How long do you give it at local theaters? With $4 mill in the first week with the current crop of movies, that does not bode well for its future earnings.

I saw War Zone on Friday, and was not too impressed. It is a fun/mindless action movie, and Ray Stevenson is good as the Punisher, but it just doesn’t have the heart or quality of the Thomas Jane version. Ray has moments where you feel the Punishers pain and loss, but then someone gets disemboweled and we start over with the goofiness.

The action, blood, and gore seemed a little too over the top on occasion, and the bad guys were just trying too hard to be a stereotype (listen to my accent, I am Italian) or be the hard core bad guy.

If the movie had followed in the footsteps of the Thomas Jane version, I think they could continue the franchise. However, the only way I can see them making another film is by doing a reboot. I say let the Punisher rest, and focus on the superhero side of the house.

It’s PUNISHER, people.

I don’t get why everyone expect this movie to be award nominated and lauded with great performances and earn millions of dollars… it’s the third outing of the Punisher, and it’s the PUNISHER, for cying out loud.

War Zone, which i saw Friday night, made me laugh and squirm and gasp at the various ways he killed people. It was silly. it was outrageous. it didn’t try to be anything other than a bloody violent action pic. Jigsaw was all sorts of kooky. Nobody wants to see a Punisher movie with heart, Jake. Sorry.

The only thing that i didn’t like was Microchip getting canned, but, it made it that much more of a Punisher tale.

He’s the Punisher, folks. You want heart and superheroes, go watch Spidey or Iron Man.

This was by far the worst movie I have seen in a long time. I was already skeptical about Marvel changing lead roles after Tom Jane did a great job in the release of Punisher in 2004. Yes, it took long to build the story line, but that was the point! Punisher:War Zone should have been a continuation of the 2004 Punisher. Fans had already bonded with Tom Janes’ Punisher and been with him through his struggles. To go with a new face that the fans had no emotional attachment to was irresonsible on Marvel’s part. As much as a “shoot em up” as the Punisher is, fans also want to feel like they can relate to the characters the way they did when they read the comics. I can see this being remade AGAIN with Tom Jane after Marvel recognizes there mistake the way they did with The Hulk (remember?).

heart or quality of the Thomas Jane version?????

I find that to be incorrect.

the Thomas Jane version was blasphemous to the true story of the Punisher. the Punisher kills. A LOT.
once again – the Punisher kills. A LOT.
the Thomas Jane version was disgusting. only one good scene… the one with the “russian”….although it was dumb that they killed him. (in the comics puisher threw boiling water in his face, but he didnt die).

anyone who did not like this movie is not a real Punisher fan, and probably should go and watch that movie again….. you are all in disagreement with me.

(Edited by Matt… in case you didn’t get the picture, this guy liked the new one a lot and the Thomas Jane one not so much. The boldface is my safe-for-my-blog interpretation of what he meant.)

Yes, I’m Johnny come lately but I think PWZ is an excellent film. An action movie fans wet dream. Murder, murder, and more murder was the recipe. I don’t think comic films get much better than this. Dark Knight was great, but not great as an action movie. Punisher WARZONE is the quintessential action film. Blood, gore, simple plot, not too much heartfelt acting, but based in some sort of moral truth/ambiguity to reflect upon later…if one chooses to…or, you can just enjoy the mayhem.

I’ll have a review of the Punisher War Zone DVD sometime in the coming weeks, but in the meantime, if you liked Punisher War Zone, check out Wednesday’s Features section of The Oklahoman for an interview with Ray Stevenson.