Written by / 5/30/2011 / No comments / , , , , ,

THE PUNISHER

2004 rating: **1/2
A gun-toting Marvel comic makes for a gritty film without enough action and too much melodrama. The films begins like many high-octane macho movies do – a bad drug deal goes down and people die, including the son of mobster John Travolta who seeks revenge on the responsible undercover agent Frank Castle, a buff tough Thomas Jane. Enter Castle’s family, a perfect looking son and wife who now live safely on a Mediterranean Island: till Travolta’s thugs take out everyone, including, so they think, Frank… but he somehow survives a killshot to the chest, finds a shirt with a logo resembling a skull within an Afro-pick, and, having returned Stateside, holes up in a grungy, ghetto apartment waiting (and waiting some more) for his own payback i.e. to live up to his title.

As The Punisher
Side characters within the rat-hole include two extremely annoying computer geeks and a gorgeous girl (providing love without interest). And as opposed to our beefy protagonist seeking revenge, the mobsters seek him, providing only a few fight scenes – one in particular, involving a muscular Russian with carnival music playing, is the best challenge to our “superhero” who doesn't have enough to do, or a decent lead villain to battle. Travolta merely strolls his compound providing filler dialog, and could have been played by anyone. (Will Patton, as Travolta's second, makes a more effective heavy). Gone are the spandex and superpower abilities like most Marvel outings, but there’s not enough kickass action to replace (or provide an alternative for) the thing that makes comic book adaptations work: corny fun.
Share This Post :
Tags : , , , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

All Time Popular

Featured Post

RALPH BAKSHI ANIMATED MEAN STREETS 'HEY GOOD LOOKIN'

Richard Romanus in HEY GOOD LOOKIN' Year: 1983 Rating: *** Despite being compared to GREASE, being that the main character... a suave/st...

WWW.CULTFILMFREAKS.COM

WWW.CULTFILMFREAKS.COM
Movie Reviews, Interviews, Articles and Pop Culture from White Heat to Blue City

RIP ACTOR KEN HUTCHISON

TOTAL HITS

Popular Trending

FOUNDED BY JAMES M. TATE

FOUNDED BY JAMES M. TATE
RANDOM QUOTE: "When I'm paid, I always see the job through." Lee Van Cleef in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

FILM NOIR & NEO NOIR CRIME

FAVORITES SHORTLIST

1)OTLEY 2)HELL IS A CITY 3)ROBBERY 4)THE FEARMAKERS 5)CANYON PASSAGE 6)VIOLENT SATURDAY 7)HOT CARS 8)JUNGLE STREET 9)THE CROWDED SKY 10)THE ROARING TWENTIES 11) ANATOMY OF A MURDER 12)WHITE LIGHTNING 13)SWEENEY TWO 14)RAIDERS FROM BENEATH THE SEA 15)HARDCORE 16)THE BREAK 17)WHITE HEAT 18)AL CAPONE 19)HIDDEN FEAR 20)FALLEN ANGEL 21)SHARKS' TREASURE 22)THE ASPHALT JUNGLE 23)ASH WEDNESDAY 24)THE SYSTEM 25)AIR PATROL 26)THE STONE KILLER 27)SANDS OF THE KALAHARI 28)WILLIAM CONRAD'S BRAINSTORM 29)IMPASSE 30)THE MAN FROM LARAMIE FAVORITE ACTORS 1)DANA ANDREWS 2)JAMES CAGNEY 3)STANLEY BAKER 4)MARLON BRANDO 5)JACK NICHOLSON 6) CHARLES BRONSON 7)BURT REYNOLDS 8)WILLIAM LUCAS 9)TOM COURTENAY 10)GENE HACKMAN DIRECTORS 1)JACQUES TOURNEUR 2)RICHARD FLEISCHER 3)VAL GUEST 4)STANLEY KUBRICK 5)OTTO PREMINGER 6)ORSON WELLES 7)JOHN GUILLERMAN 8)JOHN LANDIS 9)JOHN CARPENTER 10)MICHAEL WINNER

BRITISH NEW WAVE CINEMA

RARITIES AND EXPLOITATION

HAMMER HORROR & THRILLER

Popular This Month

CHARLES BRONSON CINEMA

CINEMA OF DANA ANDREWS

WESTERN GENRE REVIEWS

PEAKING INTO THE SIXTIES

KICKING IN THE EIGHTIES

TALES AND REFLECTIONS

REVVING THE SEVENTIES

Most Popular Last Year