Product Description

Waging his one-man war on the world of organized crime, ruthless vigilante-hero Frank Castle sets his sights on overeager mob boss, Billy Russoti. After Russoti is left horribly disfigured by Castle, he sets out for vengeance under his new alias: Jigsaw. With the "Punisher Task Force" hot on his trail and the FBI unable to take Jigsaw in, Frank must stand up to the formidable army that Jigsaw has recruited before more of his evil deeds go unpunished.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14006 in DVD
• Brand: LIONSGATE ENT.
• Released on: 2009-03-17
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 5.00 pounds
• Running time: 103 minutes

Features

• Waging his one-man war on the world of organized crime, ruthless vigilante-hero Frank Castle sets his sights on overeager mob boss, Billy Russoti. After Russoti is left horribly disfigured by Castle, he sets out for vengeance under his new alias: Jigsaw. With the "Punisher Task Force" hot on his trail and the FBI unable to take Jigsaw in, Frank must stand up to the formidable army that Jig

Amazon.com
Punisher: War Zone cannot be adequately described as "over the top"--it's a relentless catalogue of brutal mayhem punctuated, here and there, with outrageous sentimentality. Frank Castle, a.k.a. The Punisher (Ray Stevenson, Rome) has dedicated his life to killing the kind of gangsters who murdered his family. But when he unknowingly kills an undercover FBI agent, Castle falls into a crisis of conscience and decides to lay down his guns. Unfortunately, one of the last gangsters he thought he'd killed survived, albeit horribly disfigured, and seeks revenge on the wife and daughter of that slain FBI agent--so Castle has to go one last spree of vigilante justice! But this plot summary will not prepare you for the jolting violence of Punisher: War Zone; rarely do more than a few minutes go by without startling physical savagery, particularly to people's heads, which get blown apart with numbing frequency. This violence somehow goes hand in hand with dizzyingly saccharine moments when a young girl gazes at Castle with trusting eyes, knowing in her heart that he's the only one who can protect her. The dialogue goes beyond cliche into tough guy baroque. Stevenson underplays Castle to good effect, because everyone else in the movie--including Dominic West (The Wire), Doug Hutchison (The Green Mile), and Wayne Knight (Seinfeld)--chews the scenery like it's slathered with gravy. Some viewers will find this movie revolting; others will worship it like a golden calf. You probably know where you stand. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews

4 for the movie, but 2 for the packaging
The previous Punishers were always a disappointment for me: I feel Thomas Jane was a phenomenal Punisher in the 04 version, but the movie itself was all over the place stylistically and, as an origin story, was pedestrian, while the Dolph Lundgren version was more focused, yet still was unconvincing as a Punisher story. This movie surprised the hell out of me with the amount of violence and gore, and what surprised me even more was that it all fit and all worked. This IS The Punisher: unrelenting and unstoppable. It goes down in this movie, and I'm thrilled to see the studio didn't hold back. There's no prospect of salvation here - only a doomed walk towards damnation and death. This Punisher sees that and just keeps walking. It loses a couple of points for Ray Stevenson's inability to emote well, along with the neo-metal soundtrack, which connotes this is purely for the 15-year-old Monster-swilling crowd. It ain't. It may not be perfect, but I think this may be the most satisfying Punisher adaptation yet. Oh, and Dash Mihok gets a lot of screen time - always good.

Now this is a review for the whole DVD, not just the movie, so on to the packaging. The single-disc version comes with a pretty standard paperboard slipcase, which is cool, and I think the artwork on this puppy looks better than that on the 2-disc version, but that's all this has going for it. The DVD is a flipper disc, which means no artwork and twice as likely to get scratched.

Beyond that, the DVD case is something called an "Eco Box," which has the same dimensions as a regular DVD case, but has sections of the black part of the case cut out to reduce the use of plastic in packaging. Brothers and sisters, I'm all for companies being more environmentally conscious when it comes to packaging, but this is the case we're talking about, and honestly, it looks terrible - I switched mine to a regular case immediately. Some logical environmental changes, such as use of cellulose in place of plastic, reduction of security tabs (this one had two), or using recycled plastic cases would make more sense to me.

So, I honestly thought the movie was pretty tight, but I have an inherent aversion to flipper discs - to get the movie with a printed disc, go for the 2-disc version. Just be aware that version is also packaged in an "Eco Box."

"They laugh at the law, but they don't laugh at me."
The Punisher... the name itself conjures up a simple image... a muscular man toting what seems like an endless amount of weaponry, killing criminals at every chance in every possible way, while displaying his trademark skull on his chest. What the Punisher is not is a philosophical person. He doesn't contemplate what he's doing, he doesn't question the ethics or morals of each kill. He merely pulls the trigger.

Now this movie has it's ups and downs. I wouldn't be fair without saying that I was a bit biased before I saw this movie in the theater and again on DVD. Having been a follower of the Punisher from the early 90's I've seen it all. I've read the old Spider Man comics with the Punisher... I've watched the old Dolph Lundgren Punisher movie... the Thomas Jane version... and everything in between. I was happy when this movie was brought to life.

You have to know a few things before watching this movie to give it a fair chance. First off, it's not a sequel to anything. It's a completely new Punisher. It doesn't follow any other film previously released. Second, it's based on the War Zone comics in the style of the MAX series of Punisher comics. This means that it's supposed to be violent, gritty, and unrelenting.

What is the Punisher: War Zone (the movie)? It's an unflinching, action-packed, destructive, kill fest. Exactly how the Punisher should be portrayed. He's a vigilante. He may have followed the laws before... but he's so far from reality at this point (having been through Vietnam, lost his family, etc) that his only goal is to kill those that need to be punished. He's lost his faith in the judicial system and goes out to rectify the problem.

This movie does a fantastic job with portraying the Punisher as the fans have always wanted him. You'll get those few that are still butthurt about this and that. You can't please everyone. But this movie is dark, twisted, and exactly as it should be.

Now it's come up many times... so let's touch on it. The Thomas Jane Punisher movie was a 2/5 (star) flick at best. The effects were garbage, the acting HORRIBLE, and the plot was so far outside of the realm of the Punisher that I can't even begin to explain it. I think Thomas Jane was far too much of a pretty boy to do that role while Ray Stevenson hit it perfectly. He has the perfect body size, speech, and facial expressions that I believe he's the Punisher when I see him.

So with all that said... go get this movie. I'm disappointed that this film didn't capture enough of the box office to really put it ahead of some of this other crap being produced. It's a fun movie... it's an action packed adventure... and it's the perfect portrayal of the Punisher. If that's not enough to buy this movie or at least borrow it from a friend... then there's no hope for you.

Oh and just so there's no confusion. I rated this a 4/5 because while it was what I hoped for, it did lack in some areas. I would like to have seen more of the Punisher (the run time was a killer for the amount of content they could have gotten into it).

The Punisher Blurs the Line Between Hero and Villain
Ok, lets start off with the fact this is not King Lear or Hamlet. This doesn't go into deep philisophical questions about people's motivations for revenge.

It say what it does on the tin. Man's family is killed, something snaps and he just wants to kill/Punish people who he holds responsible.

Its a kill fest. The scene where the Policeman says "I'm taking him in" and Frank just kills him sums it up. This is gory, violent and takes you to the edge os what is acceptable, but that is what the Comic and the Punisher is about.

Don't waste your time on negative reviews for this film, because the chances are they have never read the comic, or even heard of the Punisher. This is a generational thing. Either you get it, or you don't.

Great Film and defintely worth buying. Much better than the predecessors.