Much like the 1989 version, the first half hour of this Punisher incarnation does not work.
Frank Castle is now an undercover special agent, Travolta can't get a handle on his character, the musical score is laughable, and the screenplay takes a few too many conveniences. Unlike the 1989 version, things calm down as the film finds its bearings and introduces a couple of odd villains straight out of an old action film from thirty years previous. It improves, but doesn't stick the landing.
Frank Castle (Thomas Jane, looking a lot like Christopher Lambert) is a special agent who can handle any situation. He and his family are being sent to London after his "one last assignment" where the son of big-time mobster Saint (John Travolta) is killed. Saint, and his right-hand man Glass (Will Patton), has his revenge, killing Castle's entire extended family, and leaving Castle for dead. Castle is nursed back to health, and rents a seedy apartment in a building populated by love interest Joan (Rebecca Romijn), Bumpo (John Pinette), and Spacker Dave (Ben Foster). From there, he starts a campaign to get back at Saint and his own family.
From the opening sequence, I thought director/co-writer Hensleigh might be going in a different direction with the Punisher character by having him use disguises to infiltrate Saint's vast criminal empire. Castle does use his smarts to play Saint's inner circle against each other, but also kills without prejudice in some overly elaborate action set-pieces, including a very convoluted finale. Castle does get the tar beat out of him many times, he's not immortal. My favorite supporting characters were two hitmen sent by Saint- Harry Heck (Mark Collie) and The Russian (Kevin Nash). Their scenes were exciting, the characters were bizarre, and all the planning Castle goes through still doesn't prepare him for either one. I read Hensleigh was hamstrung by a smaller budget, but I liked a lot of his direction. The Punisher's infamous skull T-shirt finally makes an appearance after a much-maligned absence in the 1989 version.
Jane is good as Frank, not playing him as a mono-syllabic killing machine. He's still human and lost his entire family, wearing his pain well. Travolta tries to chew the scenery here and there, but I often thought he was playing Saint way too nice. Not menacingly nice, just pleasant. His outbursts at what Frank is doing to him, as well as his home life situation (which he doesn't know Frank also has a hand in) aren't portrayed well. I thought Saint should have been more like Glass, Will Patton can do dangerous characters very well. Frank's trio of weirdo neighbors are okay, as are his family, but no one is given too much out of a hurried screenplay that sometimes forgot it was supposed to be a revenge action drama. If you ever thought a film couldn't waste Roy Scheider, you haven't seen this movie yet.
There was an unrated, extended version of this released, and a proposed sequel never materialized. Followed by yet another reboot, but I don't have that in my physical media collection. This Punisher is a vast improvement over the first filmed story.
-Contains strong physical violence, strong gun violence, violence involving children, gore, profanity, brief nudity, some sexual references, adult situations, alcohol use
