Sunday, April 17, 2016
Friday, April 1, 2016
Justice or Punishment?: A Retrospective Look at the Punisher
Spoilers below.
The second season of Marvel's Daredevil was recently released to Netflix, much to delight of the rabid horde of comic book fans eagerly awaiting it's arrival. Thankfully, it does not disappoint. The show is broken up into two main story lines: one focusing on the assassin and former girlfriend of Matt Murdock, Elektra Natchios, as well as the return of the Hand; and the other, main plot introduces the Punisher to the MCU* and follows Nelson, Murdock, and Page as they defend him in his trial. The dual story lines move at a very rapid pace delivering some exciting and suspenseful moments, and some solid character development. Charlie Cox again proves he was born to play Daredevil. Elden Henson really steps up his game this season, and is really the true hero of Marvel's Daredevil. Élodie Yung does a very good job of balancing Elektra's sophistication with her wild nature; she's a breath of fresh air to the otherwise somber tone of the show. But what kind of Punisher article would this be if I failed to mention Jon Bernthal's breakout performance as the Punisher. Marvel's Daredevil's Punisher (mouthful) is truly the most interesting character being portrayed on the small screen today, so I thought it might be fun to take a trip down memory lane and revisit his other big screen incarnations to see what makes the Punisher such an interesting character.
The Punisher (1989)
First, let's talk about the DVD menu screen. Actually, lets not. I'll just leave this picture here, and you can bask in its glory.
Second, the opening title sequence is actually quite interesting. It begins with a gritty, black and white backdrop of a sewer. The camera pans headfirst down into the murky depths with a dark and ominous score playing over the image. The graininess and ominous tone are very reminiscent of an 80's police procedural at first, but then goes into 80's horror movie territory. Soon, other more colorful yet still grainy images start popping up: a man holding a shotgun wearing a balaclava, another man in a suit holding a gun, a Japanese martial artist wielding nunchakus. All the while, the score begins to build with more riveting and suspenseful Mission Impossible like string arrangement and rhythmic drumming, and the images become more racy (e.g. Drugs, prostitutes, guns, chalk outlines, etc.). Suddenly, we're smack dab in the middle of a 70's crime movie opening. It makes for a very effective introduction to the movie and makes you curious for what comes next. And what comes next is actually not too bad, at least at first. The movie skips the origin story and jumps right into a world that has experienced the Punisher's brand of violent justice for half a decade. The movie also continues the 80's horror vibe established in the opening by having the Punisher deal with criminals the same way Jason says hello to campers.
The second season of Marvel's Daredevil was recently released to Netflix, much to delight of the rabid horde of comic book fans eagerly awaiting it's arrival. Thankfully, it does not disappoint. The show is broken up into two main story lines: one focusing on the assassin and former girlfriend of Matt Murdock, Elektra Natchios, as well as the return of the Hand; and the other, main plot introduces the Punisher to the MCU* and follows Nelson, Murdock, and Page as they defend him in his trial. The dual story lines move at a very rapid pace delivering some exciting and suspenseful moments, and some solid character development. Charlie Cox again proves he was born to play Daredevil. Elden Henson really steps up his game this season, and is really the true hero of Marvel's Daredevil. Élodie Yung does a very good job of balancing Elektra's sophistication with her wild nature; she's a breath of fresh air to the otherwise somber tone of the show. But what kind of Punisher article would this be if I failed to mention Jon Bernthal's breakout performance as the Punisher. Marvel's Daredevil's Punisher (mouthful) is truly the most interesting character being portrayed on the small screen today, so I thought it might be fun to take a trip down memory lane and revisit his other big screen incarnations to see what makes the Punisher such an interesting character.
The Punisher (1989)
First, let's talk about the DVD menu screen. Actually, lets not. I'll just leave this picture here, and you can bask in its glory.
Second, the opening title sequence is actually quite interesting. It begins with a gritty, black and white backdrop of a sewer. The camera pans headfirst down into the murky depths with a dark and ominous score playing over the image. The graininess and ominous tone are very reminiscent of an 80's police procedural at first, but then goes into 80's horror movie territory. Soon, other more colorful yet still grainy images start popping up: a man holding a shotgun wearing a balaclava, another man in a suit holding a gun, a Japanese martial artist wielding nunchakus. All the while, the score begins to build with more riveting and suspenseful Mission Impossible like string arrangement and rhythmic drumming, and the images become more racy (e.g. Drugs, prostitutes, guns, chalk outlines, etc.). Suddenly, we're smack dab in the middle of a 70's crime movie opening. It makes for a very effective introduction to the movie and makes you curious for what comes next. And what comes next is actually not too bad, at least at first. The movie skips the origin story and jumps right into a world that has experienced the Punisher's brand of violent justice for half a decade. The movie also continues the 80's horror vibe established in the opening by having the Punisher deal with criminals the same way Jason says hello to campers.
Disregarding a horribly miscast Dolph Lundren as ex-cop turned sewer-dweller Frank Castle, shoddy acting (so many good one liners wasted), convenient plot devices, and ridiculous dialogue the movie has a solid script, and with a better cast and more exciting action sequences, it could've been one of those 80's action flicks people look back at with fondness. In another world it may have been Lundgren's Bloodsport or Predator. Instead, the movie introduces some interesting and worthy ideas, like the Punisher's homeless alcoholic thespian sidekick or the amount of strong and diverse characters, yet it fails to deliver upon them. The Punisher actually makes an attempt to deal with what it means to our society when someone takes the law into their own hands. It would almost be commendable if the movie didn't stop right at "you've made the crime bosses too weak to defend they're families!", but it does deliver a nice monologue from Frank's ex-partner about his disappointment with Frank's actions. In the end it becomes just another in a long line of generic west vs. east 80's action films.
Noteworthy: The explosion rate is commendable. Michael bay would be proud.
Performance: ★
The Punisher (2004)
This movie is goofy. Its not over-the-top enough to be hilarious, and it's not grounded enough to feel like it takes place in reality. It exists in this slightly heightened, ultra serious realm of slapstickian cartoon violence. Thomas Jane plays the Punisher. It's not a bad performance by any means. It's just slightly off. Castle begins the movie as an undercover FBI agent that's "gettin' too old for this shit." He's a father who likes to relax on the beach in khakis and an opened button-down listening to reggae. He's just your average dad. That's kind of the appeal of Thomas Jane's Punisher. He doesn't come off as a brutally violent murderous force of nature. He was just a happy-go-lucky family man that lost everything, and now he's an unhinged, suicidal badass seeking revenge on the shiny faced John Travolta that had his family murdered. Thomas Jane's total lack of charisma works well for his portrayal of Frank Castle, but his delivery of one liners and his detached demeanor again rests somewhere in that goofy realm between understated and exaggerated. Like a police sketch artist trying to do caricatures. And with all the other goofy stuff going on it comes off even weirder.
Harry Heck, the Johnny cash doppelganger/hit man who sings a country song to his marks before he kills them, is kind of cool in a goofy way.
The Russian, an 8 ft tall muscle-bound hit man who dresses in a Where's Waldo shirt and bleaches his hair blonde is goofy. It's also worth noting that the actor playing the Russian is Kevin Nash who more than likely tore his quad in the making of this movie.
Rebecca Romijn, coming off the heels of her role as Mystique in the X-Men films, drops the allure and fierceness she displayed in said role and trades it in for a more gentle touch. She plays the caring, yet oft mistreated Joan. Joan is The Punisher's fellow tenant. Joan also listens to "Broken" by Seether on loop. Goofy.
The other two tenants are Bulk and Skull from the Power Ranger's show. Ben Foster and Jon Pinette are the new actors tasked with bringing these two goofs to slightly heightened actuality. Ben Foster actually turns in a solid performance. He always excels at playing characters that are strange and slightly deranged. Also goofy.
Noteworthy: A 30 second montage of the Punisher cocking guns. "Chk-chk-chk-chk-chk-chk-chk-chk-chk-chk-chk-chk-chk-chk-chk-chk-chk-chk".
Performance: ★★★
Punisher: War Zone
I didn't much care for Dominic West's over-the-top performance. He's ruthless to the point of stupidity, and his accent is ridiculous. The same goes for his brother. This seems to be a reoccurring theme in this movie: over-the-top, ridiculously violent and dumb villains. Although, I don't think any other performance would've worked given that the overall tone of the movie is over-the-top, ridiculously violent, and, well, dumb. I did, however, enjoy Ray Stevenson's performance. His gives a believable performance in a movie that falls way outside the realm of believable. From the opening scene where he drops through a skylight to murder a table full of crime lords literally about to feast on the fruits of their criminal labors, to a scene where he punches completely through a man's head. This movie is completely absurd. Never mind the fact that hanging upside down from a chandelier and spinning while shooting guns akimbo style is the most ineffective way to subdue a room full of killers; it looks badass.
Ray Stevenson actually gives the first Punisher performance that actually makes Frank Castle credible as someone who can take on a criminal empire by himself, even if he comes off a little one dimensional in this role. Thomas Jane and Dolph Lundgren definitely could not have pulled off the hangy-chandelier-shoot-em-up, at least in the context of their movies. Punisher: War Zone also happens to be a complete bloodbath. I mean so much gore. Heads fly off, necks snap, and bones break with all the sickening gurgles and thuds of any 2000 era splatter film worth it's weight in guts. This movie like the original skips the origin and goes straight to the punishing, and just like the original it attempts to make a slight commentary on what happens to the system when vigilantes run amok, while simultaneously showing how messed up the system actually is. The majority of police revere the Punisher and let him do what he wants without repercussion, but when an agent ends up dead because of Frank's recklessness; the agent's partner begins pursuing Frank, Frank begins doubting his role, and innocents start to get hurt. It's a nice attempt at something more than a body count, but really the only thing this movie has going for it is the punishing.
Noteworthy: Frank shoots a man mid flip with a rocket launcher.
Performance: ★★★★
Marvel's Daredevil (Season 2)
Finally, a Punisher performance that doesn't insult our humanity. You don't have to invoke sympathy in the audience by making Frank Castle an ex-police officer, someone who was once on the side of angels but fell from grace (and with the constant media barage of police atrocities occuring in the world this might not even work in today's age). You don't even have to show in agonizing detail what happened to his family. All you have to do is have one scene, one solidly acted scene where he reveals all the things he'll never be able to do with his family. All the things he could've or should've done while they were here. One scene where he reveals that the moment he lost his family he was completely powerless, and he relives this moment over and over in his head. BAM! Instant pathos. We now don't see Frank Castle as this one dimensional, unstoppable killing machine anymore, I mean we do, but now he's so much more. He makes sense. When he picks up a gun and stops a violent criminal dead in his tracks, he's also stopping what happened to him from happening to anyone else. At least, in his mind he is. But we know he's not actually stopping the cycle of violence; he's just perpetuating it. And he's only putting a pause on his own trauma. Frank Castle will never receive restoration for his loss, so the Punisher will never stop seeking revenge. Marvel's Daredevil accomplishes with the Punisher what all of the other performances could only manage to get bits and pieces of and combines them into one perfectly imbalanced human. It nails all of the sympathy that showed through in Thomas Jane's Punisher but adds a depth of humanity that resonates with anyone who's ever felt powerless or let down by the justice system. It delivers the same brutal dedication of Ray Stevenson's Punisher, but grounds it in a believable world, which makes it all the more chilling (the scene where the Punisher walks into the courtroom specifically). It even manages to accomplish what the first movie set out to achieve with its commentary on lawful justice and personal revenge.
By making the Punisher a foil for Daredevil we are shown the sliding scale/slippery slope of vigilante justice. Dardevil, a man who believes that justice is decided by the courts but knows that the system is flawed pairs well with the Punisher, a man who believes the system is broken and the only true way to achieve true justice is by taking the law into your own hands and punishing the guilty, usually by execution. Sure, Daredevil can take the higher ground to the Punisher's brand of capital punishment, but what is he really accomplishing when he puts the criminals right back into the system that lets them run amok. He's just a cork in a leaking dam, and the whole thing's about to burst. And as the Punisher asserts Daredevil is "only one bad day away from being [him]." But the Punisher isn't any better; he's just perpetuating a cycle of violence that will only lead to escalation.
On a grand scale justice is imperfect and imbalanced, and the line between it and punishment becomes blurred when the system is so full of corruption as it is in Hell's Kitchen. Is what Daredevil and the Punisher are doing right or wrong considering there's no one to administer the justice deserved to the people? Is one's method more justified than the other considering the violence and crime that goes unchecked? Who can really say. Let's just hope that Marvel's Daredevil continues to explore these questions in ways that are just as exciting as this season did.
Noteworthy: Not much isn't.
Performance: ★★★★★
*Marvel Cinematic Universe
Noteworthy: The explosion rate is commendable. Michael bay would be proud.
Performance: ★
The Punisher (2004)
This movie is goofy. Its not over-the-top enough to be hilarious, and it's not grounded enough to feel like it takes place in reality. It exists in this slightly heightened, ultra serious realm of slapstickian cartoon violence. Thomas Jane plays the Punisher. It's not a bad performance by any means. It's just slightly off. Castle begins the movie as an undercover FBI agent that's "gettin' too old for this shit." He's a father who likes to relax on the beach in khakis and an opened button-down listening to reggae. He's just your average dad. That's kind of the appeal of Thomas Jane's Punisher. He doesn't come off as a brutally violent murderous force of nature. He was just a happy-go-lucky family man that lost everything, and now he's an unhinged, suicidal badass seeking revenge on the shiny faced John Travolta that had his family murdered. Thomas Jane's total lack of charisma works well for his portrayal of Frank Castle, but his delivery of one liners and his detached demeanor again rests somewhere in that goofy realm between understated and exaggerated. Like a police sketch artist trying to do caricatures. And with all the other goofy stuff going on it comes off even weirder.
The Russian, an 8 ft tall muscle-bound hit man who dresses in a Where's Waldo shirt and bleaches his hair blonde is goofy. It's also worth noting that the actor playing the Russian is Kevin Nash who more than likely tore his quad in the making of this movie.
Rebecca Romijn, coming off the heels of her role as Mystique in the X-Men films, drops the allure and fierceness she displayed in said role and trades it in for a more gentle touch. She plays the caring, yet oft mistreated Joan. Joan is The Punisher's fellow tenant. Joan also listens to "Broken" by Seether on loop. Goofy.
The other two tenants are Bulk and Skull from the Power Ranger's show. Ben Foster and Jon Pinette are the new actors tasked with bringing these two goofs to slightly heightened actuality. Ben Foster actually turns in a solid performance. He always excels at playing characters that are strange and slightly deranged. Also goofy.
Noteworthy: A 30 second montage of the Punisher cocking guns. "Chk-chk-chk-chk-chk-chk-chk-chk-chk-chk-chk-chk-chk-chk-chk-chk-chk-chk".
Performance: ★★★
I didn't much care for Dominic West's over-the-top performance. He's ruthless to the point of stupidity, and his accent is ridiculous. The same goes for his brother. This seems to be a reoccurring theme in this movie: over-the-top, ridiculously violent and dumb villains. Although, I don't think any other performance would've worked given that the overall tone of the movie is over-the-top, ridiculously violent, and, well, dumb. I did, however, enjoy Ray Stevenson's performance. His gives a believable performance in a movie that falls way outside the realm of believable. From the opening scene where he drops through a skylight to murder a table full of crime lords literally about to feast on the fruits of their criminal labors, to a scene where he punches completely through a man's head. This movie is completely absurd. Never mind the fact that hanging upside down from a chandelier and spinning while shooting guns akimbo style is the most ineffective way to subdue a room full of killers; it looks badass.
Ray Stevenson actually gives the first Punisher performance that actually makes Frank Castle credible as someone who can take on a criminal empire by himself, even if he comes off a little one dimensional in this role. Thomas Jane and Dolph Lundgren definitely could not have pulled off the hangy-chandelier-shoot-em-up, at least in the context of their movies. Punisher: War Zone also happens to be a complete bloodbath. I mean so much gore. Heads fly off, necks snap, and bones break with all the sickening gurgles and thuds of any 2000 era splatter film worth it's weight in guts. This movie like the original skips the origin and goes straight to the punishing, and just like the original it attempts to make a slight commentary on what happens to the system when vigilantes run amok, while simultaneously showing how messed up the system actually is. The majority of police revere the Punisher and let him do what he wants without repercussion, but when an agent ends up dead because of Frank's recklessness; the agent's partner begins pursuing Frank, Frank begins doubting his role, and innocents start to get hurt. It's a nice attempt at something more than a body count, but really the only thing this movie has going for it is the punishing.
Noteworthy: Frank shoots a man mid flip with a rocket launcher.
Performance: ★★★★
Marvel's Daredevil (Season 2)
Finally, a Punisher performance that doesn't insult our humanity. You don't have to invoke sympathy in the audience by making Frank Castle an ex-police officer, someone who was once on the side of angels but fell from grace (and with the constant media barage of police atrocities occuring in the world this might not even work in today's age). You don't even have to show in agonizing detail what happened to his family. All you have to do is have one scene, one solidly acted scene where he reveals all the things he'll never be able to do with his family. All the things he could've or should've done while they were here. One scene where he reveals that the moment he lost his family he was completely powerless, and he relives this moment over and over in his head. BAM! Instant pathos. We now don't see Frank Castle as this one dimensional, unstoppable killing machine anymore, I mean we do, but now he's so much more. He makes sense. When he picks up a gun and stops a violent criminal dead in his tracks, he's also stopping what happened to him from happening to anyone else. At least, in his mind he is. But we know he's not actually stopping the cycle of violence; he's just perpetuating it. And he's only putting a pause on his own trauma. Frank Castle will never receive restoration for his loss, so the Punisher will never stop seeking revenge. Marvel's Daredevil accomplishes with the Punisher what all of the other performances could only manage to get bits and pieces of and combines them into one perfectly imbalanced human. It nails all of the sympathy that showed through in Thomas Jane's Punisher but adds a depth of humanity that resonates with anyone who's ever felt powerless or let down by the justice system. It delivers the same brutal dedication of Ray Stevenson's Punisher, but grounds it in a believable world, which makes it all the more chilling (the scene where the Punisher walks into the courtroom specifically). It even manages to accomplish what the first movie set out to achieve with its commentary on lawful justice and personal revenge.
Noteworthy: Not much isn't.
*Marvel Cinematic Universe
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