The Punisher Extended Cut DVD | DVD Review

As “revenge films” go, The Punisher is pretty standard fare, but when placed alongside the recent spate of superhero movies, it is neither super nor heroic.

To be fair, the character of The Punisher isn’t really a superhero; Frank Castle (Thomas Jane, Dreamcatcher) is a very-recently retired FBI agent whose entire family – we’re not talking just the wife and kid here, folks – is brutally murdered by the henchmen of crimelord Howard Saint (John Travolta) after Castle’s last assignment results in the death of one of Saint’s sons. All of this takes place in the first 40 minutes or so of The Punisher and is actually the best part of the film. Castle survives the massacre of his family and is nursed back to health by a Puerto Rican local who eventually bids him “Adios”. You can almost feel the dark tone of the movie turn to pure camp when Castle responds “God’s gonna sit this one out.” The rest of the film is devoted to Castle preparing for and doling out his revenge on the entire Saint crime family in a series of predictable yet baffling scenarios.

First-time director Jonathan Hensleigh (executive producer and story contributor, Armageddon, Gone in Sixty Seconds) proves adept at conveying the dark and brooding mood of the Punisher comic book series to the screen, but there’s only so much that can be done with that. He falters when trying to include some comedic elements into the film in the form of Castle’s three new neighbors in a rundown apartment building. It’s almost as if the film doesn’t know what to do with itself after the rather strong setup of the first forty minutes. The audience knows that the ending is a foregone conclusion, so Hensleigh seems to think that he should throw a few comedic curveballs our way so that we don’t get too distracted. These scenes actually end up being the distraction.
There is a sequel currently in pre-production, which is odd, since this film with a modest budget of $33 million only grossed $34 million domestically. Strong sales of the earlier-released DVD version may have contributed to this decision, however, and one hopes that the recent distribution deal that Marvel Comics struck with Paramount will allow them to maintain control and make sure that the second Punisher film will adhere more to the dark tone of the comic series.

As weak a film as The Punisher is, the cast manages to deliver some decent performances, particularly Will Patton (Remember the Titans) as Saint’s right-hand man who has a secret of his own and Rebecca Romijn (the X-Men series), whose subtle performance as Joan, one of Castle’s new neighbors, is one of the highlights of the movie. And, love him or hate him, it’s always fun to watch Travolta chew the scenery when he gets to play over-the-top characters.

This being the extended cut of The Punisher, we’re treated to 17 minutes of additional footage in the feature which deals mostly with Castle’s relationship with his FBI and Desert Storm partner Jimmy Weeks, who ends up betraying Castle to Saint.

The film looks and sounds fantastic in this 2.35:1 widescreen transfer, especially if your home theater setup includes 6.1 DTS-ES Audio capabilities
The first DVD release of The Punisher came with a ton of supplemental material, but in this version we’re given the extended cut of the film, a deleted scene presented here in animated form because the film’s budget prevented it from being filmed, a making-of featurette, and a comic book covers gallery of The Punisher through the ages.

The deleted opening sequence in war-torn Iraq is supposed to give some heft to the Castle-Weeks back story and obviously would have been more powerful if it had actually been filmed, but in this animated format it falls rather flat.
The making-of featurette is actually about the making of the animated sequence with interviews from the principals involved, explaining why it was removed from the film and basically decrying the lack of budget because it would have been really cool to have it in the finished product.

Having never seen the original cut of the film, I may not be the most qualified to say whether this version of The Punisher is worth owning or even renting. My best advice would be that if you’re a fan of the comic book series and absolutely must have this in your collection, you’re probably better off with the original DVD release of the film, which has a better grouping of supplemental features and which you probably already own if you’re a big enough fan. This version screams “cash-grab”. If you’ve never seen it, though, The Punisher is at least an entertaining rental, especially if your choice is between this version and the execrable Dolph Lundgren version of the late ’80s. Excelsior!!

Movie rating – 2

Disc Rating – 1.5