The Punisher (2004 film)
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| The Punisher | |
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| Directed by | Jonathan Hensleigh |
| Produced by | Avi Arad Gale Anne Hurd |
| Written by | Jonathan Hensleigh Michael France |
| Starring | Thomas Jane John Travolta Rebecca Romijn Will Patton Ben Foster Roy Scheider Laura Harring |
| Music by | Carlo Siliotto |
| Cinematography | Conrad W. Hall |
| Editing by | Steven Kemper Jeff Gullo |
| Distributed by | Global: Columbia Pictures United States: Lions Gate Films |
| Release date(s) | April 16, 2004 |
| Running time | Theatrical Cut: 124 min. Extended Cut: 140 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $15,500,000[1] |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Punisher is a 2004 movie, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name, starring Thomas Jane as Frank Castle and John Travolta as Howard Saint, the money launderer who orders the death of Castle's entire family. The story and plot were mainly based on two Punisher comic book stories; “The Punisher: Year One” & “Welcome Back, Frank” along with scenes from other Punisher stories such as “Marvel Preview: Featuring The Punisher #2”, “The Punisher: War Zone” and “The Punisher War Journal”.[2]
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[edit] Plot
The film opens with an arms deal taking place at a port in Tampa. Bobby Saint and Micky Duka meet with their contact, Otto Krieg, to provide him with the payments, but at the last moment, the FBI intervenes, and in the ensuing confrontation, Bobby and Otto are shot dead (Bobby is killed by one of his own men, and Otto by the FBI), and Duka is taken to prison. However, it is then revealed that Otto Kreig is in fact FBI agent Frank Castle, who was undercover and wearing a bulletproof vest. Shortly thereafter, Castle celebrates a retirement party with his friends, and heads home.
Meanwhile, it transpires that Bobby Saint is the son of the ruthless and powerful mob boss, Howard Saint, who is inflamed by the death of his son and almost kills Duka (who was bailed out). Instead, Saint and his associate, Quentin Glass, bribe the FBI to provide them with confidential information about Otto Krieg, who brokered the arms deal, and find out his true identity. At Bobby's funeral, Saint learns that Castle is at a family reunion in Puerto Rico and will be heading for London, England soon. He requests that Castle be killed, but at the last moment, Saint's wife, Livia, demands that they murder Castle's entire family as well, in a twisted act of (what the Saints believe to be) revenge.
At the reunion, Saint's cronies, Quentin Glass and John Saint (Bobby's twin) among them, kill everyone present. Castle and his father bring down scores of them, but Castle Sr. is eventually killed, and Castle is shot multiple times and left for dead on a pier, which Saint's men torch and destroy. Castle, however, does not die, but is blown away from the explosion, and nursed back to health by a witch doctor. That night, at Saint's club, the Saints drink a toast to their revenge.
Castle packs up his things from his home and takes refuge in an old house where three youngsters, Spacker Dave, Bumpo and Joan, live. There, he starts his own mission of revenge, especially after learning that the police and the FBI, even five months after his family's murder, have no intention of pursuing the men responsible, despite knowing they did it. In the process, Castle sabotages Saint's money laundering business and severs Saint's partnership with the Cuban Toro mobster Brothers, Mike and Joe, and starts tailing Livia and Glass, learning that Glass is in fact gay (which he hides from Saint under fear of execution), all thanks to information provided to him by Micky Duka, who hates the Saints and was convinced to help Castle.
Saint realises that Castle is alive, and sends two assassins to kill him. First is Harry "Heck" Thornton, whom Castle kills with a trick knife which he uses to slit Harry's throat. Second is the Russian, a behemoth who gives Castle a severe beating until he splashes the Russian's face with a steaming pot of a meal Bumpo was cooking, blinding him long enough for Castle to push him down the staircase and break his neck. Moments later, Saint's men arrive, led by Glass and John. Dave, Joan and Bumpo hide Castle, and refuse to tell Glass where he is, despite Glass pulling Dave's piercings out with a pair of pliers.
That night, Castle prepares himself for battle, and manipulates Saint into believing that Glass and Livia were having an affair behind his back, by planting one of Livia's earrings on Glass' messed-up bed (which Castle himself had done). Saint, unaware that Glass was gay, and believing Livia (who is implied by dialogue to have been a prostitute before meeting Howard) to be capable of cheating on him, consequently kills them both, neither of them knowing why.
Castle then attacks Saint's club, where he wages a one-man war on Saint's entire crew, killing everyone inside, including John. Saint attempts to escape, but Castle catches up with him and shoots him fatally in the chest. As Saint dies, Castle reveals the evidence that Glass and Livia were not having an affair, but gives Saint little time to grieve, for he ties Saint to a running car, which goes into a bomb-laden car park, blowing countless cars up and killing Howard Saint once and for all.
His revenge is taken, but now will continue his vigilante mission against others who deserve punishment. Before departing on his next mission, he leaves some of Howard Saint's money for Bumpo, Joan and Dave (to compensate for Dave's hospital bills and the trouble he brought them). In his words: "Frank Castle is dead. Call me The Punisher."
[edit] Cast
| Actor | Character |
|---|---|
| Thomas Jane | Frank Castle / The Punisher |
| John Travolta | Howard Saint |
| Will Patton | Quentin Glass |
| Rebecca Romijn | Joan |
| Ben Foster | Spacker Dave |
| John Pinette | Bumpo |
| Samantha Mathis | Maria Elizabeth Castle |
| Marcus Johns | Will Castle |
| A. Russell Andrews | Jimmy Weeks |
| James Carpinello | Bobby Saint John Saint |
| Laura Harring | Livia Saint |
| Eddie Jemison | Micky Duka |
| Kevin Nash | The Russian |
| Mark Collie | Harry Heck |
| Roy Scheider | Frank Castle, Sr. |
| Tom Nowicki | Lincoln |
Before actor Thomas Jane became the Punisher, director Jonathan Hensleigh and Avi Arad have said in many interviews that Jane was the first and only actor to be asked to play the title role. Jane initially turned down the role twice, as well as a part in the first X-Men movie and a few other comic book movies, the reason for that was because he did not see himself as a superhero actor. Jane said that when they asked him the second time to play the Punisher that what really got him interested in playing the part was when Arad sent Tim Bradstreet's artwork of the Punisher. After finding out what kind of character the Punisher was, he accepted. In addition to reading as many Punisher comics he could find to understand the character, Jane became a fan of the Punisher. Jane trained for 6 or 7 months with Navy SEALs and gained more than twenty pounds of muscle for the part.
[edit] Production
| "I had to ask myself intellectual questions like, 'To what extent do crimes against a person become so unconscionable, so heinous, that even a person who does not believe in vigilantism can resort to vigilantism in a more just way?' That was the equation for me. I told Marvel that I didn't just want to do a revenge story, that I wanted to do the mother of all revenge stories. I wanted to ramp everything up. I can't really go further without doing spoilers here. The underlying events that give rise to Frank Castle's vigilantism are not from the comic. I invented a lot of that. I made it a lot worse." |
| —Jonathan Hensleigh on The Punisher[3] |
Before filming began, Hensleigh was not given the budget he wanted or needed from the studio. Hensleigh knew that most action pictures get a budget of around $64 million. He was only given a $15 million dollar budget for the movie.[4] He was also only given 50 days to shoot the movie, which is half the number of days it takes to shoot most action pictures. Most of Hensleigh's original script had to be edited and re-written many times due to budget costs. According to the DVD commentary, the first scene in the movie would have been a battle set in Kuwait during the Gulf War, but they were unable to film this scene as a result of the budget cuts.
The Punisher was filmed on location in Tampa, Florida. For inspiration, Hensleigh and cinematographer Conrad W. Hall looked at dozens of action movies from the 1960s and 1970s, such as the Dirty Harry series, The Getaway, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, The Godfather and Bonnie and Clyde.[5] In an interview, Hensleigh also stated the film pays homage to Mad Max.[6]
As stated above the story and plot were mainly based on two Punisher comic book stories; “Welcome Back, Frank” and “The Punisher: Year One” but before the film was released in theaters Jonathan Hensleigh was asked if the movie had been entirely based on “The Punisher: Year One” storyline. Jonathan Hensleigh stated:
| “ | ‘The Punisher: Year One’ was a four-issue set that came out in 1994-1995. It has this really cool cover art and I highly recommend it. I took just pieces of the plot. If the entire movie was just based on Year One then the plot line would have been way, way too involved and it would have been Gone With the Wind—a four-hour movie with only the very ending having any action in the whole movie at all. | ” |
During shooting of the film Lions Gate had purchased Artisan. In an interview with Jonathan Hensleigh, Hensleigh said that even though the movie is under Lions Gate, they had nothing to do with the film. Lions Gate never gave a green light for the film to be made. The film was still under Artisan Entertainment.
The character of Microchip was not included in the script because of director Jonathan Hensleigh's distaste for him. Hensleigh said:
| “ | There are a couple of years where I did not want to go; Microchip, the battle van, all that stuff where it got really high-tech; we're not going there at all. I deemed that too complicated, too lacking of the spirit of the sort of urban vigilante. The Punisher does not just go around blowing people away using such things that Batman or James Bond would have or would even be in envy of; he uses guile and cunning just as much as he does weaponry and physical combat. | ” |
Comic book writer Garth Ennis has also expressed displeasure towards Microchip.
[edit] Release and Reception
The Punisher opened in 2,649 theaters on April 16, 2004 and grossed $13,834,527 over its opening weekend. It was the second highest grossing movie of the weekend behind Kill Bill Volume 2. The film has a domestic gross of $33,810,189 and a foreign gross of $20,889,916, giving it a worldwide total of $54,700,105.
On its release on April 16, 2004, it was met with mixed reviews.The film holds a 28% rating at Rotten Tomatoes based on 157 reviews.[7] Many have defended the movie stating that compared to most comic book based movies, it is a well done throwback to the old school action movies of the '60s and '70s. Despite mixed reviews from fans of the comic, the movie did very well on DVD and video.
[edit] Novelization
The novelization of the movie which has Jonathan Hensleigh's original script and screenplay and a mini comic book by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon that came with the DVD (the first and only DVD mini prequel comic book and only 10,000 produced) has it that Frank Castle fought in Iraq in the Gulf War (Frank was awarded the Bronze Star after the war), in Bosnia in the Bosnian War and was a member of the Delta Force, CTU (there is no relation to the Jack Bauer character that works for CTU on the TV series 24) and the FBI. The novel also has it that the setting of the Vietnam War, which is a big and important part of the Punisher’s past in the comic book, had to be replaced by having him in the Gulf War and as an undercover agent in the FBI. He spends months deep undercover surrounded by people who would simply blow his head off if he slipped up. The writer says that getting into character as these people were starting to taint Frank (this is also seen in the mini comic book) that he seemed to enjoy it too much when it came to killing the bad guys. Living on the wrong side of the law for a time, even if it wasn't for the job, is something else that explains his assuming the mantle of the Punisher.
[edit] DVD sales
The Punisher DVD was released on September 7, 2004 and sold nearly 1.8 million copies in its first five days and netted $10.8 million in rentals its first week out, making it number one in DVD sales. Sales continued at a steady pace, ultimately topping 4 million units. During October, The Punisher DVD rentals were still in the top ten and various cable and satellite providers had started to offer The Punisher as a pay-per-view feature. Between worldwide movie box office and DVD sales, it grossed $115 million ($55 million worldwide + $60 million from DVD sales). It was reported in 2005 that along with other movies that the 2004 Punisher DVD commentary by Jonathan Hensleigh and “Making of the Movie” are used in some film classes to help beginning film directors get started since the film was a low budget movie.
[edit] Extended cut
An Extended Cut DVD was released on November 21, 2006 with 17 minutes of additional footage. Features also include a black and white stop motion animated scene, set in Kuwait based on and done by artist Tim Bradstreet, and a Punisher comic book gallery. An extended version of "In Time" by Mark Collie also appears in the closing credits of the extended cut DVD.
The Punisher was released on Blu-ray Disc on June 27, 2006.
[edit] Soundtrack
[edit] Awards and nominations (2005)
[edit] Won
- Prism Awards
- Mark Chadwick was awarded a for Best Fire Stunt.
[edit] Nominated
- World Stunt Awards (Taurus Award)
- Best Overall Stunt by a Stunt Woman.
- Best Stunt Coordinator and/or 2nd Unit Director.
- Best Work with a Vehicle.
[edit] Sequel
Lions Gate Entertainment had greenlit a direct sequel to be made due to the strong performance the film had on DVD. However, the project lingered in development for over 3 years. Jonathan Hensleigh completed a first draft before pulling out and Thomas Jane pulled out of the project on May 15, 2007 due to creative differences.[8]
[edit] References
- ^ Jonathan Hensleigh: Looking Back On The Punisher - Newsarama
- ^ The Punisher (2004) - Trivia
- ^ Hensleigh Talks Punisher
- ^ Jonathan Hensleigh: Looking Back On The Punisher - Newsarama
- ^ Page Title
- ^ Jonathan Hensleigh Reveals 'Punisher' Homages
- ^ The Punisher - Movie Reviews, Trailers, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes
- ^ AICN Exclusive: Thomas Jane dropping out of PUNISHER 2?!? - Ain't It Cool News: The best in movie, TV, DVD, and comic book news
[edit] External links
- The Punisher Trailer
- The Punisher on Marvel.com
- The Punisher at Box Office Mojo
- The Punisher at the Internet Movie Database
- The Punisher at Rotten Tomatoes
- The Punisher hype at Superhero Hype!
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