Punisher- War Zone

In my review of the new Spider-man movie, I noted that 30 superhero movies had been made since 2000.  As I stated that, I realized that I had yet to see a handful of them, so I'm trying to 'correct' that.  The first up was Punisher- War Zone.  It was, by far, the lowest-earning superhero movie of the modern era, taking in only 6 million domestic (vs. a 35 million budget).  In keeping with its earnings, it received horrible reviews, so I wasn't expecting much-  I figured I'd start at the bottom and work my way up.

The Punisher's story in a nutshell: he's an ex-military man whose family is killed by the mob after accidentally witnessing a mob crime.  In retaliation, he becomes the Punisher, and destroys all criminals he comes across.  He has a few cops secretly assisting him, as they envy his ability to fight crime outside the law.

Well, the movie met my incredibly low expectations- it was horrible.  This wasn't an origin story- the 'original' Punisher movie in 2004 covered that ground, though the cast here is all new, so it may have felt like a reboot.  That said, there was no opening character development- we begin with the Punisher walking into a mob dinner and doing what he does best- absolute carnage.  The Punisher character is pretty much an "shoot first, ask questions never" type, so the movie was extremely violent (and R-rated, a rarity for the genre).  The movie kept with his character- few questions asked, little character/plot development, just lots of shooting and death.

As I watched, I oscillated between giving this an F or F--.  However, there were a few redeeming moments.  You do see very fleeting moments of Punisher reflecting on his course of life, and even comparing that in light of the Bible (and quoting scripture).  He wasn't quoting to justify his actions- he was basically saying "yeah, I'm done, but I'm going to make sure the bad guys are done, too".  There was also the odd moment of dark humor, like when the cops are holding a guy for arrest, and the Punisher walks in, nonchalantly shoots the criminal, and walks out.  Grisly but amusing (or perhaps I'm just warped).  Finally, there were a few plot devices that broke the mold- in the final confrontation, the bad guys have both a family and Punisher's friend hostage, and he can save only one.  He chooses- and the other dies.  So there's a degree of 'realism' there that isn't present in most superhero flicks.  These things saved it from a failing grade, but not by much.

Rating: D-