OK, I’ve seen the Punisher with Dolf Lundgren and the one with Thomas Jane and now this one with Ray Stevenson. I’ve to to say that I enjoyed them all. The Dolph Lundgren one was different but I still thought it was OK for what it was. The Thomas Jane version was good as well but they had him play mind games a bit too much. The Punisher doesn’t play mind games. He goes in and kills all the bad guys.
In this version we get back to the killing. Frank Castle is ready to hang up the Skull after accidentilly killing an undercover agent. But Jigsaw brings him back to reality when he goes after the slain agents family.
This was directed by Lexi Alexander who directed Green Street Hooligans and was nominated for an academy award for her short film, Johnny Flynton (thanks to Nomad for setting me straight! ) and there was quite a lot of blood-splattering head-shots. Heck, the Punisher at one point punches a guys face in. Literally! I’ve seen a lot of fights and don’t think I’ve ever seen a guy get his face crushed in by a right jab. But anyway…
Also, I don’t get what was up with the whole neckbrace/cover thing. In the comics The Punisher never had that. I would think it would make it hard to move. But what do I know. One thing that I wish these movies would do is show The Punisher skull more predominately on his shirt. It’s always faded and washed out.
**Spoiler Alert** I didn’t like it how they killed off Microchip either. He was a pretty big piece of The Punishers world in the comic from what I remember.
Stevenson did a pretty good job at playing The Punisher but the story had some loopholes and such. All in all it was alright but I wouldn’t go out of my way to watch it again.