Finally saw this reboot of the Punisher franchise, the first production from Marvel’s new ‘grown-up’ studio Marvel Knights, which aims to bring some of the more adult Marvel characters to the silver screen.
This first outing is… odd. It’s shockingly brutal, that’s the first thing to say, and Marvel Knights are to be congratulated for their modest use of CGI – preferring traditional squib and cutaway technology (as well as a huge variety of props) to handle the gore. It’s refreshing, even if it is at times unintentionally hilarious.
The interesing thing about this film is just how comic-book it really was. I could imagine each scene in frame-form, the writing exactly reminiscent of graphic-novel style dialogue. Frank Castle was spot-on, he was the Punisher. He killed everyone, including women and young adults, with equal vigour regardless of their crime and with zero mercy. He was impossible to relate to – an inhuman killing-machine, and that’s how it should be! There wasn’t much to the story, it even featured a brilliantly self-knowing moment in which Jigsaw (the deformed villain) told his crew they were not going to hunt down the Punisher yet – first they needed to recruit several hundred goons and hole them up in a huge reinforced building. Seeing the Punisher punish everyone in that building is the climax of the film, and if you like that kind of thing, it’s hugely rewarding.
There are also frequent Biblical allusions which seem to imply that the Punisher is a Jesus-figure, the second coming for the shotgun generation. It’s odd, but this is an odd film. Perhaps the Punisher should best be seen as an example of what happens if you stick too ruthlessly to the source material. That is to say, I loved it, but I’m very aware that hardly anyone else will.
“Sometimes I think i’d like to get my hands on God” – Frank Castle considers punishing the almighty.
