The Punisher (1989)

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nTitle: The Punisher (1989)

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nDirector: Mark Goldblatt

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nWriter: Boaz Yakin

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nCast: Dulph Lundgren, Louis Gossett Jr., Nancy Everhard, JeroennKrabbe

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nReview:

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nSometimes a movie just doesn’t take off for all the wrongnreasons. Sometimes, like in the case of Mark Goldblatt’s The Punisher, a filmnwill die a quick and ugly death at the box office, not because the film is bad,nbut because the studio that backed it up is going down the drain. The studio innquestion was New World Pictures; a studio that was going bankrupt during thentime The Punisher was being made.  It wasngoing through one of those name change things, where one company buys the othernand so they end up changing the companies name. Goldblatt’s The Punishernsuffered promotion wise and release wise because of this. It wasn’t releasedntheatrically in the U.S.,nbut it did receive theatrical releases around the world, which is how I got tonsee it in theaters, because I live in Puerto Rico.nLucky me; this is after all, the one and only Punisher movie that’s worth andamn, so far anyways. I didn’t enjoy Jonathan Hensleigh’s The Punisher (2004),nthat’s the one with Thomas Jane as the titular character. I thought Thomas Janenwas the worst choice to play the character, not because I don’t like ThomasnJane as an actor, but because he didn’t look the part. He didn’t look toughnenough, plus, Travolta was weak as a villain and the film itself, it just didn’tndo it for me. Punisher: War Zone (2008), I need to rewatch because I can’tnremember much of it; but I do remember thinking that Punisher looked just rightnon that one, and that the action and violence was brought up a couple ofnnotches. But for me, this 1989 version is the closest they’ve ever gotten toncapturing the gritty, violent nature of Frank Castle.

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nThe story is about Frank Castle going up against the Yakuzana.k.a. The Japanese Mafia. You see, the Yakuza wants to take over the wholendrug operation in the city and they are asking for a huge cut of the earnings.nOf course, the established drug lords of the city don’t like the deal that thenYakuza’s have set upon the table and so they decline the Yakuza’s offer. Butnthe Yakuza’s won’t take no for answer, so in order to make sure the drug lordsnwill all cooperate; the Yakuza’s kidnap the druglords kids and hold them asnhostages! The Punisher a.k.a. Frank Castle, takes it upon himself to save thenkids and destroy the Yakuza. Will he be able to do it?

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nWhat I like about this film is that it doesn’t focus so muchnon The Punisher’s back story, they don’t show us how he became The Punisher, onnthis film he just is The Punisher. We meet him when he has already set up campnin the sewers of the city, living in darkness and filth. What little we do seenof his past we see in flashbacks, so the story doesn’t necessarily centernaround an origin story like so many comic book movies do. When he is notnfighting crime, The Punisher likes to pray to God, while looking at pictures ofnhis dead family. He asks god questions like: “Come on God, answer me. For yearsnI’m asking why? Why are the innocent dead and the guilty alive? Where isnjustice? Where is punishment? Or have you already answered, have you alreadynsaid to the world, here is justice, here is punishment. Here…in me?” This isnreally the best thing about this film; they portrayed The Punisher as this lostnsoul, completely devoid of emotion or the ability to enjoy a normal life. He isna man drowning in sadness and revenge. Lundgren’s Punisher is bitter, angry,ndepressed, you kind of get the feeling he’s on a death wish. This is the waynthat The Punisher should always be portrayed, the man is fueled by hatred forncriminals, he is not a clean cut, nice dude. He is a few bullets short ofnblowing himself away. A far cry from the relatively wimpy version we got on ThenPunisher (2004). For me, Lundgren was the perfect Punisher; he doesn’t talknmuch but you can just see that hatred bursting out of every pore.

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nSo you guys know me, cinematic violence and action equals awesome.nNot that I’m a violent person myself (actually far from it) but movie violencenis entertaining for me, the more excessive the better; and on that note, Goldblatt’snThe Punisher delivers. This is the kind of action that the 80’s were known for.nThere are a handful of movies that I watch when I want to remember hownexcessive violence was in cinema during the 80s: Commando (1985), Lethal Weaponn(1987), Cyborg (1989), Robocop (1987), Total Recall (1989), Die Hard (1988)…thenlist can go on and on. These films remind me of a time when violence in cinemanwas excessive, and when I compare them to today’s “action” films, well, today’snstuff just pales in comparison. I mentioned a good example of this on a recentnarticle where I compared the new Total Recall (2012) remake with the old TotalRecall (1989). These are two films that are thematicallyl similar but arentotally different in terms of violence and gore. The Punisher is one of thosengood old fashion action films that has shotguns shells flying, kicks, punches,nstabbings, decapitations, samurai swords, you name it, they use it on thisnfilm. A little detail that’s interesting to note: The Punisher never uses thensame weapon twice!   

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nThis film comes to usnfrom director Mark Goldblatt also known as the guy who directed Dead Heat (1988),nwhich is a pretty fun zombie flick about a cop who gets turned into a zombie. Somenold dude is creating zombies to steal diamonds! For what purpose? Watch thenmovie, but trust me, this is a fun, gory, violent, cop flick! The only way Incan describe it is Lethal Weapon meets Return of the Living Dead, trust me it’snfun times for sure! Sadly, Goldblatt has never directed another film since henmade The Punisher. I guess that has a lot to do with the fact that neither ofnthese two films recuperated their budget at the box office, and you know hownunforgiving Hollywood studios are! ThenPunisher was actually a huge turkey, it loss more than 8 million for itsnproducers, but like I said before, it was not the films fault. This film is solidn80’s style action, it’s dark and grimy, it’s action packed and it’s deadlynserious! A very underrated action flick from the decade of decadence. Need anshot of testosterone?  

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nRating: 4 out of 5

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