Review Detail

Back in 2008-9 I actually enjoyed Punisher: War Zone quite a bit. Guess that after hating the insultingly tame 2004 movie so much, anything that came along that felt more true to the comic book character would appear to be the Second Coming to me. However, in repeated viewings it falls completely apart. It comes across as a terribly clichéd and run-of-the-mill direct to video B-Movie of the era with terrible villains and way too much silliness, and the CGI blood doesn't help either. The only thing holding it together is Ray Stevenson absolutely nailing the title character. He is perfection, the best possible Punisher, and it's sad that he never got the chance to reprise the role in any follow-ups. But other than him, I came to wonder why I even liked the movie to begin with.

Now, this cut. THIS is how I wanted to remember the movie.

Lantern51 has smartly carved this and gotten to the core to reveal an actually decent film under the rubble. It is now much tighter and surprisingly effective, with hardly any goofiness remaining (the villains are still sub-par and the splatter is still digital, but what can one do) and plays like a pretty solid Punisher graphic novel. The color grading and the choice of music are very inspired, and high quality is maintained all through in the encoding.

Editing can indeed make or break a movie, and this is one of those cases. Highly recommended for any Frank Castle fans out there!