Review: ‘The Punisher’ Has Issues, but Thomas Jane Still Brings its Anti-hero to Life with Explosive Energy Throughout

Mostly, I remember Thomas Jane from “The Mist” and that awful scene at the end in the front seat of a cramped car. But then recently, I remembered the 2004 film “The Punisher”—post the recent Marvel craze—and decided to give it another try, remembering not one scene from it. What I found upon watching it is a curious film: one that is darker and more detached from Marvel lore than most things that come from the comic giant. It’s not Jane at his best (that’s the aforementioned “The Mist” or even his small role in “Face/Off”), nor John Tavolta, who plays villain Howard Saint. But it is a dark, forlorn journey into the depths of revenge, with more dolor and carnage than you expect from a pre-torture cinema era picture. 

Director Jonathan Hansleigh and Co-writer Michael France (based off the comic source material) certainly pen a gruesome set-up for this film’s happenings. Sandwiched between the sun of coastal Tampa, FL, and the paradise of coastal Puerto Rico, a tragedy occurs. Well rather two. The first is Saint’s youngest son (James Carpinello), who is killed in a S.W.A.T. sting, which triggers Saint to authorize the murder of Frank Castle (Jane), the retired F.B.I. agent who inadvertently got his son killed. Saint’s wife (Laura Harring) adds “and his whole family,” leading to the murder of Castle’s entire family unit at a family reunion in Puerto Rico. 

Darker than most superhero epics

The murder scene of Castle’s family (including the venerable Roy Scheider, whose inclusion brought on a clapping fit by me) is tragic stuff. The sun-basked beach head alive with gun-fire—along with father and son fighting back against the mayhem with antique rifles—softens it some. But still, Cinematographer Conrad W. Hall shoots the scene with pain and horror, especially a protracted sequence where several mercenaries chase Castle’s wife and son (Samantha Mathis, Marcus Johns) before running them over with a truck. Still, there’s a certain detachment to the scenes. They’re not as horrible as they should be, maybe. Or maybe my preconceptions are formed from a decade of cinema decorated by depravity and gore. The hitmen shoot Frank, but he doesn’t die. It’s really no surprise. 

The unexpected surprise of “The Punisher” is Jane’s performance. It’s nowhere near as dark as John Bernthal’s in the recent series… but it works. Castle goes to the business of locating Saint and his associates, and the film drops its other surprise in the sleuth-like way Castle tracks down some of Saint’s underlings (the best among them Will Patton), his wife, and others. Castle’s mechanisms reek more of calculated wet-work than Arnold-like heroics, and the film’s is the better for it.

In-between his nighttime dealings, Castle broods in a run-down apartment building, downing Wild Turkey (an obvious product placement) and reluctantly makes the acquaintance of three neighbors. They include Ben Foster, John Pinette, and, most famously, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos. Foster and Romjin-Stamos are given the most life of the three: the latter a hopeful love interest for Castle who’s known nothing but deadbeat losers, and the former a skinny, outcast-type, but one who takes a severe beating to keep Castle’s whereabouts unknown because he views him as ‘family.’ 

A toned-down Travolta dims the action some

The film from here is a hodge-podge of shoot-‘em-up action sequences and espionage, in-between bitter threats from Travolta’s Saint. The screenwriters take some time developing Saint, especially to show he’s overprotective of his wife, hiding his viciousness until it becomes unavoidable. But somehow, I was expecting more. Travolta never transcends. And given the aforementioned ‘90s actioner “Face/Off”—in which he technically shared the screen with Jane—the veteran actor never becomes full-on Castor Troy. Or, for that matter, even “Swordfish’s” Gabriel. He doles out orders for hits, but never performs them himself. And his most egregious—the murder of Castle’s family—is dimly attributed to the wishes of his wife, Livia, in a strange ‘Adam & Eve’ parable I found obvious. He comes to life later though. A set of train tracks has never been more ominous, nor a short knife more icily-grim than toward the film’s third act. 

Where “The Punisher” suffers is its scattered tone and late-to-dinner messaging, the latter basically offered as an internal monologue to help explain that Castle’s mission is not only about revenge, but punishment and an indictment on the failed justice system. It entombs Castle in dark, hidden corners as be carries out his vengeance, but at times you almost want the film to be darker to have it make sense. And yet, at the end, you almost feel sorry for some of Castle’s victims—because the film doesn’t paint them as evil as it ought—on top of an ending ‘origin story’ that feels tacked on. The film made a world-wide gross of $54.7M on a $33M budget; maybe if it fared better a sequel would have continued Frank’s story. Now that we’re deep in Marvel fever, it’s no surprise the TV series on Disney + continues to receive high user ratings.

The failure of the Justice System

All-in-all, however, “The Punisher” is enjoyable. Jonathan Hansleigh brings a complicated portrait of a broken man who would become an anti-hero to the screen well, and Jane and company make the just over 2 hours enjoyable. The film ends the way you think it should, and sunny Tampa adds a strange backdrop to a film that is as bleak as it is explosive. Curiously, “The Punisher” won four ‘World Stunt Awards,’ and this was the first time I’d heard of this award body. If for no other motive, that’s a good a reason as any to check out Marvel’s first foray into the dark world of Frank Castle. 

“The Punisher” is available to rent on most streaming services. “The Punisher” TV series is currently streaming on Disney +.