Some minor spoilers ahead that I don't think I can avoid when talking about this film.
What a confused movie this is. Part of it is a brutal revenge flick, with serious intentions and solid motivations. Then there is an action-comedy, the kind Schwarzeneggar would have made in the '80s. Unfortunately, the two formulas mix about as well as Pepto-Bismol with Wild Turkey.
The movie opens with 'stock undercover sequence' to introduce the character. A silly, silly shootout lands Frank Castle in trouble with shadowy bad banker Howard Saint. Mess with Saint's bizarrely ethnic family and your own family has to go down.
The sequence that follows is actually quite good. The retired family life seems well established with a fetching wife and good kid. After an awkward gift giving of the signature T-shirt, where I was really expecting Frank to mouth 'what the f***" to his wife after seeing it, the family reunion begins. In this version of the film, the bad guys decide to strike not only his family, but his extended family as well. The action that follows is both brutal and effective, although there is the general avoidance of showing violence against children with one notable exception. Shades of
Mad Max punctuate the film and then Castle is sent off ala
Darkman. This also features a very good car stunt sequence and generally good gunplay. It establishes a very dark tone for the overall film, which I welcomed openly.
Then the comedy starts...
The film starts to introduce the most laughable things I've seen in a long time in very short order. Frank, who has secretly been not-dead for some number of days or weeks (he heals like an action hero is supposed to), effectively holds a press conference to declare himself alive. From there, the bad guys try desperately to find him, but they can't. It isn't that Frank is hiding, they just don't seem to even be trying. Then, as the plot desires, they can find Frank anywhere - at a diner, his home, I'm fairly sure they would have gotten him during his frequent trips to the convenience store for more whiskey. And of course, his neighbors know all about him.
Ahhh, his neighbors. Frank drew the 'wacky neighbor' lottery grand prize, effectively shutting down Seinfeld as the reigning champ. We've got a strangely attached pretty neighbor, the slightly developmentally impaired fat cooking neighbor, and the unbelievably loyal game playing piercing freak. In an apparent deleted scene they sign a blood oath to Frank and would be willing to take a bullet, donate a kidney, and even take him to the airport for a 5am flight.
Frank's 'plan' to get his justice includes such brilliant maneuvers as 'walk into the bad guys building', 'walk over to the bad guys money laundering operation', and 'walk into the bad guys house'. Frank, who A-teams his car and apartment with some unknown source of funds and an inexplicable 'storage garage of death and destruction' (which is strange because they pointedly show him stealing money later in the movie) largely relies on some really low-rent version of the Count of Monte Christo to exact revenge on the people that really matter. While it may make for some nice glib punchline later, it sort of cheats the audience out of the revenge-flick satisfaction that I would have thought was the goal of the movie.
Of course Frank's whole plan would never have been initiated if he hadn't met Mickey, who was the twitchy technician in
Ocean's 11. Mickey, who I like to call Joe Exposition, is officially 'The Most Knowledgeable Informant In History'. This man knows every single thing about everything. He knows names, he knows places, he knows dates. He knows the exact times of peoples activities. He is also an inside man and a willing agent of Caste. He provides the most detailed exposition and task list ever, beating out the previous reigning champs The Oracle and the Keymaker from
THe Matrix Reloaded.
Now, the film has some very good highpoints. The action sequences, some better suited in a different film, are often pretty good. There is enough variety in the killing to not begin to get restless or overly repetitive. The opening massacre is also very well done, without any of the humor that mars the next act. Thomas Jane is a nice choice for Castle, although I have to say his attempts to show awkward response to affection from his neighbor as...awkward (as in I don't think he or the direction had a clear idea on how to tackle the scene). Will Patton is nicely evil as the sadistic henchman who you really want to see Frank kill.
The bad includes Travolta, who handicaps this movie more than any other in recent memory. He is simply a terrible choice for the role, having lost any of the nice menace that a role like this should have. He mostly just had tantrums and empty threats to nobody, as well as the most bizarre embrace of the person indirectly responsible for his son's death. I think he is the biggest liability, acting-wise, in the entire film.
In the end, I find myself in the uncomfortable position of not knowing which was better - The original
Punisher with Dolph lumbering around like a sleepy Rambo or this new interpretation. In the end, I'd give the edge to this one, if only for showing me a new way to put a knife in somebody's head.
(out of four)
