The Punisher: War Zone
Feb. 13th, 2009 08:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annwfynThis isn't so much a film review as a question.
Is it possible to make a good film based on the Punisher?
Because I'm increasingly convinced that it isn't.
I've seen two Punisher films now, and heard a lot about the third, which starred Dolph Lundgren. I think I may need to watch it soon, just to test my hypothesis, which is that any film featuring the Punisher will, by the very nature of the story, either be very over the top and silly, or just kinda icky.
I think this is partly because the Punisher, to my mind, isn't really a hero. He's barely an anti-hero. He's a troubled man, who doesn't know where to draw the line, and leaves a trail of bodies in his wake. He's what happens to Batman when Batman breaks. He's the horrible warning to every superhero - 'this is what happens when you care more about the end result and stop caring about how you get there'. He's the reason people are scared of vigilantes, and about the only thing I liked about this film was that it started with him accidentally killing an undercover FBI agent in one of his shoot 'em up rampages. I'm totally convinced that any real Punisher would have a lot of accidental collateral damage. On another note, was I the only person who noticed that when he went after the big mob boss he killed the entire room. Is it really a death sentence just to be married to the mob? In the Punisher 'verse, it is.
The Punisher, I think, provides a really interesting contrast to the other Marvel heroes. I love him in Spiderman. I think he balances Spidey wonderfully, and brings up a lot of interesting moral quandries. The Punisher and Captain America, struggling to get along after Iron Man turns Captain America into a fugitive also is a glorious and wonderful story.
Frank Castle as the hero - the main character - leading the whole story? I don't think there's much to go with that. He's broken. There's no hope in his tale - only this brutal and driven vengeance crusade. His character has little capacity to develop from everything I've seen, and his trademark is ultra-violence. That leaves the film too places to go. Either you embrace the slight silliness inherent in a man who does gun down everyone and their dog, and let it go to camp, or you try and keep the tone serious, in which case you're mostly just telling the very squicky story of how bad things happening to one man leads to more bad things happening to everyone else.
Frankly, I think the only hope for Frank Castle is that he meets a recently orphaned acrobat with a need for revenge some time soon. OK, so I think he's got a lot further to go than Batman, but at least the only way is up. And anything else is just too depressing to think about.
Is it possible to make a good film based on the Punisher?
Because I'm increasingly convinced that it isn't.
I've seen two Punisher films now, and heard a lot about the third, which starred Dolph Lundgren. I think I may need to watch it soon, just to test my hypothesis, which is that any film featuring the Punisher will, by the very nature of the story, either be very over the top and silly, or just kinda icky.
I think this is partly because the Punisher, to my mind, isn't really a hero. He's barely an anti-hero. He's a troubled man, who doesn't know where to draw the line, and leaves a trail of bodies in his wake. He's what happens to Batman when Batman breaks. He's the horrible warning to every superhero - 'this is what happens when you care more about the end result and stop caring about how you get there'. He's the reason people are scared of vigilantes, and about the only thing I liked about this film was that it started with him accidentally killing an undercover FBI agent in one of his shoot 'em up rampages. I'm totally convinced that any real Punisher would have a lot of accidental collateral damage. On another note, was I the only person who noticed that when he went after the big mob boss he killed the entire room. Is it really a death sentence just to be married to the mob? In the Punisher 'verse, it is.
The Punisher, I think, provides a really interesting contrast to the other Marvel heroes. I love him in Spiderman. I think he balances Spidey wonderfully, and brings up a lot of interesting moral quandries. The Punisher and Captain America, struggling to get along after Iron Man turns Captain America into a fugitive also is a glorious and wonderful story.
Frank Castle as the hero - the main character - leading the whole story? I don't think there's much to go with that. He's broken. There's no hope in his tale - only this brutal and driven vengeance crusade. His character has little capacity to develop from everything I've seen, and his trademark is ultra-violence. That leaves the film too places to go. Either you embrace the slight silliness inherent in a man who does gun down everyone and their dog, and let it go to camp, or you try and keep the tone serious, in which case you're mostly just telling the very squicky story of how bad things happening to one man leads to more bad things happening to everyone else.
Frankly, I think the only hope for Frank Castle is that he meets a recently orphaned acrobat with a need for revenge some time soon. OK, so I think he's got a lot further to go than Batman, but at least the only way is up. And anything else is just too depressing to think about.
