For many a superhero, there's usually some sort of traumatic catalyst that turns them into an avenger. That transformation then continues when their quest switches from being a vigilante -- out to avenge those immediately responsible for said pivotal event -- into a general crime fighter and keeper of the peace, even if violence is used to enforce the latter.
But what happens if and/or when the vigilante never experiences that transition and remains stuck in killing mode, or the would-be hero becomes addicted to the power of such lethal retribution and self-imposed law? An examination of such a character could make for an interesting tale, what with him waging a war of right and wrong and good versus evil, both in the external world and somewhere deep within his soul.
Sadly, "Punisher: War Zone" is not that flick. Oh, the sequel to the 2004 action pic -- that itself was a remake of the original 1989 Dolph Lundgren adaptation of the comic book -- is all about revenge, complete with a plethora of graphic killings. Yet, it's anything but deep, or smart, creative or "fun" for those who get their jollies vicariously living through onscreen characters taking care of business. It's just a film where a lot of people die by various means, and a poorly made one at that.
How this thing avoided going straight to video is a bit of a mystery (although there's one element -- to be discussed in a moment -- that may just explain its theatrical release). And unless you're a diehard fan of same past installment of the series or just over-the-top mayhem, you're likely going to come off feeling as if you're the one being punished.
The story -- penned by Nick Santora and Art Marcum & Matt Holloway -- takes up sometime after the 2004 film has ended. The title character (this time played by Ray Stevenson replacing Tom Jane who wisely bowed out) has already gotten his revenge on the villains (led by an incredibly bland John Travolta last time around) who killed his family, but apparently has become a non-stop killing machine regarding any other criminal in the city.
When we get going here -- in the first of many big and bullet-filled action sequences -- Frank Castle, a.k.a. The Punisher, wipes out most of a mob family, save for the power-hungry nephew played by Dominic West, but then accidentally kills an undercover FBI agent. The villain's been dealing with some Russians regarding biological weapons -- in a subplot that taps into national security issues but never really goes anywhere with that or makes it an interesting or scary component -- and ends up sliced and diced like a Julian fry (and then some) in a glass recycling whirlpool of sorts (in the film's only imaginative moment).
Taking a cue from those who've played The Joker in the "Batman" films, the facially scarred villain then goes off the deep end of the mental sanity pool, joining his sibling -- appropriately named Looney Bin Jim (Doug Hutchison, best known for playing the creepy stretchy guy back in a memorable episode from the original "The X-Files" TV show) -- in a tag team effort of cartoonish over-acting.
Considering that the late Heath Ledger made such an impression in and was arguably one of the big reasons for the mega-success of "The Dark Knight" earlier this year, methinks that might be the sole reason for this flick escaping the straight to video death sentence.
Whatever the case, however, there's no comparison among the performances between the films, although at least the villains here are more energetic than Travolta's sleepwalking one last time, and certainly more interesting than the wooden Stevenson in the equally wooden protagonist role (fashioned as before, in the stoic Clint Eastwood model).
With the first film's comic relief now MIA (sorry, Wayne "Newman!" Knight adds nothing), the writers and director Lexi Alexander try to give us a break from the action by adding a human element to the proceedings. They do so not only by showing us cheesy flashbacks of the hero reacting to the murder of his family (thus essentially negating any reason to see the first film for any sort of back-story) but also by bringing out the father figure in Frank Castle by making him concerned about the daughter (Stephanie Janusauskas) and wife (Julie Benz) of the aforementioned slain FBI agent.
That isn't any more successful than all of the action that fills up a great deal of the 105-some minute runtime, which is staged and shot in such uninvolving ways that the symbiotic adrenaline never gets pumping. Sure, there's upside down machine gun firing and things getting jammed and slammed into various heads that aren't otherwise blown into bloody pulp.
Alas, there's no sense of cathartic release, giddy fun and/or repulsion at the over-exaggerated violence, or the sort of guilty pleasure aura a film like this so desperately needs to come off as entertaining. Instead, it's just an exercise in stoic mass killing, filled with mediocre to bad acting, awful dialogue and mishandled action scenes.
If you're interested in a film about troubled heroes and superbly deranged villains, check out "The Dark Knight" for how that can be done just right. Doing most everything wrong, "Punisher: War Zone" rates as a 2.5 out of 10.
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