes of Jack Nicholson's Joker, especially in the scene where his bandages are removed.<br/><br/>The Punisher, whose ethics are irrevocably controversial, is played in spite of the fundamental ruthlessness of the thematic elements. The city, Montreal playing New York, which it just can't, has a small populace, comprised only of good people and evil, and not much of anybody else. It's the kind of violence the president should fly over in Air Force One and behold sorrowfully through the window. It goes without saying that the bad guys are incapable of shooting the Punisher with their machine guns. That's true to type with the outbreak of defective machine guns in all ultraviolent action films. But the Punisher kills a startling amount of thugs with his machine guns, at the same time gyrating upside-down under a chandelier. I've seen that before in a movie called 3000 Miles to Graceland. I thought it was laughably, remarkably stupid. The difference is that this movie is actually satisfying within its limitations. Anyone with a modicum of good sense -- or a weak stomach -- will take it as a warning to stay the heck away from this literally and figuratively deadly "War Zone." Punisher: War Zone is based on a Marvel comics character. The Punisher aka Frank Castle first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #129 (Feb. 1974) and was created by writer Gerry Conway and artists John Romita, Sr. and Ross Andru. Since then, he has appeared in several monthly publications, including The Punisher War Journal, The Punisher War Zone, and The Punisher Armory, as well as in <a href="/title/tt0098141/">The Punisher (1989)</a> (1989) and <a href="/title/tt0330793/">The Punisher (2004)</a> (2004). Punisher: War Zone was written by screenwriters Nick Santora, Matt Holloway, and Arthur Marcum. No, there is no connection at all. It's not an origin story—in PWZ, Frank Castle has been operating as the Punisher for five years. His family's death is shown in a brief flashback sequence, and it is the canon origin as per the character's creation in 1974. Punisher: War Zone was inspired by the corresponding series under the MAX Comics imprint, The Punisher (2004-2009) and The Punisher: Frank Castle, in terms of both tone and appearance. The main characters, including Detective Soap, are mostly Garth Ennis era. However, Jigsaw and Microchip are also important roles in the movie, which suggests that the movie is inspired by old school comics as well. The story takes place in New York City whereas the Thomas Jane version moved the locale to Florida. Aside from Frank Castle (the Punisher) the film incorporates some characters from the comic's many incarnations.<br/><br/>Jigsaw - Billy Russo (Russoti in the film) considered to be the Punisher's archenemy, is laregly unchanged. He is a mutilated madman obsessed with the Punisher. In the comic, he was frequently depicted with a comically overstated eye. This was removed for the film, but as a tribute, one of his eyes is similarly disfigured.<br/><br/>Detective Soap - While retaining the "loser" qualities of the character, the film deletes much of his backstory and his complex relationship with Frank. The movie assumes that he has been working with Frank from the beginning and that he isn't quite as inept as his comic counterpart.<br/><br/>Microchip - In the comic, he provided Frank with intel on his targets due to the fact that he went through a similar crisis. He worked with the Punisher for many years before they had a falling out. The film version of the character is little more than an armorer and it's assumed that he's helping the Punisher to aid his dying mother.<br/><br/>Pittsy and Ink - In the comic, they were a duo of mob enforcers who were equally anti-social and psychopathic. The film changes them to more standard "goodfellas" and it's implied that they are father and son.<br/><br/>Paul Budiansky - From the "Widowmaker" saga, though changed from a hero NYPD detective to a coke head FBI agent.<br/><br/>Cristu and Tiberiu Bulat - From "The Slavers" saga, human traffickers from the Balkans, war criminals and probably the most ill fated of the Punisher's enemies. However in the movie they're typical Russian mobsters. Much like what they did to Pittsy and Ink.<br/><br/>Cesare Gaetano - A name change from Messimo Cesare who is killed right off the bat in "In the Beginning". The killing of the character starts a series of large problems for the Punisher.<br/><br/>Maginty - From "Kitchen Irish", a great character cut down to a barely visible supporting role. His death in the film was originally used in "In the Beginning" in an attempt to kill Pittsy, though it failed miserably. Mrs Gordlock says, "They shot him right in our front yard. My dear, sweet little boy." Thomas Jane walked out on the then in-development Punisher sequel in the spring of 2007, citing creative differences. Rumor has it that Marvel wanted the movie to be closer to the MAX line of the comic, something which was fine with Lionsgate (LGF), as long as the Punisher got to keep some redeeming features. On the other hand, Jane wanted the movie to be closer to Taxi Driver, and allegedly wanted to develop Frank Castle in the same direction as Travis Bickle, taking the movie even further away from the comic. (Jane has officially stated that the similarity to Taxi Driver was the main reason he accepted the role in the first place and that he was never a fan of the Punisher comic). Another rumor was that Jane wanted more money than LGF was willing to pay in order to keep him. When both Marvel and LGF refused to give in to his demands, Jane walked out on the movie. Jane's departure caused a rethinking of the movie, and the entire project went through a major overhaul. Everything they had developed thus far was scrapped and production started anew. Marvel, LGF and the director they hired shortly after Jane's departure found a vision that all involved parties could agree upon and production moved forward in one direction. Director Lexi Alexander wrote a new script from page one with only a passing resemblance to previous drafts. Her script was then rewritten and further polished by Iron Man screenwriters Art Marcum and Matt Holloway. "Days of Revenge" by Ramallah