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Punisher is a badass superhero. He’s probably more of an anti-hero, though he’s been an outright villain, as discussed by Comic Book Resources, I digress. His portrayal in the Netflix series Daredevil and the subsequent Punisher stand-alone Netflix show, both starring Jon Bernthal (who captures the character masterfully), has really brought the character into the limelight and made more frequent appearances (on screen that is) a likely occurrence in the future. This all begs the question: why wasn’t the character brought to the screen earlier? Well, he was, but people seem to have just forgotten or, perhaps more dastardly, Marvel has buried the film to suppress this (admittedly failed) iteration of the character.
One could point to the film’s exclusion from the streaming platform Disney+ or the limited availability in general on streaming sites and the fact that Punisher properties surfaced after this film bearing no real resemblance to the Punisher portrayed in this film, but that’s all speculative. Ultimately, The Punisher (2004) is an extremely underrated movie that just gets glossed over anytime the character is mentioned, and that genuinely doesn’t make a lick of sense.
What Is The Punisher?
The Punisher is an action-thriller directed by Jonathan Hensleigh and starring Thomas Jane as the film’s lead Frank Castle. Frank Castle and his alter-ego The Punisher were created by Gerry Conway, John Romita Sr., and Ross Andru with Marvel Comics. The Punisher does not follow a direct origin story from the comic books, but it follows a key element: revenge. In The Punisher, Frank Castle’s family is brutally murdered under orders from a Tampa mob boss, Howard Saint (John Travolta), whose son was executed in Frank Castle’s last sting operation as an FBI agent. Frank is wounded and left for dead in the attack, but Frank mounts a revenge mission after recovering. During his pursuit of vengeance, Frank infiltrates Howard’s criminal organization.
He meticulously and nefariously hatches plans to deceive Howard into believing the people he trusts most are working to betray him. He disrupts Howard’s criminal enterprise so that deals are going array with no clear cause. Effectively, Frank brings Howard’s whole world crashing in around him, just like Howard did to him when he orchestrated the killing of his family.
What Does The Punisher Get Right?
The Punisher has a lot of good qualities on display. Sometimes a good revenge plot just really hits the spot and this movie has that. Explorations of the criminal underworld are cool and this movie has that. That being said, the three best aspects of this film are Thomas Jane’s portrayal as Frank Castle, the corny (maybe not always intentional) humor, and the “manly man” dynamic that is depicted.
Thomas Jane’s Portrayal As Frank Castle
Thomas Jane’s performance as the emotionally detached and traumatized Frank Castle is definitely the highlight of this movie. In the first act of the film, the audience really gets the sense that the character has turned a new leaf and that, in leaving the FBI and starting a new life with his family, Frank will finally have peace. This makes the characters turn to someone who no longer has anything to lose and has real weight, and this is where Thomas Jane really shines. He really captures the no-nonsense persona and brutish physicality the character adopts after the loss of his family. All the while, though, the sense of loss and anguish stick with Frank, so he doesn’t just feel like a vengeful action hero.
A scene that really encapsulates this dual persona of cold and calculated and remorseful and deeply troubled comes in the climactic moment of the film. Slight spoiler, the “good” guy wins. Yet, as Frank is finally avenging his family (I’m speaking cryptically to avoid giving away too many details), the look on his face isn’t one of purely relief and fulfilled retribution or sorrow and despair; it’s both. Yes, Frank is seeking revenge, but it’s clear the character is broken too, and that nuance can be attributed to Thomas Jane’s performance.
Some (Maybe Unintentional) B-Movie-Like Humor
The heaviness of this film welcomes moments of levity, and, more often than not, this is fulfilled through some use of corny but still good humor. A scene that exemplifies this is when Frank Castle is interrogating a low-ranking official in Howard Saint’s mob organization. Frank deceives the character into thinking he’s torching his skin. Frank fools the man into thinking that the temperature of the blow torch to his skin is so hot that it’ll kill the nerve endings and feel cold, and all he’ll smell is burning flesh.
All the while, Frank is blow-torching a steak and touching a popsicle to the blind-folded man’s dangling body. Other smaller moments that demonstrate this are when Frank hits a man in the head with a frying pan, and a really cartoony sound effect follows it. Another moment is when Frank is fighting a man in his apartment, and a grenade goes off, and residents in a room down the hallway scoff it off as an earthquake rattle, as they have some deafening music playing in their room.
“Man’s Man” Qualities
There is a strong appeal to traditionally manly properties in this film. Those properties being: cars, booze, (allusions to) Westerns, and guns. Frank and one of his enemies both happen to drive the classic muscle car, a Pontiac GTO. Frank is shown to be a heavy drinker. In various scenes, he consumes alcohol in excess to try and bury his harrowing memories of his family. There are a decent handful of moments where Frank has prototypically western stand-offs/duels with his enemies. Lastly, there are a lot of guns.
Frank’s father’s 1911 Colts stand out for the attention they get. While these “hyper-masculine” factors make for good action movie fodder, they also have a broader impact on the film. That being, demonstrating, though not in a super detailed way, that these things won’t fix Frank’s problems and heal his trauma. This is a welcome suggestion, given the character could otherwise come off as a deranged guy taking the law into his hands.
Why The Punisher Has Been Forgotten?
So, where does this movie fall short? Why did it only make a little over fifty-four million in worldwide box-office (which against the film’s thirty-three million dollar budget is meh)? (( The Punisher – Box Office Mojo. (2021). Retrieved April 7, 2021, from Box Office Mojo website. )). Well, it’s got some flaws. Primarily, some uninteresting side characters and villain who’s not the only kind of boring, but also isn’t portrayed that well.
Uninteresting Side Characters
For some reason, the writers for this film decided Frank needed a group of misfit neighbors to connect with. Maybe the thought was it would help to humanize the character some, but it’s mostly just filler. The connection between Frank and the trio of friends feels shallow, as they only have maybe three-to-four scenes together. Ultimately, it’s just weird for them to be involved in the film as they don’t have much to do with the plot and don’t significantly impact Frank.
Boring Villain (Exacerbated By John Travolta’s Performance)
Howard Saint isn’t the most engaging villain. He’s insecure, power-hungry, and a control freak, and that’s really it. There isn’t much more to the character than that. With such a bland character, it feels a bit unfair to really chastise John Travolta for his performance, as he didn’t have much to work with (the villain has no basis in the comics; there wasn’t a backlog of content for the actor to pull from), but it is what it is. A bad performance is a bad performance.
In particular, John Travolta doesn’t seem to have anything; he was aiming to communicate with his acting. The character is not menacing or dubiously evil or evil mastermind-like or evil anything really. He’s just bad and has a bit of money and is really obsessive over his wife and John Travolta’s performance ensures that as blank and bland as that description sounds is also how the characters come off to the audience.
Should The Punisher Be Remembered More Fondly?
So, does The Punisher deserve more credit? Yes, yes, it does. It’s not perfect, but it walked (along with other early 2000’s superhero flicks that varied in quality), so the MCU and more current superhero franchises could run. The villain is particularly bland, and the side characters leave something to be desired. Still, the lead actors’ portrayal as the anti-hero Frank Castle is fantastic; there’s comedic levity on display (a staple in the Marvel Cinematic Universe). The manliness of the character and things associated with the character are interestingly embraced but also challenged engagingly.
It’s certainly applicable to say that elements of this film went on to influence Jon Bernthal’s portrayal in the Netflix series Daredevil and The Punisher. Jon Bernthal’s Punisher balances (and perhaps even further embodies) the duality of pure rage and despair that Thomas Jane starts to play with in The Punisher. Additionally, the show rights a shortcoming of the film by including Jigsaw as the primary villain. Ultimately, for having inspired a truly great future iteration of The Punisher and being an enjoyable film (despite some flaws), The Punisher deserves to be remembered more fondly.