Punisher: Warzone
Ray Stevenson takes the lead role in Punisher: Warzone
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Monday, 02, Feb 2009 12:58
Directed by Lexi Alexander, out February 6th in cinemas, starring Ray Stevenson, Dominic West, Julie Benz, Colin Salmon, running time 103 mins.
In a nutshell...
So bad it's not even funny.
What's it all about?
Ex-Marine Frank Castle (Stevenson), driven to a one-man war against organised crime after the death of his family at the hands of the mob, sets his sight on ambitious gangster Billy Russoti (West). When the mobster becomes horribly disfigured at Castle's hand, he seeks revenge under the new guise of Jigsaw and recruits a multi-ethnic criminal army for the task.
Who's in it?
Ray Stevenson is best known as Titus Pullo from the BBC/HBO period drama Rome, but has worked steadily on stage and screen since the mid-90s, having begun studying acting aged 27. He was most recently seen in military horror Outpost.
Dominic West, a co-star of the likes of Sir Ian McKellen, Julia Roberts and Mark Wahlberg in his cinema work, is now renowned for his portrayal of Detective McNulty on HBO's acclaimed drama The Wire while Julie Benz starred alongside Michael C Hall in Dexter and as a missionary captured by Burmese militants in the recent Rambo movie.
As an example...
"None of us could see Frank Castle opening up hunting season on La Cosa Nostra." - Agent Miller
"God be with you, Frank." - Priest
"Sometimes I'd like to get a hold of God... " - Frank
"It's Maginty and his Urban Freeflow Gang... he's on a constant meth high." - Carlos
Likelihood of a trip to the Oscars
The Razzies are a much more likely destination.
What the others say
"Does it have to be so witless, so stupid, so openly contemptuous of the very audience it's supposed to be pandering to?" - AO Scott, New York Times
"If at first you don't succeed, punish, punish again." - Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter
So is it any good?
The slick intercutting of the credits with comic book scenes briefly arouses interest before the horrifying legend 'Directed by Lexi Alexander' scrolls across the screen. Anyone who has had the misfortune to see Green Street may consider leaving the cinema at this instant, and judging by the bizarre vocal tics of West, Doug Hutchinson and the "Irish" freerunner played by TJ Storm, Alexander's ear for accents hasn't improved since Londoners across the world sniggered at Charlie Hunnam's attempt at a cockney voice in her 2005 football hooligan flop.
West - an actor of immense ability who will hope his career prospects will be saved by the lack of public interest in this unwanted sequel - appears to have perfected his 'gangster accent' by observing Hugh Grant's character in Mickey Blue Eyes while Hutchinson's intensely annoying 'crazy guy' turn is only worsened by his bizarre 'Noo Yoik' brogue.
Simply put, this is one of the worst films of the decade. It's a mindless, terribly-acted vengeance flick which borrows liberally from The Dark Knight's tale of a man on a mission, takes it stunts straight out of cult favourite The Boondock Saints and uses Rambo (2008) as a guide for cribbing as many gory deaths as possible into a screenplay. Have you ever seen a freerunner shot out of the sky with a rocket launcher? Then you haven't seen everything.
Stevenson is convincing, it zips along at a blessedly fast pace and the look of the comic, with ominous, monochrome lighting, is perfectly approximated.
But that's the only praise possible for this abysmal movie, hopefully the last attempt to bring the Punisher to the big screen.
2/10
Lewis Bazley