The Punisher is a movie that I first watched way back in 1989 at my cousin’s house while visiting on a road trip. Later, I recorded it off HBO or some other pay TV channel and probably watched it another dozen times in the early ’90s. That was the last time I can remember watching it. I bought the DVD when it was first offered years ago, but never cracked it open until this viewing. After my friend Adam recently wrote an article about the original Marvel Cinematic Universe and included this, I got the itch to watch it again, so here we are.
Keeping with the traditional origin story of the Marvel Comics character, Frank Castle’s family is killed in a mob car bombing. Most believed he had perished as well, but he didn’t. So he took to the sewers and spent the next five years “punishing” everyone in the mob.
The Yakuza lands in town and takes out the mob proper, and eventually kidnaps all of the boss’s kids to ensure their cooperation. Finally, The Punisher has to rescue the kids, and team up with the boss responsible for his family’s death to help rescue his son in an all-out assault on the Yakuza headquarters.
This version of The Punisher works on a couple of levels. First, it works as a fine late-80s-era action movie. Even if it didn’t have The Punisher branding, the story would still make complete sense in and of itself. Secondly, the story told in this movie could absolutely be a 6-8 issue story arc in The Punisher comic. So whether you are into superhero movies or not, this movie is going to work for you.
Don’t go into this looking for any deeper meaning or looking to critique the filmmaking or cinematography. This is a popcorn flick in the truest sense of the term, and you shouldn’t feel you’ve wasted your 90 minutes on it when you’re through watching.
Oh, and in fine Marvel style, Stan Lee has a cameo. It may be one of my favorites of his actually.
2.0 stars.
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