PUNISHER: WAR ZONE (2008)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *uncanny*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *psychological, sociological*

It's hard to believe, but this hard-R PUNISHER movie-- sadly, a box office bomb-- came out the same year as the much less violent IRON MAN, which of course became the cornerstone of the MCU. Further, two of IRON MAN's writers are credited on the ZONE script, and while producer Gale Ann Hurd (famed for both ALIENS and two TERMINATOR films) did not work on the Robert Downey Jr movie, she did produce the previous PUNISHER flick and both of the two HULK movies. ZONE is thus far director Lexi Alexander's only feature film in the "superhero opera," though she did also direct an episode apiece for ARROW and SUPERGIRL.

While the 2004 PUNISHER was bland action fare, the director and writers serve up the best action set-pieces seen in all three films starring ruthless vigilante Frank Castle. The script even suggests some of the ambivalence toward Castle's obsession seen in the 1989 PUNISHER, though there wasn't enough symbolic discourse to justify my calling ZONE a "myth-film."

The continuity of the 2004 movie is ignored as the script boots ZONE back toward the Marvel origin, in that Castle (Ray Stevenson) becomes Punisher after mobsters kill his family in a park. Further, the writers work in two allies from the comic books, Castle's armorer Microchip and policeman confidante Martin Soap, as well as recurring Punisher villain, Jigsaw (Dominic West). The story, however, seems to be independent of any established comics narratives.

This version of Punisher has been preying on underworld scum for at least four years, and has racked up a huge body count, in part because a handful of police officers abet his vigilante activities. Alexander opens the movie with a visual tour-de-force of eye-popping violence, as Punisher invades the home of a Mafia capo and slaughters almost everyone there with stabbings and shootings. (He shows himself a gentleman when a woman tries to stab him, merely snapping her neck.) One gangster, Billy Russoti, escapes and hides out in a glass-recycling plant, but the obsessed hero tracks him there and consigns Billy to a glass-crushing machine. Cops enter and save Billy's life, but he's so badly scarred that he renames himself Jigsaw. He gathers a few loyal hoods, who help him break into an insane asylum and break out Jigsaw's psychopathic brother, Looney Bin Jim (Doug Hutchison), apparently an original movie creation. 

Meanwhile, the Punisher learns an unpleasant truth: one of the men he killed was an undercover cop named Donatelli. This version of the crusader is a little less monolithically obsessed than the usual one, for he considers dropping his mission because of having slain a "good guy." He attempts to make amends by contacting Donatelli's widow Angela (Julie Benz) to present her with monetary compensation. But even though the agent's daughter Grace seems to like the solemn vigilante, Angela refuses the money and threatens to shoot Punisher, but can't do it even though he's willing to let her do so. However, he later realizes that because Jigsaw survived, he and his hoods will seek vengeance on the surviving Donatellis. Further, the late agent's partner Budiansky (Colin Salmon) has a strong jones for capturing/killing the vigilante, though Budiansky is inconvenienced by being saddled with the "help" of Detective Soap.

It's a foregone conclusion that the two main detractors of the ultraviolent hero, Angela and Budiansky, will end up becoming the Punisher's allies. What makes ZONE enjoyable is not any extraordinary originality, but the elan with which the scripters and director bring to the skull-chested hero's mayhem, not to mention a heaping helping of black humor. There's never any serious doubt that Punisher's targets (except for the slain agent) totally deserve killing, and that's the essence of the vigilante fantasy in all its escapist glory.

The heavy kevlar of this Punisher's outfit detracts from the iconic costume, but it's certainly preferable to, say, the black T-shirt of the 1989 movie. The late Stevenson, as I said, is a trifle too emotional to provide one with the ideal Punisher, but his performance, both in terms of emoting and performing stunts, is solid across the board, and the overall cast is equally fine. Lexi Alexander (who is, if one can't tell from the name, female) deserves another shot at a big-budget action-movie as soon as possible, and hopefully the 2024 production ABSOLUTE DOMINION will provide her with another such opportunity.